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Summary

Thompson has been almost forgotten on this terrible Cavaliers team, but quietly had a really nice season in Cleveland. He still rebounds at a high rate on both ends of the court, which he has done virtually his entire career. This should lead Thompson to have interest from multiple teams next summer.

 

A former power forward, Thompson is almost exclusively a center in today's game. Unfortunately Thompson has not developed his offensive game much throughout his career, and his finishing at the rim leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Cap Considerations

Thompson will be an unrestricted free agent with full Bird rights. Since the Cavaliers will almost certainly be operating over the salary cap, they will retain Thompson's Bird rights, and have no restrictions on re-signing him. However, the Cavaliers could get close to the luxury tax if they re-sign Thompson, depending on his salary, where their pick falls in the lottery, and if they use the full Mid-Level Exception to sign a player. If Thompson is brought back by the Cavs on a multi-year contract (which is unlikely), they should frontload his contract as much as possible, while staying under the luxury tax.

 

Teams other than the Cavs will have multiple ways to sign Thompson as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, or Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him.

Potential Teams: Trailblazers, Lakers, Raptors, Wizards, Cavaliers

Predicted Contract: 3-year, $22 million with the Trailblazers

Actual Contract: 2-year, $19 million with the Celtics

Thompson got the full MLE from the Celtics, and I was a little surprised they used this on a center instead of a wing to replace the depth lost by Hayward's departure.

Last updated: 12/31/2020

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