I was under the impression that this deal was a possibility, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed reasonable for Hayward and his agent to explore all possibilities before making a decision. It was afterall his decision, not the Cs or Indy.
If it was available, it's fair to say that missing out on this deal was a whiff. Turner, McDermott, a 1st, 2 2nds, plus whatever assets we will need to trade in order to use the TPE is obviously better than Thompson. I get that Turner is slightly overpaid, but Thompson basically straight up sucks and adds absolutely nothing to our big man rotation besides depth. I'm already ready to move on from him - at least he has a tradable contract.