Tristan Thompson reportedly turned down a 4-year, $52 million dollar extension

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson reportedly turned down a four year, $52 million dollar extension from the Cavs. It had been earlier reported that Thompson, who will be a restricted free agent next summer, was looking for upwards of $11 million a season. He is also represented by Klutch Sports, the same agency that representes LeBron James.

James is the biggest reason Klutch Sports exists, and he's an active recruiter of high school, college and current NBA players to join the agency. Of course, plenty of players help their agents recruit. So when James committed as a free agent in July, everyone understood there was a tax - spoken or unspoken - that would come with James' return, that would manifest itself in an above-market deal for Thompson.

Thompson's a rebounder, a defender, an energy guy. He isn't a starter on a playoff team, but he has a good attitude, a good motor and could be a role player anywhere in the NBA. Paul isn't the first agent to leverage a more prominent client's extension against another, nor the last.

Even so, at what price? Within the NBA, officials expected maybe $10 million a year, perhaps $12 million if Klutch wanted to push it. Well, they kept pushing it. Thompson turned down a $13 million-a-year extension offer - four-years, $52 million, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

This is obviously Thompson betting big on himself. Although the Cavaliers are likely to match any offer he recieves in restricted free agency for a variety of reasons, another team could potentially offer him more money than he turned down if he has a big season. For the year, Thompson is averaging 9.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in 28.7 minutes per game.