Mavericks: Could the Mavs get Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson?
By Reid Hanson
The Mavericks are in need of star power to match with their budding young talent. Could Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors fit the bill?
I believe, shut up and take my money best illustrates my feelings on the idea of adding Warriors shooting guard, Klay Thompson, to the Dallas Mavericks mix. Thompson, arguably the fourth head in the four-headed monster that is the Golden State Warriors, may surprisingly be one of the more underrated players in the NBA.
Regarded as a strong two-way player, Thompson makes impacts even when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. It’s easy to be overlooked playing with the likes of Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green every night. But the 6’7” 215lbs guard has built a name and reputation as being one of the best shooters and defenders in the league and has the ability to lead his team in scoring any given night.
Still, when a franchise loads up on superstar talent like Golden State has, it’s hard not to speculate who the odd-man-out will be. The undisputed cream of the crop is Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Curry will probably never leave and I can’t imagine why Durant would bolt given the love and success he’s found with the Warriors.
Draymond Green fills a gritty role that makes him the heart and soul of the team. Without Green the toughness factor on the Warriors plummets and it’s hard to envision the team adequately replacing him should he be that odd-man-out.
Klay Thompson, though, has been seen by many as an inevitable casualty. Earlier in the 2016-17 season, rumors circulated everywhere that Thompson was on the trade market. Obviously nothing transpired and the Warriors denied all rumors, but after seeing his struggles in the postseason these past few weeks, thoughts of his expendability are sneaking back into the minds of many.
Klay Thompson hasn’t had a very good postseason this year. There were only two games in the entire postseason that he exceeded his regular season scoring average. His shooting percentage is down considerably in both field goal percentage as well a 3-point percentage. And despite playing more minutes per game in the postseason, he’s only averaging 15.3 points per game compared to the 22.3 points per game he averaged in the regular season.
On the Market?
Trading Klay Thompson is probably the furthest thing from the Warriors’ minds but if they eventually find themselves in a situation where they can’t afford (or can’t justify) to keep the roster together, Thompson could be the odd-man-out.
The Warriors built a young and talented roster, and with the exception of Kevin Durant, their star players can all be re-signed with full Bird rights (meaning they can exceed the salary cap by paying max contracts to their own players).
Klay Thompson is a free agent following the 2018-19 season and if the Warriors don’t plan to re-sign him, they could opt to move him in a trade beforehand. The Mavericks would be fools not to be interested in a player like Thompson. He would immediately become the No. 1 scoring option on the Mavericks and their cornerstone piece to build around.
A team like the Mavericks would immediately be a playoff team again with Klay Thompson. And they could potentially vault him into a star status in the same way James Harden vaulted when he left the shadows of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for Houston.
Is Klay Thompson on the market? Heck no, but after seeing the Warriors dominate the postseason without a ton of help from Thompson, he may have distinguished himself as the odd-man-out. In that case, the Mavericks (and the rest of the NBA) would be very interested in grabbing a hungry star eager to step out of his teammates’ enormous shadows. Best yet, he would immediately lead the Mavs out of rebuilding and into competing.