Cleveland Cavaliers: Overpaying Tristan Thompson?

By Joshua Howe | Sep 25, 2014

Mar 30, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson (13) grabs a rebound in the fourth quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Rich Paul knows what he’s doing. When the news came out yesterday that Tristan Thompson is seeking an $11 million extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the internet exploded. Twitter, especially, clapped its hand to its forehead and gazed wide-eyed at the idea, trying to deal with all the multiple takes from fans and media members alike.

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Is Thompson an NBA caliber starting power forward/center? At this point in his career, no, he’s not. So he shouldn’t get paid like one, right? It’s not so simple as that. It never is. The NBA is a business first, and while some things may seem laughable without context and can leave fans scratching their heads, they are far more reasonable with it.

Rich Paul doesn’t just represent Thompson. In fact, he represents five other NBA players. One of which is Eric Bledsoe, who just got what he and Paul consider to be a “good” deal out of the Phoenix Suns. Another is the all-powerful LeBron James, Thompson’s new teammate in Cleveland.

With that in mind, things could be just as easy as LeBron telling the Cavs, “Yeah, let’s give him the cash” and essentially having it happen. At this point, LBJ may as well have his own office consisting of a large leather chair and case of Italian cigars with a sign on the door that reads, “Management.”

Aside from that, there are other legitimate reasons that Thompson could get his money.

How about the fact that he fills a much needed role on the squad? Currently, the Cavs don’t have the greatest set of big men on their roster. Anderson Varejao will likely start and Brendan Haywood and Alex Kirk will come off the bench. At this stage in his career, it’s assumed that Varejao will miss a fair number of games during the regular season, and within that time Thompson will be the one asked to step up and fill in.

Per NBA.com, Thompson isn’t a great rim protector. Opponents got off 5.2 shot attempts per game and scored 58.0 percent of those with him defending them last season. Also, as some people may remember, Thompson went from shooting with his left hand to his right, severely downgrading his jumper from decent threat to basically none at all.

He has only one mediocre move that he uses almost all of the time to score; his short-to-mid-range floater:

But as Zach Lowe of Grantland put beautifully in his article on extension candidates, Thompson’s “mooch”-like style should see improvement for his numbers due to his new teammates. He can score that floater/dunk when the lane is clear, and Kevin Love will help him tremendously with this. It won’t be a bad thing that the Cavs will have some better shooters on the floor this season and, of course, James, who will be able to find Thompson when he makes those cuts he so often takes.

With his rising percentages, the Cleveland staff may look at Thompson and think, “This guy is/was worth investing in long term,” even though there are a good number of better candidates who will be worth wooing next summer. Some of those players include Brandon Bass, Trevor Booker, Ed Davis and Kris Humphries.

The timing of Thompson’s request for an extension is notable as well. It’s the same reason LeBron decided on a two year contract with Cleveland rather than taking a longer one for more money. It’s because they know, and so does Rich Paul, that the salary cap is going to be rising over the next few seasons.

It will take an extra spike when the NBA’s national television deal kicks in, allowing for players like LeBron to potentially re-sign for more dough than they would have gotten otherwise. Thompson is looking to capitalize on that sudden rise in the cap by getting Cleveland to feel “not so bad” about overpaying him since they’ll have the means to do so.

Let us also not forget one of the optimistic viewpoints on players like Thompson heard around the league; “He’s still young”. Thompson is just 23 years old and has only played three NBA seasons. He’s still got lots of time to flesh out a solid career for himself and who knows? Maybe he’ll fit so well on the Cavs that they won’t need to look at any better power forwards/centers to replace him.

Does this mean he shouldn’t be replaced or that he should be making $11 million? Not necessarily. As stated earlier, he isn’t a starter quality player. But it’s not just about the product he is right now, it’s also about knowing the business, looking toward future and having a great agent. And luckily for Thompson, he’s doing just that.

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