Cavs center Tristan Thompson is officially a contract holdout, and Cleveland is making it clear where he stands within the organization at the moment.
The Cavaliers have purged their team shop both online and at Quicken Loans Arena of all Thompson-related merchandise, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Not only that, but images of Thompson are being wiped from the arena itself.
An elevator at The Q is getting a facelift today… pic.twitter.com/naNoWilFjl
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 2, 2015
Coach David Blatt admitted he hadn’t even stayed up to see if the holdout situation became official.
“I was liking the dream I was having,” Blatt said with a wry smile. “Usually I don’t go to sleep that early, but last night I was tired. We’re just back at it. We’ve got to focus on the now and here and that’s what we’re doing.”
The message is clear from the Cavaliers. Thompson, a restricted free agent, would be nice to have, but they’re not losing any sleep over his absence. We recently heard that the two sides were $14 million apart in negotiations, and more recently that the Cavaliers are not interested in meeting his demands of 3 years and $53 million. It’s unclear if the two sides have made any movement towards an agreement, but if these actions are any indication, nothing seems close.
Image via Chris B. Haynes on Twitter
