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2:02pm: The deal is official, the Cavs announced.
THURSDAY, 1:41pm: Thompson has put pen to paper on his contract, Haynes tweets. The Cavs have yet to acknowledge the signing publicly.
WEDNESDAY, 5:58pm: The Cavaliers and restricted free agent power forward Tristan Thompson have reached an agreement on a five-year, $82MM deal, Chris Haynes of The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports (Twitter link). Rich Paul, Thompson’s agent, has confirmed the agreement with the Cavs to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), who also notes that the pact is fully guaranteed. The arrangement includes no options, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com tweets.
This news comes as a bit of a surprise, seeing how the two sides reportedly haven’t been in contact with each other since Thompson let the Cavaliers’ qualifying offer expire at the beginning of October. Cleveland held the upper hand in these negotiations since Thompson’s choices were limited to signing a long term deal with the Cavs, signing an offer sheet with another team, or continuing to sit out. March 1st would have been the last day for him to sign an offer sheet this season, if the drama dragged on that long, and if he held out all season, Cleveland would have had the chance to issue another qualifying offer to renew his restricted free agency next July.
It had appeared on the opening day of free agency that the sides were close on a five-year, $80MM deal, but the power forward instead had reportedly sought the max of around $94MM over five years, though Thompson was later said to prefer a three-year max contract, something that Cleveland had little interest in agreeing to. The full value of a three-year max for Thompson would have been worth precisely $52,914,188. Tim Bontemps of The New York Post had predicted that Thompson would end up re-signing for five years and $85MM, a number not far off the amount reported by Haynes.
The 24-year-old will become the sixth highest paid power forward in the league behind Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap, and David Lee. It’s debatable whether or not Thompson is worth being compensated at this level, especially given the luxury tax hit that will be tacked on. Thompson’s numbers through 306 career NBA contests are 10.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks to accompany a slash line of .488/.000/.633.
The Cavaliers currently possess a roster count of 20 players, including 13 with fully guaranteed contracts, which is the preseason maximum, so a corresponding move will need to be made prior to Thompson’s deal becoming official.
Not worth it. All he does is rebound
It’s much closer to what the Cavs were offering than to what Thompson was asking for. It’s a good deal for Cleveland and a tradable contract if they ever decide to go in that direction.
Yeah, it sounds like the Cavs got pretty much what they wanted here. Thompson signs at a number that’s in their ballpark, and while he misses camp, he’s there for opening night. Of course, the deal isn’t shabby for Thompson, either. Just not what he sought.
Cleveland paying bench players starters money, what a joke…..
It’s hard to think of Thompson as the sixth-highest paid power forward in the league, It helps to have LeBron in your corner.
He ranked 4th in minutes played last year so he’s not your typical “bench player”. I felt that 5/$80 was an overpay and was disappointed that he waited this long to sign but his value and potential upside makes it digestible as he would easily be a starter on half the teams in the NBA.
If you look at him as a poor mans DeAndre Jordan and consider how bad off the Cavs would be should Kevin Love sustain a serious injury then it might be worth the overpay for a non-starter.
Having the 4th highest minutes and deserving those minutes are completely different and to top it off with all those minutes just 8 and 8 per game come on you can get a hungry fringe player to put up those numbers given the minutes
You can’t just say they can go out and get a fringe player to post the same numbers. Show facts.
Yes. Paying him $16 mil as a back up player who is not a defensive force is an overpay. However, Marcin Gorat signed a 5/$60 mil deal.
Rebounds Per Game
1. DeAndre Jordan ▪ LAC 15.0
2. Andre Drummond ▪ DET 13.5
3. DeMarcus Cousins ▪ SAC 12.7
4. Pau Gasol ▪ CHI 11.8
5. Tyson Chandler ▪ DAL 11.5
6. Nikola Vucevic ▪ ORL 10.9
7. Zach Randolph ▪ MEM 10.5
8. Anthony Davis ▪ NOP 10.2
9. LaMarcus Aldridge ▪ POR 10.2
10. Greg Monroe ▪ DET 10.2
11. Omer Asik ▪ NOP 9.8
12. Kevin Love ▪ CLE 9.7
13. Joakim Noah ▪ CHI 9.6
14. Rudy Gobert ▪ UTA 9.5
15. Tim Duncan ▪ SAS 9.1
16. Enes Kanter ▪ TOT 8.9
17. Kenneth Faried ▪ DEN 8.9
18. Marcin Gortat ▪ WAS 8.7
19. Jonas Valanciunas ▪ TOR 8.7
20. Al Jefferson ▪ CHO 8.4
Those are all guys that had more than the 8 rebounds per that Tristan had.
a) Look at what the market is paying for elite rebounders.
b) Who was available and was obtainable for the Cavs this offseason?
Thompson can defend pick and rolls, Mozgov can’t. Thus his value.
Cavs aren’t done. Theyre gonna owe something like $2B in luxury taxes.
Varejao $10M is hurt and expendable now. Portland has $19M in cap space.
So thats the price of defending pick and rolls these days? Yeah sure…
Apparently so, right? Lol,
Tristan Thompson cannot defend the pick and roll……
He reminds me of a center the way he plays not a pf.
I wonder if CLE realizes that their $82 mil rebounding specialist TT was 32nd in rebs/48min during the reg season and 34th in rebs/48min during the postseason
If Celtics PF David Lee can command his ridiculous salary , then Tristan Thompson should b paid double Lee’s crazy salary. Point being neither 1 of them r worth their outrageous salaries. They r marginal players at best. Agree?