LeBron James has been known to be influential when it comes to asking his teammates to be on the same page as they rev up things in preparation of the coming 2015–16 NBA season. James has called for a pre-training camp in Miami to get things going early.
A previous report did say that most of the teammates and coaches are already there and more are likely to follow. But one player is conspicuously absent — Tristan Thompson.
While it should not come as a surprise for any other player, especially if they are still unsigned, it does somehow indicate the severity of Thompson's current case as far as contract disputes are concerned.
As everyone knows, Thompson wants a max contract but the Cavs are willing to go as high as only $80 million spread over five years. The Canadian is looking for a $94 million deal instead.
With the two sides still miles away from reaching a deal, it seems that an alternative would see Thompson signing a qualifying offer of $6.8 million for the coming season instead. But the hitch is that Thompson will not be returning to Ohio after this coming season.
And according to a report from the Northeast Ohio Media Group, Thompson decided to skip James' camp in order to avoid an impression of him returning to the Cavs' fold despite the fact that contract negotiations have been moving on slowly.
How his non-appearance on James' camp affects his status with the Cavs remains a toss-up, although it does serve notice that he is standing pat on his decision not to suit up unless contract issues are finally settled.
With regular training camp set to kick off in a couple of weeks, Thompson and the Cavs can hopefully come up with something workable to help get the team on the right track.
The holdout has become a distraction for the team's plans for the coming season, although it's worth nothing that Thompson has not actually transacted with other teams aggressively.
