Tristan Thompson’s agent isn’t Jerry McGuire, but it is Rich Paul. Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson was missing in action at the Cavs media day yesterday afternoon. It didn’t come as a surprise as Thompson is still in contract negotiations with the team. Thompson, who turned down a max deal worth $53 million dollar over three years is seeking max player money. With Thompson being a restricted free agent, he will have until Thursday to sign a qualifying one-year deal that hovers a little over $6 million dollars. Thompson, who is not a max player by any means is trying to force the Cavs hand in paying him a hefty deal.
General Manager David Griffin already has over $200 million dollars tied up in the Cavs frontcourt with the contracts of Kevin Love, Anderson Varaejo, Timofey Mozgov, and LeBron James. To be honest, Thompson’s agent Rich Paul is using the new NBA salary cap to his advantage even though Thompson isn’t close to being a max deal player.
Thompson is average at best, but he has shown some flashes during his time in Cleveland. With the new NBA salary cap, mediocre players such as Thompson will make an absurd amount of money. The Cavs are fine without Thompson now that they have a healthy Kevin Love and Anderson Varaejo. Thompson may do a lot of things that don’t grace the box score, but at the price he wants it’s close to being laughable. It would be likely that Thompson will play under the qualifying offer, and some team can foolishly pay him max player money when he is an unrestricted free agent.
In the best interest of Thompson’s career he would be smart to accept a long-term deal with the Cavs for a very reasonable price. Playing with LeBron James is as enjoyable as it gets, and with James being as unselfish as he is, he always looks to get his teammates opportunities to flourish. As a basketball fan it pains me to see a player of Thompson’s stature ask for an armor truck full of money. Star players or even players on the cusp of being special may get a pass, but Tristan Thompson has to look in the mirror to see that he is not in the same breath to the other players who make max money. At 24 years of age, Thompson will get his pay day someday, but it shouldn’t come anytime soon. Memo to the Cavs: Kudos for standing pat, because Thompson’s not worth the price of admission that he’s asking for.
