Tristan Thompson reportedly turned down $52 million extension

You read headlines like these ones and you really kick yourself for not being 6-foot-9 and athletic.

Tristan Thompson, who is 23 and has one more year under contract with the Cavaliers, turned down a 4-year, $52 million extension from the team, according to a report.

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who long has had it in for LeBron James, wrote another article criticizing the 4-time league MVP. In his article, Woj accuses James of making several power plays in Cleveland, including having his agency, which also represents Thompson, leverage a big deal out of the Cavs for the center.

Woj says league officials expected a $10 or $12 million offer for Thompson, but say the team offered him $13 million a year — and he turned it down.

Do Thompson’s agents really expect the Cavs to pay more for a guy who is now a role player? Perhaps this is another reason why they wanted to acquire Timofey Mozgov.

Who knows if LeBron and his agents are to blame for this, but it all seems pretty absurd. Thompson averaged over 11 points and nine rebounds per game in 31 minutes per game each of the past two seasons, which is good but nothing great. We’d be surprised if they paid more than the $52 million to keep the former No. 4 overall pick.