NBA

Tristan Thompson demands a maximum-level contract from Cavs

Tristan Thompson will leave the Cleveland Cavaliers next season if he is not handed a lucrative long-term deal, according to the player's agent.

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Tristan Thompson finds himself at the center of one of the most complex free agency situations of the last decade. This is why he remains the highest-profile free agent after six weeks on the market with no end in sight.

Thompson, an excellent offensive rebounder and pick-and-roll player who proved valuable in the Cavs’ run to the Finals, is believed to be looking for a maximum-level contract of around $94 million over five years, and the Cavs’ offers have been for significantly less (about $80 million). That’s a ton of money, even against a rising salary cap, especially when the Cavaliers already have $88.6 million in guaranteed commitments on next season’s books before accounting for Thompson. One of Thompson’s options is to accept a one-year qualifying offer for $6.8 million that would allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

One of the reasons LeBron James opted out of his deal was to keep the Cavaliers honest and ensure they give his teammate, rugged power forward Tristan Thompson, a maximum contract. James and Thompson share an agent in Rich Paul. James is Cleveland savior, their lifeline. Anything he wants, he’s supposed to get. And that’s what makes this so weird.

With contract talks at an impasse for a month, the agent for restricted free-agent forward Thompson warned the Cavaliers on Monday that if his client is forced into accepting a one-year contract, the upcoming season will be his last season with the team.

“If [Thompson] is on the qualifying offer, [this] will be his last year with the Cavs,” agent Rich Paul told.

He averaged 8.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per game and had an even bigger impact in the postseason, notching 9.6 points and 10.8 rebounds in 36.4 minutes per contest.