Tristan Thompson is officially a hold out. The power forward has been fighting for a new contract this offseason as a restricted free agent and he and the Cleveland Cavaliers remain in a staring contest while neither have yet to blink. Thompson and the Cavaliers are not backing down from their respective demands and with the deadline passing to sign a qualifying offer, is the forward destined to head elsewhere sooner rather than later?
ESPN's Dave McMenamin is reporting that Thompson did not sign his qualifying offer of one-year and $6.8 million which means he either signs a long-term contract with the Cavaliers or does not play. Yes, Thompson could sign another one-year deal likely worth a different value, but regardless he either needs to agree to some kind of contract in Cleveland or not play this season.
As a restricted free agent, teams can still make an offer on Thompson. The Cavaliers reserve the right to match it, but interest could come in on the power forward. At this point, teams will be hard-pressed to meet his contract demands which have ranged anywhere from five years and $94 million to three years and $53 million, but sign-and-trade moves or something else could be worked out. At this point, all signs point to Thompson heading elsewhere in free agency next summer as agent Rich Paul told the Cleveland Plain Dealer the Toronto Raptors will come calling.
Of course, this could be Paul just tossing out team names to pressure the Cavaliers to make a move. Notice he mentioned an Eastern Conference team that would face Cleveland several times in a season. The Raptors may or may not be interested in Thompson. There is no hard evidence to prove they are. If the Raptors are considering the power forward, it will not be until next season and even then they might not take a look. Toronto spent a lot of money in the offseason which is causing them to hold off on contract talks with DeMar DeRozan.
General manager Masai Ujiri confirmed to Sportsnet.ca that there will not be contract talks with DeRozan this offseason. The star is available for a new deal now, but can also opt out and get more money next summer when the salary caps increase. Ujiri expects that to be the case for DeRozan and the Raptors will likely still be in play no matter what.
"There will be no extension talks with DeMar [before the end of the 2015-16 season]," Ujiri said, via Sportsnet. "He can only extend for a certain amount of money and I just foresee that DeMar sees himself- and we see him- as more than that type of a player. So I think DeMar is going to wait to see how it goes this year and do the best deal for himself, and we'll do the best deal for ourselves, too."
Would the Raptors offer max money to both DeRozan and Thompson next offseason? That is up for debate. Of course Thompson would be an upgrade from Patrick Patterson, but he would also be much more expensive.
