Cavaliers agree to 5-year, $82M contract with RFA Tristan Thompson

[Blame Rasho]

Reminds me when the Heat gave a stupid 100 million dollar contract to a player just like Thompson, in Brian Grant. He isn't the first nor last player to get an absurd contract.

[gsw408]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/espn/status/657008568084729857[/tweet]

Kings better get ready for that 170 million dollars. This just paved the way for all 6-7th spot for bench players. What a time to be alive to see a bench player get 80+ million lol

[OptionZero]

Rich Paul lost already kids. He threatened to take the QO if there was no max offer from CLE; CLE called his bluff, TT ended up taking his original offer. An offer that any agent could have gotten from a win-now CLE team that was over the cap already and needed to appease Lebron.

Other teams negotiating with Paul know that he won't follow through with the QO. For all the praise he got for Bledsoe's contract . . . he also demanded the max, get. His other client, Kevin Seraphim, straight up lost money.

Paul's a **** joke, claiming to push around the Cavs around when you "represent" Lebron and failing to get what you're demanding is a failure.

Can't wait for a Lebron injury to see this overpaid collection of losers fall apart. Enjoy your $82M backup PF!

[RRyder823]

I personally love how people are saying it's a HUGE overpay, which it is, and just how bad of an agent Rich Paul is in the next breath.

[Gomagic44]

Underpaid for his contributions.

Really? lol ok. Delay should at least get 13 a year, right? What does Tobias Harris' contract look like next to TT?


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[Downtown]

Rich Paul lost already kids. He threatened to take the QO if there was no max offer from CLE; CLE called his bluff, TT ended up taking his original offer. An offer that any agent could have gotten from a win-now CLE team that was over the cap already and needed to appease Lebron.

Other teams negotiating with Paul know that he won't follow through with the QO. For all the praise he got for Bledsoe's contract . . . he also demanded the max, get. His other client, Kevin Seraphim, straight up lost money.

Paul's a **** joke, claiming to push around the Cavs around when you "represent" Lebron and failing to get what you're demanding is a failure.

I disagree. Rich Paul's job as an agent is to get his clients the best contract he can. Posturing and big bravado talk is just that. The underlying goal is getting your client the best you can in any manner of negotiating. Paul did just that. Cleveland wasn't going to give the absolute max. It's a very slim chance any other team would have if Thompson accepted the qualifying offer by the deadline. And I assume because he signed before the regular season started Thompson's contract isn't pro rated for the pre season?

Is there a single person out there that feels Tristan Thompson sold out too low? I didn't think so. They squeezed every last dollar they could. I would say that's the mark of a good agent despite what some perceive as not following through on his threat of a max deal or nothing.

[Mk0]

Underpaid for his contributions.

Really? lol ok. Delay should at least get 13 a year, right? What does Tobias Harris' contract look like next to TT?


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Rich Paul screwed the pooch by not getting the deal they wanted. No matter what TT was going to be overpaid. There wasn't any chance that he was going to get a reasonable contract.

[jason bourne]

I was surprised this happened like a lot of people. I guess Rich Paul has some pull after all and that re-signing LeBron is involved in the negotiations. That said, when have the Cavs been favored to win it all before LeBron came back? The NBA GM survey listed Cleveland as the top team followed by San Antonio and my Golden State Warriors.

"PREDICTIONS

> Which team will win the 2016 NBA Finals?
1. Cleveland -- 53.6%
2. San Antonio -- 25.0%
3. Golden State -- 17.9%
4. Oklahoma City -- 3.6%
Last year: San Antonio -- 46.2%"

[taikibansei]

I don't get how so many people here can see this is as some great victory for either Rich Paul or Tristan Thompson. Cleveland opened the bargaining at 5-years, 80-million. I.e., for whatever reason, that's how Cleveland originally pegged his worth.

TT and Paul then rejected that offer, publicly and loudly. Moreover, for the last three months, TT and Paul have been demanding the max and making all these threats about TT leaving if they didn't get there way. Paul has also been implying that other, max offers existed.

Well, TT didn't get the max...and yet TT is still in Cleveland. Moreover, three months of posturing and threats...for a $400,000/year raise?

That's not a victory.

[-TheDocOfDenial]

Bye Bye Mozgov

[NBAfan3024]

Bye Bye Mozgov

This won't affect them signing him at all

[mademan]

Bye Bye Mozgov

This won't affect them signing him at all

Ya, i dont see that big of a market for him either. Dudes about to turn 30..how many teams are gonna give a 4/5 year contract to a 30 year old solid, non-all-star Centre

[bondom34]

How many guys would you put over him? I agree he's not Deandre or Dwight, but there's few guys out there I'd take over him battling on the boards.

I know it's counter-intuitive because he sometimes looks like a truly great rebounder, but there's years worth of numbers and observations backing up that he's not near the level you think he is. In the playoffs, he was outrebounded by guys like Draymond, Gasol, Duncan, etc--guys who aren't super rebounders (at lost not anymore for the last two). And per minute he pulled down substantially fewer boards than guys like Drew Gooden, David Lee, Bogut, Tyson Chandler, etc. Per minute he was 36th in last year's playoffs, 11th among starting players.

Elite rebounders like D12 and DeAndre aren't just a little better than him--they pulled down almost 25% more rebounds than him. That blows his #s out of the water, and comparing him to them is like comparing Diaw or Batum or some other mediocre rebounder to him. He could certainly get better but right now he's just an offensive rebounding specialist, isn't good at D rebs despite years of coaches working with him.

All of this. And he's not even a plus defender by really any measure. Most of his real value is offense, but people are comparing him to the guy he replaced (Love) who he's relatively a better defender. For the regular season they were better defensively with him on the bench than the court.


All that said, its defensible though still a bad deal.

[theonlyclutch]

Bye Bye Mozgov

This won't affect them signing him at all

Ya, i dont see that big of a market for him either. Dudes about to turn 30..how many teams are gonna give a 4/5 year contract to a 30 year old solid, non-all-star Centre

- Gortat got 12 mil per, 5 year contract under the 2014 offseason (old cap)
- Asik got 12 mil per for 5 years just this past offseason
- Tyson Chandler got 13 mil per for 4 years

Competing in the 2016 offseason where half the teams have max cap space?

I wouldn't bet against this sort of contract on Mozgov...

[tyguy]

He might be overpaid but TT was the guy I most feared in the playoffs, his offensive rebounds and hustle gave the Bulls so many problems more than Love would have.

This might mean Cavs probably wont be able to keep Mozgov

Why does everybody assume this means mozgov is gone? The cavs have fronted the money for every free agent and showed a willingness to dive deep into the luxury tax.

This must be some sort of hope/wish thing by other fans because the basis for this argument is only that they can't possible spend more money (they can).

The cavs gave up a decent amount of assets for mozgov, and he is a huge part of that team with no suitable replacement for his skill set. They aren't going to just let him go given those circumstances.

[diablerouge]

if you're concerned about the cavs overpaying for thompson, then you're concerned about gilbert's pockets - i'm not. paying thompson doesn't affect cleveland's cap space and the choices were basically to give him his money or not sign anyone at all. i don't understand how anyone rooting for cleveland would prefer the latter.

EDIT: there's some info out there that only 73 of the 80 were guaranteed in cavs' first offer, and that the full 82 is guaranteed on this one. that's 9 mil - not nothing.

[crazy_me_87]

He might be overpaid but TT was the guy I most feared in the playoffs, his offensive rebounds and hustle gave the Bulls so many problems more than Love would have.

This might mean Cavs probably wont be able to keep Mozgov

Why does everybody assume this means mozgov is gone? The cavs have fronted the money for every free agent and showed a willingness to dive deep into the luxury tax.

This must be some sort of hope/wish thing by other fans because the basis for this argument is only that they can't possible spend more money (they can).

The cavs gave up a decent amount of assets for mozgov, and he is a huge part of that team with no suitable replacement for his skill set. They aren't going to just let him go given those circumstances.

The Problem seems to be that alot of people still havent grasped the cap explosions the next 2 summers.

In 2016 the 19m raise of the cap is propably more than the Cavs will have to pay to keep Mozgov..so keeping him doesnt worsen their cap/tax situation it just stays as it is.

in 2017 the Cap rises 19m again wich then kinda "includes" the raise Lebron will get. again the Cavs Tax situation does not get worse despite them spending more money than now because the cap/tax allow it.

The Cavs are actually positioned pretty well under the new Cap. Kyrie,Love,TT,Shump are all total bargians under the new Cap. and are all locked in long term.

[chrisab123]

TT definitely isn't worth the money. Makes no sense to pay him 16 million when Kevin Love is playing in front of him. Funny things happen though when your GM/Superstar/Icon can become a free agent after the season.

[JVL]

What was Tristan going to do? Play overseas? The Cavaliers outbid themselves.

They won't regret it as Gilbert seems to be willing to throw money at a shot at the title, but it's a huge overpay for a massively overrated player in an era of ridiculously weak rebounding big men.

[crazy_me_87]

What was Tristan going to do? Play overseas? The Cavaliers outbid themselves.

They won't regret it as Gilbert seems to be willing to throw money at a shot at the title, but it's a huge overpay for a massively overrated player in an era of ridiculously weak rebounding big men.

welcome to the new NBA. over the next 2 Summers with the cap exploding 19m BOTH years! to 89 and then 108m there will be players WORSE than TT that are going to get paid even more than him.

Its the new reality when in 2017 a Superstar can get as much as 32m per year that a starter quality player gets 20m/year