Tristan Thompson
June 14, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) dunks to score a basket against the Golden State Warriors in the second half in game five of the NBA Finals. at Oracle Arena. REUTERS/Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers have done a good effort in trying to get back the roster that fell short of winning the NBA title in June against Golden State Warriors. However,one of the key players in the deep playoff run, Tristan Thompson, still does not have a contract in this offseason.

Superstar LeBron James believes that the big man will eventually be re-signed by the Cavaliers this summer. After bringing back James, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, and Matthew Dellavedova, the Cavs are poised to bring back free agent power forward Thompson, who stepped up for a depleted Cleveland team during its postseason run. The four-time MVP answered questions from fans in Twitter on July 28, revealing his thoughts about Thompson’s free agency.

The 30-year-old James, who starred in the movie “Trainwreck!” has been busy promoting the American romantic comedy movie in Twitter and Instagram. The NBA superstar decided to kill some time on the social media platform by answering a number of questions from his Twitter followers.

Thompson, a tenacious rebounder and defensive player, was reportedly close to completing a five-year US$80 million (AU$109.4 million) contract with the Cavs, but the progress has stopped after the deal reached a stalemate. However, Cavaliers’ general manager David Griffin is still optimistic Thompson will re-sign with the club.

Cleveland will most likely retain Thompson this summer because the 6-foot-7 forward shares the same agent with James. At this point of the free agency, only a few teams can afford Thompson. According to Yahoo Sports, the Philadelphia 76ers is one of the remaining teams to have enough cap space to steal Thompson from Cleveland. The report stated that the Sixers could offer a sub-max level contract if the rebounding big man is looking for a more lucrative offer, emulating Greg Monroe, who inked a three-year US$50 million (AU$68.4 million) deal with the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Thompson could also accept the Cavs’ US$6.8 million (AU$9.3 million) qualifying offer for next season and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Meanwhile, Thompson could miss Team Canada’s 2016 Olympic qualifiers because of the impasse in contract negotiations. HNGN.com reported that Canadian baller could lose the chance of playing for his home country if a deal with Cleveland would not be completed before the start of Canada’s training camp, which starts on August 17.

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