Cleveland Cavaliers and their young skilled forward Tristan Thompson have been at a bidding war all summer with each other. The summer started with LeBron James saying that he wanted Thompson to be a member of the Cavs for his whole career. It also helps that along with the best player in the world making those comments, that same best player shares an agent with Thompson.
As the summer went on, the two sides were reportedly apart on multiple scenarios. The Cavs were not willing to sign Thompson to the max that he wanted but Thompson was willing to reduce the number of years and total salary on his max deal but the Cavs didn’t want to agree to it.
Just as the week started, Thompson was a no-show at the Cavs media day and beginning of camp, it appears that the two sides have been forced to agree to something. A whole lot of nothing, actually. Thompson will begin a holdout with Cleveland, not signing his qualifying offer tender and this is quite possibly the worst case scenario for the Cavs.
Following from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Tristan Thompson failed to pick up the Cavs' $6.8 million qualifying offer by the 11:59 p.m. ET deadline per league source.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 2, 2015
Thompson’s agent, Rich Paul, has previously stated that if TT was forced to sign this qualifying offer contract with the Cavs, he would leave Cleveland in the summer of 2016 and go elsewhere. Early assumptions point towards the Toronto Raptors as a possible destination for the skilled forward who said playing with the Raptors is every Canadian kids dream.
This scenario does bring some light to the forefront though. It’s forcing the Cavs to allow Thompson to either play out his worth this upcoming season and potentially risk an injury which would decrease his value next summer or it allows Cleveland to work a new deal with Thompson, if they so elect to do so.
There’s only one way this can now work out. The two sides can go the route that another Rich Paul client, Eric Bledsoe, and the Phoenix Suns went last summer and agree to a long-term deal after an extensive holdout. Both sides could’ve just settled, met in the middle and signed the qualifying offer and see what success this season brings, much like what Greg Monroe did last summer with the Detroit Pistons.
Either way, no matter the cost, Thompson wants his way. Whether it’s with the Cavs or he elects to travel north of the border still remains to be seen.
