The Warriors dynasty is finally coming to an end as the big three of Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Stephen Curry are now split with Klay now planning to sign a 3-year $50 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks as part of a sign-and-trade that will also send Josh Green from the Mavericks to the Charlotte Hornets.
BREAKING: Free agent Klay Thompson plans to join the Dallas Mavericks on a three-year, $50M deal with a player option, sources tell ESPN. Thompson ends his historic Warriors run as part of a multi-team sign-and-trade that’ll also send Josh Green to Charlotte. pic.twitter.com/4GJ5hR3H5o
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2024
The deal has not been finalized yet, but all sings point to Thompson leaving given how Golden State handled the contract negotiations. The Warriors were in a sticky situation because Thompson did not play well enough to warrant massive money in free agency, but he is still a four-time champion, and that nostalgia is surely still present for the Warriors.
Thompson was reported to be frustrated with how the Warriors conducted contract negotiations, so the Splash Brother's departure felt inevitable over these past few weeks.
Thompson is coming off a career-low year from three, shooting just 39% from deep last season, but his biggest regression has come on defense. The Warriors defense was 4.8 points worse per 100 possessions with Thompson on the floor last season. and this was the worst Defensive Rating Swing of Thompson's career. He’s also hovering near career lows in Steal % at 0.9% and Block % at 0.7%.
He ranked in the 45th percentile in Defensive EPM and in the bottom 20 in the NBA in Defensive Box-Plus/Minus (-1.5). Ultimately, Thompson is no longer a 3-and-D player and mostly just a 3-point shooter at this point in his career. His loss from the Warriors will make headlines due to the history and nostalgia, but in the immediacy, it doesn’t drastically alter the Warriors' NBA Finals chances for this season.
For the Mavericks, this is a great fit as long as they are expecting Thompson to basically be a much more efficient version of Tim Hardaway Jr. I’m not a believer in Thompson as an elite starter at this point in his career, and a starting five that includes Thompson, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic would struggle to get stops consistently.
However, Thompson as a spark-plug sixth man could be a perfect fit in Dallas since that was sorely needed in the Mavericks' series against the Celtics and throughout the playoffs for the Mavs. Dallas needs guys who can carry some load when Irving and Doncic are off the court, and Thompson can still play that role.
He will also be the beneficiary of open shots from 3 while playing alongside Doncic, and the quality of his 3s will improve over last year next to Green and Curry.
I like this deal for the Mavs at this price and think the Warriors were wise to move on from Thompson even though they probably could’ve conducted that process better PR wise. This deal strengthens the Mavericks' bench and is another great move for the Mavericks, who are having a quietly solid offseason after adding Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes as well.
