Canada Basketball will be sending one of their most talented rosters to Mexico City to compete in the 2015 FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament to try to earn a place in the 2016 Rio Summer Games.

Ten NBA players were named to Canada's 16-man training camp roster on Monday but one player that will not be participating is Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, who is currently in contract negotiations.

NBA on TSN analyst Leo Rautins is not shocked by his absence and believes that it actually comes at a position of strength for the Canadian team.

"This is not a big surprise, Team Canada, talking to (head coach) Jay Triano, anticipated that this was going to be a possibility," said Rautins. "Obviously Tristan Thompson is a tremendous player and he's going to be missed, however, if you're going to be missing any player on that team, you would want to be missing a power forward simply because they are loaded at that position. They have a lot of options."

Having to qualify without Thompson, a player who in his fourth NBA season helped the Cavaliers reach the NBA Finals, will make things harder for Canada but Rautins sees it as a chance for the depth of their squad to be showcased.

"That's actually a very positive thing for Canada Basketball to say that you could be missing an NBA player that is up for a huge contract and be okay," said Rautins. "The fact is they have other NBA players like Dwight Powell who could have a major impact for Canada.  Andrew Nicholson and Anthony Bennett are both NBA players and you also have Aaron Doornekamp, who has played a lot of international basketball overseas not only as a pro but also for Canada."

"When you put all of these players into the mix they're going to absorb it and they're going to perform at a very high level."

Thompson's agent, Rich Paul, has been negotiating a new contract for the restricted free-agent and Brian Windhorst of ESPN is reporting that he is looking for a deal close to the maximum - in the $94 million over five seasons range.

On Monday, Paul introduced the idea of Thompson signing a one-year qualifying offer worth $6.8 million that would make him unrestricted the following season.

"If (Thompson) is on the qualifying offer, (this) will be his last year with the Cavs," Paul told several media outlets.