Tristan Thompson, who is represented by LeBron James' agent, Rich Paul, chose not to accept a four-year, $52 million extension proposed by the Cleveland Cavaliers before the Oct. 31 deadline, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski:
James is the biggest reason Klutch Sports exists, and he's an active recruiter of high school, college and current NBA players to join the agency. Of course, plenty of players help their agents recruit. So when James committed as a free agent in July, everyone understood there was a tax – spoken or unspoken – that would come with James' return, that would manifest itself in an above-market deal for Thompson.
Thompson's a rebounder, a defender, an energy guy. He isn't a starter on a playoff team, but he has a good attitude, a good motor and could be a role player anywhere in the NBA. Paul isn't the first agent to leverage one more prominent client's extension against another, nor the last.
Even so, at what price? Within the NBA, officials expected maybe $10 million a year, perhaps $12 million if Klutch wanted to push it. Well, they kept pushing it. Thompson turned down a $13-million-a-year extension offer – four-year, $52 million, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Excuse me while I look for my jaw. It dropped to the floor and then I think I might've kicked it. Four years and $52 million! For Tristan Thompson!
Thompson is a productive role player, and at 23 years old he can continue to improve. The power forward is averaging 9.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game this season while shooting a career-high 53.5 percent from the field, and the Cavaliers should want to keep him around. Still, when it was reported that he'd ask for upwards of $11 million per season back in September, that sounded like a whole lot of money for someone with his skill set. It still does, and yet he bet on himself commanding much more than that.
Even with the increasing salary cap, it's difficult to imagine another team throwing $13 million a year in Thompson's direction this summer in restricted free agency. If his next contract is indeed in that range, it will illustrate the sort of power that James and Klutch Sports have with the franchise. And if we've learned anything from the New York Knicks in the past few seasons, it's that letting an agency wield lots of influence on a front office is always a great idea.
