Earlier Wednesday, we reported that Tristan Thompson had finally ended his standoff with the Cavs by accepting their five-year, $82 million offer. He’d been holding out for a max deal worth $94 million over the same lifespan, but folks around Cleveland’s front office clearly didn’t believe a reserve power forward with a limited offensive skill-set was worth that type of money. And they’re apparently not the only ones who feel that way.
Not long after the news broke, Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins took to Twitter to express his utter disbelief that Thompson now makes more money than he does.
How much??? 😳
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) October 21, 2015
Nevermind the fact that the money from the television contracts the league signed earlier this year is resulting in a skyrocketing salary cap that free agents benefited tremendously from this offseason. Or the fact that Cousins signed his current contract two yeas ago, i.e. long before the league’s current economic boom. Cousins broke one of Jalen Rose’s cardinal rules: stay out of other people’s pockets.
And he’s not the first player to do so. Wizards point guard John Wall expressed a similar level of confusion back in July after the Pistons signed Reggie Jackson to a contract similar to his own. Wall, however, realized his faux pas almost immediately and proceeded to backtrack. It’s hard to imagine Boogie doing the same, but considering all the negative publicity surrounding him and the Kings this summer, they don’t need to add any more fuel to the fire.
