The Cleveland Cavaliers saw Tristan Thompson let the qualifying offer deadline pass without signing and now he is a holdout from training camp. Thompson was reportedly not at practice on Friday and he likely will stay away from the team until he signs a contract.
Thompson has been looking for a max deal with the Cavaliers and the sides have not been able to agree on a contract. According to Cleveland.com, Thompson is staying away from training camp and was not at practice on Friday. If Thompson signed his qualifying offer, it would have made him a free agent next summer after a one year deal this season.
The Cavs and Tristan Thompson have still not been able to agree to a contract and things could extend into October and close to the start of the season. According to Brian Windhorst at ESPN, the Cavs and Thompson have been at a "stalemate." Kevin Love is the starter and he just signed a max deal and Thompson is reportedly looking for a contract near $90 million. The Cavs have reportedly offered an $80 million deal over five years, but that was rejected.
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Thompson is looking to get paid like other players at his position around the league. Some names mentioned by Basketball Insiders regarding Thompson include deals for Tyson Chandler, Enes Kanter, Robin Lopez and Amir Johnson and Thompson is looking to get paid around $15 million per season or more.
The Cavs are also dealing with an injury to Kyrie Irving. Irving was injured in the NBA finals last season against the Warriors after suffering a fractured kneecap and he had surgery for the injury. According to Chris Haynes at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Irving is making good progress in his recovery from surgery, but sources report that Irving could be "unavailable up until January" while coming back from his injury. Irving initially was diagnosed to be out three to four months and now that timetable will be extended.
While losing Irving for any period of time is bad for the Cavaliers, the team has some depth at point guard with Mo Williams and Matthew Dellavedova. There is a chance the team could try and sign or trade for another point guard, but there has been no major news on that front yet. The team signed Quinn Cook to a camp deal and if he plays well he could get a chance to at least hang around until Irving is back healthy. Williams was likely going to play significant minutes with Irving coming back from an injury, so this isn't totally out of the blue for the Cavs.
The Cavaliers are built to be a playoff team and that is more important for the team than pressing Irving to come back fast. Haynes reports that the team will "bring him back slowly" so that Irving does not have a "setback" in his recovery. Irving is a key player for the Cavaliers and having him fully healthy for half a season and the playoffs is more important than having him 60-80 percent healthy and risking the chance of a setback.
