NBA Rumors: Cavs’ Tristan Thompson Holdout Could Last ‘Months’
NBA Rumors: Tristan Thompson’s holdout from the Cleveland Cavaliers could reportedly last months, if there’s no third party intervening
Perhaps LeBron James is going to have to step in to resolve what has been happening between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson.
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According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who was on Zach Lowe’s podcast this week, Thompson and the Cavs don’t appear any closer to a deal than they were all summer. Windhorst says that Thompson’s holdout could last months and, most interestingly, says that it will likely take a third party peacemaker to solve the issue between the two sides.
You know what that means, LeBron James.
If he wanted to, LeBron could pull the plug on all this in a minute. He and Thompson share the same agent, Rich Paul, and he could figure out a way to get Cleveland to agree to a fair deal. Problem is, LeBron has made it quite clear that he doesn’t want to get in the way of these discussions.
In essence, I believe he wants the public perception to be that he had no hand in these two sides striking a deal. He’s made that point quite clear. Though, if LeBron wants to see this issue resolved, he might have to intervene.
"[H/T CBS Sports]Discussing Thompson’s situation on The Lowe Post podcast, Windhorst said that Thompson could potentially be holding out for months. Via RealGM:“I think it will take a third party event to bridge the gap here,” said Windhorst on Zach Lowe’s podcast.“I actually believe it will probably go months,” said Windhorst. “This will go well into the regular season.”Windhorst believes there’s a lot of parallels between Thompson’s situation and the on the Cavaliers underwent in 2007 with Anderson Varejao."
Perhaps this is the simple case of who needs who more. Does Thompson need to get paid more than the Cavaliers need him on their roster? It’s tough to say at the moment, but the great thing going for Thompson is that LeBron has made it clear he wants this to end. He says its become a distraction, even though he’s the only one that actually making it a distraction.
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This will eventually culminate in the two sides meeting in the middle, I’m actually surprised that it hasn’t happened yet.
Question is, how long do they want to drag this out? That’s ultimately what’s at play here. The Cavs and Thompson will eventually reach an agreement. I mean that’s part of the reason why he declined to sign his qualifying offer – his side believes something will get done eventually, and he doesn’t want to leave Cleveland.
Though, when is “eventually,” and will it be too late?
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