Thompson still not at Cavs camp after qualifying offer deadline passes

With his qualifying offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers now expired, Tristan Thompson opted not to join the team for training camp again Friday.

While this is mostly an expected development since Thompson remains without a contract, Cavs general manager David Griffin expressed optimism Thursday that Thompson would be at camp "in some form or fashion." Thompson can now be considered a holdout, though without a contract he's not subject to any fines or punishment for his absence.

Thompson had until midnight Thursday to sign the one-year, $6.8-million qualifying offer the Cavaliers were required to tender him in order to retain his rights as a restricted free agent. He remains a restricted free agent, and the only real difference in his contract status is that the one-year deal is no longer sitting there for him to sign.

If he'd signed the qualifying offer, Thompson would have entered unrestricted free agency at season's end. In allowing the deadline to pass, he's relinquished that possibility, barring an unlikely one-year contract offer from Cleveland.

Thompson has reportedly been holding firm to a demand for a maximum contract. The Cavs have reportedly offered a five-year, $80-million deal and may be willing to go higher than that number, but the sides are yet to meet anywhere in the middle. Thompson remains a restricted free agent and will continue trying to negotiate a long-term deal, but his primary leverage has now expired.

Rich Paul, the agent for Thompson and superstar LeBron James, knows the franchise is going all-in to bring the city its first sports championship in over 50 years. Thompson's camp has repeatedly floated that it believes there are other teams ready to make a maximum offer if he hits the market unrestricted, but their means of getting to unrestricted free agency have now disappeared.

The Cavs, meanwhile, have frontcourt depth and the ability to grind out a more favorable long-term deal. But they enter camp with several injured players, the risk of upsetting James the longer this drags on, and, as a title contender, an incredibly high marginal value placed on any perceived gain (including depth) come playoff time.

In other words, the negotiation is not suddenly simpler because the qualifying offer is gone. If it were, a deal would have been struck at midnight. The stalemate continues until it doesn't.