The Cleveland Cavaliers have shown faith in the potential of Tristan Thompson. The team had the option of trading him a number of times, most recently in the deal for Kevin Love, but opted to retain him with the intentions of signing him to a long-term contract. Thompson will be a restricted free agent in the upcoming offseason and the Cavaliers, at the moment, have no intentions of letting him go. However, initial contracts talks are not going well.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Thompson declined a four-year, $52 million contract offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers before the Oct. 31 deadline to sign approaching free agents. Thompson is not a starter right now. He is a good player, talented defender with solid energy, but he is not a starter. The Cavaliers offered him starter money and he rejected it. Most NBA officials believe Thompson is worth $10 million a year, $12 million if his agent can stretch it. Thompson rejected a deal worth $13 million a year.
Even with the salary cap expected to spike in the upcoming years, Thompson is not going to get a contract offer much higher than that. The power forward certainly has potential at just 23. He is averaging 9.7 points and 7.9 rebounds this year, but no team will view him more than a $13 million player. This could make Thompson's future with the Cavaliers extremely uncertain.
There is little to no chance the Cavaliers try and trade Thompson because of this contract rejection. Right now the team simply needs to work on chemistry instead of continuing to shake the rotation up. Plus, the Cavaliers need size desperately and that is one thing Thompson is good for. However, the team might not put up a huge fight in free agency if Thompson cannot lessen his contract demands. The power forward reportedly wants a max deal and Cleveland likely will not hand it over.
Thompson's demands are hurt by the fact that Love and LeBron James need new deals in the upcoming two seasons as well. The Cavaliers will be extremely quick to offer Love a max deal and will give James likely anything he wants which could leave Thompson on the outside looking in if he is unwilling to work with the team. Of course with the trades for Timofey Mozgov, JR Smith and Iman Shumpert not working out just yet, Thompson could be sent packing sooner than some expect.
