According to NBA salary cap expert Larry Coon, the Cavs have taken their offer to Tristan Thompson off the table.
Thompson initially declined a five-year $80 million deal, and the date to sign a one-year qualifying offer has passed.
If any team offers a long-term deal to Thompson for up to four years, the Cavs can match the offer.
There appears to be little interest and few teams even have the cap space to add Thompson at the salary he reportedly is willing to accept.
The regular season opener is less than two weeks away and the Cavs have until October 26 to decide on a 12-man active roster to start the season.
There is a possibility the Cleveland could face a similar scenario to what the Seattle Seahawks went through with Kam Chancellor and his holdout.
If the Cavs start the season without Thompson and struggle early, maybe the front office will be willing to concede more to Thompson and his agent Rich Paul’s asking price.
Paul also represents LeBron James and has been a close friend of LeBron’s since high school. LeBron has already come out and said the Thompson contract situation is a distraction to the team and called on both sides to get something done.
If nothing happens it appears the Cavs will enter the season with Anderson Varejao as the backup power forward.
Ironically, the last time the Cavs had a holdout situation like this was with Varejao in 2007, when the team known as the Charlotte Bobcats made an offer to Varejao and the Cavs matched it for less than what he was seeking initially.
Varejao was looking for about $10 million per season, and ended up signing a three-year deal for $17 million.
Depending on how the beginning of the season plays out, this could be a big payoff for one side or the other. If the Cavs show they can play well without Thompson, his value goes down, but the more they struggle, the more valuable Thompson becomes.
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