Report: Cleveland Cavaliers have not pulled contract offer to Tristan Thompson

There had been suggestions recently that the Cleveland Cavaliers had pulled their offer of five years, eighty million dollars to Tristan Thompson after the deadline for his qualifying offer had passed. While nothing has been confirmed by either party, Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group reports that the Cavs' offer is still in the $80 million range:

Cleveland's offer is still in the ballpark of five years for $80 million, give or take. The Cavs did not withdraw the offer once the qualifying-offer deadline passed. Paul is adamant his client is worth a max contract, rather it be over five or three years.

Obviously neither side is really moving at all in discussions. With the qualifying offer passing, Thompson really surrendered whatever leverage he had left. He won't be an unrestricted free agent until the summer of 2017 and is left in RFA purgatory until then. He can only accept a smaller offer than his asking price from another team, if they were to extend one to him. With Portland and Philadelphia as the only teams in a position to offer him a deal, his options are slim.

I had always thought the logical conclusion to this would be a five-year, $85 million compromise. A contract of that size under the new salary cap would work out to be comparable to the one Javale McGee signed with Denver under the old deal. But with all the chips on the Cavs side of the table, Thompson may be forced to cave to their offer prior to him missing out on potential game checks.