CLEVELAND, Ohio – – Has Tristan Thompson and his agent Rich Paul taken things too far?
Has the quest for more money taken the fifth-year power forward into precarious territory?
Has the refusal to join in on LeBron James’ voluntary pre-training camp workouts taken Thompson out of LeBron’s favor?
As Cavaliers shooting guard Joe Harris has said about LeBron James this off-season “He is on a mission” to win a championship. The contract situation has changed Thompson into a disgruntled player. His agent Rich Paul has convinced Thompson that he is a max contract player. The only problem with that is he is for the most part a bench player on most, if not all good teams.
Most Cavaliers fans would agree that Tristan Thompson was a fan favorite behind the big three. But this contract situation has shown everyone that he values a few more million a year over loyalty and being on a perpetual championship contending team.
David Griffin and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been generous in offering Thompson what has been reported as a $80,000,000 five-year deal, securing his future on a contender till he is in his 30’s.
But an over-reaching agent and a player convinced to be greedy can change fans opinions in that player quickly. It would be understandable if Thompson was a two-way player, an All-Star and a starter.
Now Thompson has the Cleveland fan-base confused as to what the big man wants. His relationship with LeBron James was thought to be close, but when you make decisions that affect the team goal of winning a NBA championship, then you have alienated yourself from them.
Almost every player on the Cavaliers roster (not named LeBron James) have made decisions that will be team friendly in the near future with the five-year contracts of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving making them affordable and reasonable in a few years.
Mo Williams and J.R. Smith are playing on team friendly contract for bench players. So why does Tristan Thompson think he can ask for a max contract?
At this point, both sides have dug in for the long run in these contract negotiations, but training camp begins at the end of the month. Time has pretty much run out. Thompson’s agent has advised him that he played this game multiple times with mostly success.
However, the contract of a rising star in Eric Bledsoe is drastically different from an above average power forward with a one-way game.
The one thing that Rich Paul has forgotten to remind Thompson is that he is not only betting on himself to be better this year, but playing a risky game of “cat and mouse” that could change the Canadian’s future long-term. Will ANYONE offer Thompson 18 million a year if he is injured or is under-utilized as a combative distraction? Has he brought up how his other client, former Washington Wizard big man Kevin Seraphin bet on himself and lost? Seraphin is now playing for the N.Y. Knicks on a very team friendly contract paying him 2.8 million a year. It does not always work out for a player to hold out for more money.
What the Cavaliers should do and end this standoff is to play “Deal or No Deal” with the big man by offering the five-year $80,000,000 contract and saying “This IS our final offer, take it or sign the qualifying offer.”
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It seems obvious that team chemistry is not a concern for Thompson – he is not worried about alienating himself from the rest of the team – so the fact that a championship is not his main goal is unsettling to all the players, especially those who have signed on for less to play with LeBron James.
LeBron James has the upper hand in most situations with the Cavaliers and if he really wanted Thompson long-term he would have made that very apparent to the team and G.M. David Griffin.
But, LeBron is smart and knows that the money spent on Thompson could hamstring the team in the future so that they could not acquire the needed talent in the future because of the max contact Thompson has to have today.
Either way, Thompson will be playing for the Cavaliers for the 2015/2016 season.
All that being said, would you disrespect the best payer on the planet by not going to the pre-training camp workouts and risk alienating the team?