The final piece to the Cavaliers’ run at a championship is finally in place. Tristan Thompson’s holdout is over.
Thompson and the Cavs agreed Wednesday to a five-year, $82 million deal, multiple sources confirmed, that keeps Thompson under team control until the summer of 2020.
Thompson’s contract means the Cavs are on the hook for about $170 million in payroll and luxury taxes, according to ESPN, the second-highest in league history. That could swell to more than $200 million if the Cavs use their $10.5 million trade exception before February’s deadline.
Thompson’s deal also means owner Dan Gilbert signed Thompson, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith to contract extensions this summer totaling about $290 million in guaranteed money. He paid $375 million to buy the team 10 years ago.
“It’s been a long summer of grinding and hard work,” Thompson wrote on his Instagram account Wednesday night, “but now it’s back to The Land to take care of some unfinished business.”
Thompson was wearing a Cavs hat in the picture he posted to Instagram.
Negotiations dragged on for four months before the Cavs inched their offer up slightly in recent days, one source said. It didn’t take long for Thompson’s camp, which had been insistent on max contract money, to accept it.
Thompson’s deal matches the one Draymond Green signed with the Golden State Warriors as a restricted free agent in July and places Thompson among the highest-paid power forwards in the league.
Thompson fell short of the max he was seeking, but earned an extra $30 million by waiting a year to sign. The Cavs reportedly offered him $52 million last year, but added an extra year and more guaranteed money to the deal this time.
Thompson, 24, averaged 8.5 points and eight rebounds in a bench role last season. He stepped into the starting lineup in the playoffs after Kevin Love was injured and averaged 9.6 points and 10.8 rebounds. He is durable, a terrific rebounder and he defends the way coach David Blatt likes in pick-and-roll situations. What kind of shape he is in after missing all of training camp and the preseason remains to be seen.
Thompson has been working out on his own, but Blatt said this week he’d have to get Thompson into the facility and see what type of shape he’s in before knowing how quickly he’ll go back to his typical level of production.
With this deal, the Cavs completed their mission of retaining the entire nucleus of a team that reached the NBA Finals. They open the regular season Tuesday at the Chicago Bulls.
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