The Cleveland Cavaliers have long been in a contract dispute with Tristan Thompson and, for a while, it seemed like the end wasn’t near. Now, we’re just two and a half days removed from the deadline of Tristan Thompson’s qualifying offer.
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Thompson originally demanded a 5-year. $94 million max contract while the Cavs offered a still-great deal at 5-year, $80 million. Neither side budged until Thompson marginally lowered his demand and is now willing to accept a 3-year, $53 million. Unfortunately that isn’t a big change as it is still a max contract, only at three years instead of five.
The Cavs, in turn, are not even interesting in paying Thompson that much and/or for that long, but they are reportedly willing to increase their offer of 5-year, $80 million. It is unknown how much they’d increase their offer, but it likely won’t be much since the originally offered deal would have Thompson earning an average of $16 million per year.
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David Griffin spoke out about the Thompson situation at Cavs Media Day on Monday.
“Obviously we love Tristan Thompson and we want him to be part of our future moving forward and I think everything in our actions and our offer indicate that. We also believe very strongly that Tristan loves this team and he loves competing with these guys. We think everything in his actions to this point have demonstrated the same.”
“I think we feel very good about where this is because of who Tristan is and the relationship he has with his teammates.”
Stay tuned for the latest on Tristan Thompson.