Klay Thompson is Primed to Silence Doubters With Mavericks

In one of the more stunning NBA developments of the last few months, Klay Thompson’s relationship with the Golden State Warriors franchise soured so badly to the point that he spurned them to sign with the Dallas Mavericks at the start of free agency. Despite winning four championships and building a dynasty with his close friendsStephen Curry and Draymond Green, Thompson felt he was no longer wanted in the Bay Area, and departed for Dallas.

One main reason Thompson appeared to grow distant from Golden State was likely their opinion of his declining play and their disagreement about what he was worth as a free agent. He clearly felt disrespected by their contract offers, so much so that he took a similar, if not worse, deal to go play alongside Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić.

The question is: is he really completely washed up, or has the internet and media discourse gone too far simply because the sharpshooter isn’t what he once was?

Somehow, I feel like it’s the latter.

Thompson Is Still Easily One Of The Best High-Volume Shooters

He still possesses an all-important skill as an off-ball floor-spacer

One of the main ingredients to a championship team is having multiple players who can space the floor for the squad’s on-ball scorers and disincentivize opposing defenses from sending help to those guys. Just look at the Boston Celtics, who prioritized having zero weak shooters on the floor at any given time to force defenses to guard Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown one-on-one, to disastrous consequences.

Now Thompson will join forces with two of the most talented shot creators of all time in Dončić and Irving. He is the perfect complementary piece to their downhill style of offense, and should provide a massive upgrade over spot-up shooters like PJ Washington and Derrick Jones Jr.

Likely because Thompson is in the twilight of his career and isn’t what he once was, especially as an athlete and defender, people forget that he is still an elite marksman from deep. There are still few players in the league that a team would rather have take a catch-and-shoot three than Klay Thompson, and he’s still every bit as good at it as he was in his prime.

Thompson’s decline post-injury has little to do with his ability to hit the long ball, and is much more about his inability to create shots off the dribble (which was never his game anyway), lack of athletic gifts, and a severe drop-off in defensive performance as he ages.

These declines in his skillsets are the reason he is no longer an All-Star caliber player, not why he cannot still be a valuable piece for a championship team, provided he has the surrounding help to get it done.

Klay Is A Perfect Fit Next To Luka And Kyrie

Dallas has all the players to makeup for his deficiencies

As mentioned before, Klay’s weaknesses in this phase of his career are directly related to a decline in athleticism, such as defense and ability to create separation. Luckily, Dallas has all the pieces to cover for those issues, which cannot be said for the suddenly poor Golden State roster.

PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, and Quentin Grimes are excellent wing defenders, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively are elite rim protectors, and Dončić and Irving can take care of all the shot-creation duties for Dallas on their own. Gafford and Lively can clean up the messes Thompson creates with his slower feet on defense (and he is still a decent perimeter defender), Grimes and Washington can take on the difficult defensive assignments, and their superstar duo will take any off-the-dribble burden off of him.

With all that in mind, Thompson simply has to focus on what he does best: shoot spot-up threes off the catch and movement actions, which he is arguably the greatest in NBA history at doing. Dallas brutally lost the NBA Finals, in part because they didn’t have enough play finishers around Irving and Dončić, allowing the Boston Celtics to swarm the two guards in a way they won’t be able to with Klay on the floor.

The Mavericks had a historically poor shooting performance from beyond the arc, particularly on above-the-break threes, despite Dončić and Irving creating great looks for their role players. The addition of Thompson will go a long way towards fixing that problem, allowing Dallas to completely revamp their rotation and strategy for the better.

Dallas Will Get The Hungriest Version Of Thompson Since 2022

Klay will likely enter the season with a chip on his shoulder

It has been well-documented that Thompson felt disrespected by the Warriors’ contract offers and attitude towards his value, so much so that he unceremoniously ditched the franchise that he grew up with and experienced more success with than anyone could’ve ever imagined.

There is nothing scarier than a Hall of Fame talent with a chip on their shoulder, and that is likely what Dallas is getting with the arrival of Klay Thompson. He will undoubtedly be eager to prove that he is still an elite player who can contribute to winning, as well as hungry to capture his fifth title to one-up his old teammates and especially the organization.

Dallas is likely to get a more engaged defender, a harder worker, and a more determined Thompson than we’ve seen since Golden State’s magical 2022 championship run after he returned from those devastating injuries. This can only bode well for the future of the franchise, for as long as Thompson remains there.

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