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 The death of Aavielle Wakefield, plus a mass shooting at an Oregon
community college in which nine people were killed, fueled the
decision by the Cleveland Cavaliers star to take a public stand.
"Four kids under the age of 5 or 6 years old have been shot and
killed or very badly injured," James told reporters in reference to
recent shootings around Cleveland.
"There's no room for that. There's no room for guns, first of all,
but then for violence toward kids or anybody. I see the news go
across my phone and I'm sitting there in front of my three kids, so
it automatically just hit me.
"It's not just in Cleveland, it's the whole nation that goes through
this as well. We all hurt from it."
James did not witness the speech of President Barack Obama following
the massacre in Roseburg, Oregon -- an attack in which the shooter
was killed by police.
Part of Obama's comments included terming the United States as "the
only advanced country on earth that sees these kinds of mass
shootings every few months."
James agrees with Obama and wants to see change.
"I know what I see. I know how I feel," James said. "Obviously
you're not going to be able to take every gun out. I don't know how
you can do that. There's so many around now, today.
"But if there's some stipulations behind it or some penalties, some
big-time penalties or rules or regulations about carrying firearms,
legal or illegal, people will second-guess themselves."
- - -
Cavaliers free agent forward/center Tristan Thompson passed on the
team's one-year, $6.8 million qualifying offer.
Thompson did not sign the qualifying offer by the 11:59 p.m. ET
deadline Thursday, according to reports.
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The Cavs have made different offers over the summer, going as high
as $16 million in an average annual salary, according to ESPN.
Thompson wants a three-year, $53 million max contract or a five-year
deal for $94 million.
Thompson remains a restricted free agent, and negotiations between
his representative, Rich Paul, and the Cavs will now continue. He
has missed the start of training camp this week.
The 24-year-old Thompson averaged 8.5 points and 8.0 rebounds during
the 2014-15 regular season when he was the Cavs' sixth man.
After Kevin Love was injured in the first round of the playoffs,
Thompson started at power forward. In the NBA Finals against the
Golden State Warriors, he averaged 11.6 points and 12.6 rebounds.
- - -
The Milwaukee Bucks and power forward John Henson agreed to a
four-year, $44 million contract extension, according to reports.
The deal goes into effect starting in 2016-17 and will run through
the 2019-20 season.
The 6-foot-11, 229-pound Henson averaged 7.0 points and 4.7 rebounds
in 18.3 minutes per game for the Bucks last season. He also averaged
2.0 blocks over 67 games played to rank sixth in the league.
The 24-year-old Henson was the No. 14 overall pick in the 2012 NBA
draft.
- - - (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)
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