The drama between Tristan Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers continues to heat up. The two sides have been going back and forth on contract talks this offseason with little to no progress being made. Thompson has not backed down from his five-year, $94 million stance while the Cavaliers are offering much less and not upping it. Now with the deadline having passed to sign his qualifying offer, what happens next?
According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, the deadline for Thompson to sign his one-year, $6.8 million qualifying offer as a free agent. Now things get complicated as the options are thin to get Thompson back in a jersey and practicing with the team. The Cavaliers must now hope they can agree to a long-term deal or another one-year deal at a different price. Agent Rich Paul could also seek outside contracts, but the Cavaliers remain the right to match any offer on the power forward.
At this point, Thompson has not been participating in practice and will continue to holdout until a deal is reached. General manager David Griffin has optimism that a deal with Thompson will be agreed upon. According to Chris Broussard of ESPN, both sides turned down a three-year, $53 million offer and negotiations have been stalling since.
We fully expect that tomorrow he will be here in some form or fashion," Griffin said during NBA TV's broadcast of Thursday's training camp via ESPN.com. "We're hopeful that he wants to move forward with his teammates in the same way that we want to have Tristan here. If we can come to some agreement, then we will."
For now, the Cavaliers are continuing with business as usual. LeBron James made it clear that he is not active in Thompson's contract talks and while he wants the power forward back with the team, he is focused on practice. According to James, that involves getting Kevin Love the ball more. Love is the starter over Thompson and now that he is healthy, James wants him more active. The Cavaliers re-signed Love in the offseason, a contract that is likely hurting Thompson's negotiations.
"I just think he's more comfortable in the situation that he's in," James said, via ESPN.com "He's got a year under his belt; he knows what he expects out of himself and what his teammates expect out of him. I expect big things from him this year with a year up under his belt."
With Thompson not practicing and Iman Shumpert injured, the Cavaliers are now dealing with depth issues. Anderson Varejao is working back into practice after a season-ending Achilles injury. He will be used more along with Timofey Mozgov who will start at center over the Brazilian veteran. The Cavaliers still need Thompson if they intend to compete for a title this season.
