Report: Cavs willing to up $80M offer, GM 'very confident' Thompson will be with team
Training camp for the Cleveland Cavaliers began with media availability Monday, and restricted free agent Tristan Thompson was nowhere to be found.
Thompson, who's still without a contract, has yet to report to the team and it's unclear if he'll show up at any point before a deal is done. Despite the lingering contract negotiations, general manager David Griffin said the situation isn't taking the focus off the franchise's goal for 2015-16.
"We're here to win titles," Griffin said. "No one take this as a distraction."
Griffin sidestepped questions about ongoing negotiations to some degree but expressed optimism that Thompson will eventually be a part of what the Cavs are trying to do.
"We love Tristan Thompson," Griffin said. "We feel very good about where this is. ... Very confident we're gonna have a terrific team and very confident (Thompson) will be part of it."
The Cavaliers reportedly offered Thompson a five-year, $80-million contract, while Thompson's camp has been pushing for $94 million over the same time span. Thompson's primary leverage is signing his one-year, $6.9-million qualifying offer, becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2016 in the process, but that offer expires Thursday.
LeBron says he is "optimistic" about the Tristan Thompson negotiations, but said he is not getting involved.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) September 28, 2015
Cleveland's willing to up its five-year offer, according to a report from Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group, but it's not willing to go to the max on a five- or three-year deal. That could be in part because it's already facing a potentially historic luxury tax bill for the season, and every dollar paid to Thompson this year will cost the team far more in tax obligations.
It's unclear exactly how high the Cavaliers are willing to go, or if Thompson's camp is open to meeting in the middle of the reported $14-million gap.
Should Thompson remain unsigned past Thursday, he'd be considered a holdout but not subject to any fines, as players without a contract aren't required to be at camp. The Cavs can extend the qualifying offer deadline but aren't expected to do so.
While the Cavs have some leverage with frontcourt depth, Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov, and Anderson Varejao are all coming off surgeries. Thompson's camp knows the franchise is going all-in to bring the city its first sports championship in over 50 years, and the team has repeatedly floated that it believes a maximum offer will be made for Thompson if he enters next summer's market as an unrestricted free agent.
The 24-year-old Thompson averaged 8.5 points and eight rebounds last season, shooting 54.7 percent from the floor and taking on a larger role in the playoffs as necessitated by injuries.