The Cleveland Cavaliers opened up free agency in early July by offering power forward Tristan Thompson a 5 year, $80-82 million dollar contract. For months he decided not to settle for the Cavs 5-year, $80 million contract instead demanding a 5-year $94 million max contract. He even let his qualifying offer pass by, showing the Cavs that he wanted to come to an agreement and get back to the court. Thompson sat at home and worked out by himself for weeks, even missing all of the Cavs training camp and preseason until finally, Thompson signed a 5-year, $82 million deal to keep him in Cleveland.
Thompson is a client of the agency Klutch Sports and is represented by Rich Paul. Paul just so happens to be LeBron James’ agent. LeBron considers Tristan to be his little brother, and the plan for Thompson to get be a member of the Cavs for a long time came true on Thursday.
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James signed a two-year deal with the Cavs early on. With James essentially being a no-brainer to return, the ultimate question in basketball is whether Thompson is deserving of the money he’s requesting. Here are three reasons why he is worth it.
Click “Next” to see the first reason why Tristan Thompson is worth the money.
The first reason is that Thompson can be considered a glue guy. Not many teams have that one great ‘glue guy,’ so if the Cavs have a chance to bring him back, they have to do it. This is a young player who is still, raw but has tremendous upside to his game. You can’t teach some of the things he does; he hustles, he rebounds extremely well on the offensive and defensive end, and he brings a certain energy to the game when he is on the floor. If the Cavaliers are struggling, Thompson can make a spectacular play that serves as a spark-plug to the rest of the team. This role would almost be like the one of Varejao: Provide energy and rebound the basketball.
Click “Next” to see the second reason why Tristan Thompson is worth the money.
The second reason is his statistics will only improve from here. Thompson is only 24 years of age, and sure, he only averaged 8.5 points per game. However, he did pull down 8.0 rebounds per a game and he only started 15 games out of the 82. In more of a featured role next year alongside LeBron James he is sure to be in line for a big year. It will be fun to watch his improvement as a basketball player.
Click “Next” to see the third and final reason why Tristan Thompson is worth the money.
The third and last reason Thompson is worth the money is because Thompson has a great attitude towards the game of basketball. What he does on the floor cannot be taught: he hustles, rebounds, follows directions, and knows his limits on the basketball court enough to know when something is out of his skillset. Him having a positive attitude and appreciating being in the NBA is half the battle. This will take him very far and enable him to have a long NBA career hopefully with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Altogether, I believe Tristan Thompson is well worth the money, but he will have to continue improving his game on both sides of the floor to validate that.
