The Cleveland Cavaliers and Tristan Thompson appear to be at somewhat of a standstill in contract negotiations at the moment. It remains likely that Thompson will re-sign with the Cavaliers but as of right now he is unsigned by anyone and that doesn't just have an effect on Thompson and the Cavaliers but it could also potentially impact his availability for Team Canada in the upcoming qualifying tournament for the 2016 Olympics. If Thompson doesn't have a contract he is highly unlikely to play for the Canadian national team according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star.
Team Canada's training camp doesn't open up until August 17th which gives Thompson more time to potentially workout his contract situation but with no end in sight on negotiations Thompson's inclusion on the roster is very iffy.
Thompson is still allowed to play for the Canadian team without a contract but that is highly unlikely because of all of the risk factors involved. If Thompson were to get hurt or, to a lesser extent not play well, it could really hurt his ability to get the contract he is currently seeking as a free agent.
Thompson and the Cavaliers were reportedly close a five year $80 million deal at the beginning of free agency but those talks fell apart. Now both Thompson and the Cavaliers still believe that a deal will be reached but it is taking a lot longer than initially expected.
Thompson would be a huge boost to the Canadian national team who will reportedly be without Tyler Ennis but will have Andrew Wiggins according to Adam Zagoria of SNY. Aside from Thompson the only other big men available to Canada are Kelly Olynyk, Andrew Nicholson and Anthony Bennett who are all solid NBA players but none quite the caliber of Thompson.
The 24 year old Toronto native is coming off a season where he averaged 8.5 points and 8 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per game for the Cavaliers. Last season, in reduced minutes, Thompson shot by far his best percentage from the field at 55 percent and had a huge coming out party in the playoffs. Thompson played more than 36 minutes per game in the playoffs and averaged 9.5 points and 10.7 rebounds, 4.4 of which were of the offensive variety.
Canadian basketball fans are certainly hoping that the Cavaliers and Thompson are able to reach an agreement soon because they really need a guy like him to clean up the glass in the upcoming FIBA Americas tournament. Without Thompson Canada will still have a lot of talent but they will be missing a huge piece.
