Tristan Thompson of the Cleveland Cavaliers is officially a rare NBA holdout. And LeBron James, the most important figure in the organization, is now on the record pushing the front office to strike a deal with the young power forward and bemoaning the “distraction” created by Thompson’s absence.
James posed for a photo with Thompson at a friend’s wedding Saturday night in Miami, but it was in the caption where the superstar most obviously exerted his influence.
“Get it done!!!! Straight up,” James wrote on Instagram, adding the hashtag: #MissMyBrother.
Thompson’s camp last checked in asking for a three-year, $53 million deal. The Cavs countered at five years and $80 million. Thompson and James share an agent in Rich Paul.
On Tuesday, James had said he was done commenting on the negotiations. But he expounded upon the Instagram message in an interview Sunday at Cavaliers camp in Independence, Ohio.
“The last thing you need is a distraction when you try to make a championship run. And we have that right now,” James said, via the Associated Press. “It’s unfortunate for both sides that we’re going through it right now as a team.”
James pleaded neutrality — he would never, never try to bigfoot Cavaliers bosses — but it’s not difficult to see how much he values Thompson’s role.
“I’m not going to go to them and tell them what they should do,” James said. “That’s their job. They know how to do it very well, and they’ve done that to this point. They’ve brought in and did what they had to do for us to be a contending team. Tristan is a big part of that run we want to make. I believe that something will happen.”