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Tristan Thompson signs with the Cavaliers
Tristan Thompson’s agent Rich Paul confirmed to Yahoo Sports’ Marc. J. Spears about the former’s contract finally coming through with the Cavaliers. The fully guaranteed 5-year $ 82 million deal was first reported by a beat writer for the Cavaliers, Chris Haynes:
Earning an average of 16.4 million dollars per season, Thompson becomes the sixth-highest paid power forward in the league behind teammate Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap and tied with the Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green. The final amount Thompson signed for also makes him the most expensive player in the league to come off the bench.
The deal completes the management’s mission of bringing back the core of the team that went to the NBA Finals last season. Although it will cost the franchise heavily in luxury tax (almost 60 million), owner Dan Gilbert refuses to hide his checkbook when the team are mighty close to winning a championship. With the other deals this summer of LeBron James, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, Gilbert will have a roster worth 170 million, second behind the record of 193 million set by the Brooklyn Nets couple of years back.
Four months of endless negotiations
On July 1st, the first day of the 2015 free agency numerous reports emerged of the Cavs and Thompson’s camp nearing an agreement on the latter’s contract. However no further news came out and the negotiations went on to a point where LeBron called them a “distraction” during the team’s pre-season games. The Cleveland camp never doubted the value of Thompson’s energy game to the team but it was the contract amount that was being debated.
This contract negotiation took many twists and turns since reports came out, of both parties coming close to an agreement. As the month of August came to a close, Rich Paul had made it clear that if Thompson played on a qualifying offer this season, it would be his last in Cleveland. Thompson, a Toronto native would have his eyes set on returning home and playing for the Raptors come the summer of 2016.
The Cleveland front office tried their hand and presented a one-year qualifying offer sheet to Thompson in September worth 6.8 million dollars but when the clock struck midnight on October 2nd, the deadline had passed for the restricted free agent to re-sign. So as the negotiations continued, only a long term deal was the solution yet both parties weren’t conclusively in agreement on the money involved.
Thompson’s value to the current Cavaliers roster
Based on his value, Thompson could be the Cavaliers third most important player after James and Kyrie Irving. He keeps possessions alive with his work on the offensive glass and his body is a huge presence on the defensive end not just as a post defender but as a shotblocker as well. With the importance and value of small ball growing each day in the league, Thompson’s mobility for his size makes him an easy choice to play center when the team decides to go small.
While James did much of the heavy lifting in the Playoffs last season, Thompson’s contribution was crucial as well. If it weren’t for him the Cavaliers would have got destroyed in the paint once Love went down with a shoulder injury in the first round against the Boston Celtics.
His fitness and health are also key here, with a majority of the roster not 100% fit for the start of the regular season. Irving is expected to return in January, Love will play restricted minutes till he is completely comfortable with his shoulder, Andersen Varejao hasn’t completely recovered from his Achilles tear he suffered last December and Iman Shumpert is set to miss three months with a right wrist injury he suffered at training camp.
The contract signing might not have turned out in a way both parties had hoped for yet the end result is what everybody wanted. Thompson’s much-needed presence on the court is sure to lift the spirits of a somewhat depleted Cavaliers roster.
Anyway, Thompson was upbeat that the talks had reached an agreeable solution and he took to social media to express his happiness:
Guess the Bulls players in this quiz and it's not going to be easy!
