By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Golden State Warriors legend Klay Thompson will be departing the team in the next 24 hours, or the coming days. The start of the 2024 NBA free agency begins on Sunday at 6 pm EST.
They know he will be moving on. It’s just a matter of when.
The Warriors have been put in a tough situation. With Chris Paul and Thompson as free agents, it was tough to re-sign both of them.
If they decided to re-sign the two veterans, it would put the Warriors in the second hard cap. It would put the team in the luxury tax and make it more difficult for GM Mike Dunleavy to make moves.
Why? He would have to take back dollar for dollar in deals. He will not have to worry about that now.
The reports say that the Warriors are open to a sign-and-trade with Thompson. As a result — if this is ultimately what they do — it’ll give Thompson more money in his new contract.
In addition, it would give the Warriors a trade exemption that they could use for one calendar year.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Dallas Mavericks are reportedly interested in Thompson.
In his last game with the Warriors, he scored 16 points. He played 33 minutes on April 5th in a 108-105 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Thompson has spent 11 playing seasons with the team. He missed back-to-back seasons.
He first missed one season due to an ACL injury. Then, as he was preparing to come back from the injury, he suffered an Achilles injury.
In his career, he has averaged 19.6 points per game in 793 games. Thompson has also averaged 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game.
This past season, though, he struggled. He averaged 17.9 points per game last night 77 games (63 starts). He also averaged 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks per contest.
Due to his struggles, head coach Steve Kerr wanted to put him on the bench. Thompson initially pushed back at that idea before eventually moving to the bench.
The 17.9 points per game were the lowest he’s had in a season since his second campaign in the NBA. He averaged 16.6 points per game in 82 games during the 2012-13 season.
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