NBA Rumors: Tristan Thompson Rejected $80 Million offer, Cleveland Cavaliers Respond

By Jomar Endriga
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Tristan Thompson stands firm on decision to reject Cavaliers' five-year $80 million offer.  Wikimedia Commons

It was reported a few days ago that restricted free agent Tristan Thompson and his agent Rich Paul will not be accepting any deal less than the $94 million max contract spread over five years which they have repeatedly requested from the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Paul has maintained that his client will only sign the said max contract and will leave the Cavaliers franchise following the 2015-16 season if ever he is forced to play out this coming year on the team's initial offer.

Thompson reportedly believes that the offer was not at par with what his colleagues were getting in this summer free agency. Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders observes that the problem with the Cavaliers' $80 million offer is that most players in Thompson's talent range got "substantially more." The majority is receiving the NBA maximum salary, some for less years, but most for the same year-one dollar amount.

Because of that, Thompson's camp rejected the $80 million qualifying offer and demanded the Cleveland Cavaliers to improve it based on what everyone else in the player's peer range is getting.

While Paul and Thompson are standing firm on their price, it appears that the Cavaliers are also holding their ground as they are only willing to offer Thompson their original deal. Chris Haynes, a Cavaliers beat reporter and NBA Insider for Northeast Ohio Media Group, recently joined Hoops Rumor to talk about this issue.

"I'm not really sure what the outcome will be, but all I know is Rich Paul is asking for five years and $94 million and the Cavaliers are $14 million short of that figure. That's Randy Moss-type separation. There's limited to zero communication between the two sides because of that tremendous gap," Haynes shared.

The Cavaliers apparently feel that they have already offered Thompson a long-term deal he deserves; an offer which is said to be deserving for a backup power forward that averaged 8.0 rebounds and 8.5 points in the last season.

Chris Haynes further explained that, "The Cavaliers believe they've presented a more-than-generous offer for a player who figures to be a backup for them. I suspect a long-term deal is reached closer to camp. Paul has shown he's more than willing to play the waiting game."

Whatever deal the Cavaliers and Thompson end up agreeing to, fans will surely know less than one month from now as the deadline for accepting the offer is set on October 1.

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