Home Basketball VALUABLE CONTRACT: Klay Thompson joins Mavs with $50 million contract in Warriors Sign-and-Trade

VALUABLE CONTRACT: Klay Thompson joins Mavs with $50 million contract in Warriors Sign-and-Trade

Basketball — 07/02/2024

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that Klay Thompson intends to sign a three-year, $50 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade involving the Golden State Warriors and Charlotte Hornets.

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Wojnarowski claims the Mavericks will award the Warriors two second-round picks to finish the deal:

Thompson spent his first 13 NBA years with the Warriors. Just weeks after tearing his ACL, which would lose him the whole 2019–20 season, he signed a five-year, $189.9 million contract with the Warriors. The five-time All-Star would miss 2020-21 and most of 2021-22 and rip his Achilles the next offseason.

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Thompson spent thirty months not playing basketball overall before coming back in January 2021. Thompson has been in an obviously reduced state since his comeback, especially on the defensive end, where he used to be among the toughest perimeter defenders in basketball.

Thompson has basically returned to form as a shooter, knocking down 41.2% of his threes in 2022-23; the Warriors were able to negotiate his erratic shooting to win the 2022 NBA title.

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Still, Thompson’s influence on the court now has more restrictions than it did the last time he signed a fresh maximum deal.

The Warriors had to negotiate the reality of the new collective bargaining agreement as they entered the summer. Regarding roster flexibility in particular, team governor Joe Lacob was candid about his wish to avoid under the luxury tax given the outrageous penalties imposed by teams in the new CVA.

With Golden State mostly preoccupied with an unsuccessful hunt of Paul George, the Warriors and Thompson made no actual headway on contract negotiations ahead of free agency. That let Dallas fly in and grab Thompson.

Trading Thompson, a fundamental piece for the team, points to a change in its dynamic.

Fresh off an NBA Finals visit, Thompson teams with two future Hall of Famers in Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. With Doncic and Irving able to provide Thompson with an almost limitless supply of open threes on the outside, the Mavericks have maybe the most dynamic attack in the NBA.