Sheamus Dalton
Sports Editor
$80 million. For me, a soon-to-be graduate of a Central Ohio, liberal arts college whose lifetime earnings will almost certainly be much, much less than $80 million, thinking about making that much money in a lifetime is an incredible notion. If someone offered me $80 million to do something like, I don’t know, play basketball professionally, I don’t think I could sign my contract fast enough. The crazy thing about professional basketball, though, is that $80 million is not an astronomical salary. It is definitely a hefty amount of money to pay someone to play basketball, but it isn’t a record-setting amount. In fact, $80 million isn’t even enough to make restricted free agent Tristan Thompson re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. A few weeks ago, the Cavaliers offered Thompson, a 24-year-old power forward, a five-year contract worth $80 million. In what has become the NBA free agency story of the summer, Thompson declined the offer. Instead, he asked for a league maximum, five-year, $94 million contract. As of press time, Thompson and the Cavs were deadlocked in negotiations, with no real progress made by either side. Thompson is expected to sign a deal with the Cavs Thursday after press time. This deal will either be a long-term deal, as the Cavs hope, or a $6.9 million qualifying offer that will make Thompson an unrestricted free agent after the 2015-2016 NBA season. Naturally, I have an opinion over whether the Cavs should offer Thompson a larger contract or if Thompson is asking for too much money, and even though Thompson and the Cavs are expected to reach a deal before this piece is published, I’m going to offer it. Before I give my opinion, I would like to go over a few statistics. Last season, Thompson averaged nine points per game off a .554 field goal percentage. Nine points per game isn’t great offensive production for a player asking for a max contract. Of course, for what Thompson lacks offensively, he makes up for in his rebounding. Last season, Thompson averaged 9.4 rebounds per game. However, during the NBA Finals, Thompson took his rebounding to another level, averaging 13 rebounds a game against the Golden State Warriors’ big men. Thompson’s rebounding in the NBA Finals leaves a good impression for the Cavs when evaluating Thompson’s future. However, as a point of comparison, let’s take a look at Lamarcus Aldridge’s numbers last season. Aldridge, also a power forward, signed a four-year $80 million max deal with the San Antonio Spurs over the summer. Last season, Aldridge averaged 22.6 points per game while pulling down 10.7 rebounds. Comparing the two players, Thompson and Aldridge are both excellent rebounders, but Aldridge blows Thompson out of the water in offensive productivity. 22.6 points per game compared to nine points per game is a significant contrast that would usually translate into a significant difference in salary between the two players. So, based on the disparity in their statistics, Thompson asking the Cavs for a deal on the same level as the one the Spurs offered Aldridge is outrageous, right? Wrong. The Cleveland Cavaliers need Tristan Thompson. If we learned anything from the playoffs last year, it’s that any serious NBA Finals contender needs depth. Thompson adds much-needed depth to a Cavs roster that was decimated by injury during the playoffs. Although Lebron James proved that he is undoubtedly the best player in the world (and the true 2014 NBA Finals MVP in my opinion) by carrying the Cavs against the Warriors, Golden State won because they had 10 good players who played and made a positive impact on every game. The Cavs, at most, had six. If the Cavs want to compete for an NBA Championship in the seasons to come, they need all the good players they can get. While Thompson isn’t a great player or worthy of a max deal right now, he is a good player who brings some of the most tenacious rebounding in the league to the Cavs’ roster. Behind Kevin Love, Thompson is an excellent bench player who can help Cleveland win games. What’s more, the NBA salary cap is expected to jump to $107 million for the 2016-2017 season, making every player, even the average scorers, worth a whole lot more. After this season, the Cavs will have to fork over more than $80 million if they want to sign Thompson against the 10 other teams bidding for his signature. So, whether or not Cleveland will have signed Thompson to a long-term deal by the time this piece is published, they need to sign him if they want to win, and they should do it now.
Sheamus Dalton, a Sports Editor for the Voice, can be reached for comment at SDalton16@wooster.edu.