At 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 1, the standoff between Tristan Thompson and the Cleveland Cavaliers reached a new level. That is when the Cavaliers' qualifying offer of one year, $6.8 million expired. Now, their contract dispute has ventured into the "hold out" world.
Throughout the summer, both sides have been trying to negotiate a new deal but repeatedly coming up short. At first, Thompson's agent, Rich Paul, was looking for a five-year, $94 million max contract. However, the Cavaliers countered with an $80 million offer over five years. That was turned down. According to ESPN's Chris Broussard, Thompson's demands were slightly reduced to $53 million deal over three years, but the Cavs didn't give in. Instead, they gave the aforementioned qualifying offer which wasn't accepted.
Now, everyone from head coach David Blatt to the Quicken Loans Arena are preparing for life without Tristan on the team. When asked about Thompson's absence, Blatt said, "We’ve got to focus on the now and here and that’s what we’re doing.” Meanwhile, the team store on the Cavs' website doesn't recognize him.
And The Q is removing all items with Thompson's likeness.
At some point, one of these sides is going to cave in. If the Seahawks/Kam Chancellor situation taught us anything, it will probably be Tristan.
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[via ESPN]
