When talking about Klay Thompson, a franchise icon, leaving the Golden State Warriors to join the Dallas Mavericks, a rival team in the league, owner Joe Lacob broke down in tears. But even though Lacob was overtaken with emotion, his competitive fire still came out of nowhere. On July 17, Lacob declared, “I don’t care what people think happened, or didn’t happen,” on “The Athletic NBA Show.” “I will always be happy to have him in my life. I hope that’s how he feels too. To be honest, it makes me a little emotional. I hope our friendship will last a lifetime. And we’ll have to kick his ass since he’s only going to be in Dallas for a few years. That’s just the work, though. He probably feels the same way. We refer to that as competition.
Thompson left for the Mavericks via sign-and-trade with the help of the Warriors to get more than the midlevel exception. Still, the three-year, $50 million deal he signed with the Mavericks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, was less in annual average salary than the Warriors’ initial offer last offseason which he declined.
Last season’s extension talks eroded Thompson’s relationship with the Warriors which led to his tumultuous final season with the franchise.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Thompson felt disrespected as the Warriors only offered him half of what Draymond Green received.
“Thompson was offered a two-year extension in the $50 million range by the Warriors before last season but passed on that pitch and is said to have come away from the offer feeling disrespected mere months after Green was re-signed to a four-year, $100 million pact,” Stein wrote in his Substack newsletter on June 29.
‘It Never Ends Well’
Thompson’s exit signaled the end of an era that defined the last 10 years of the NBA. Thompson was part of the fabric, along with Stephen Curry and Green, of the Warriors dynasty that won four NBA championships.
“Bob Myers used to say this all the time. He’d say, it never ends well,” Lacob said. “It’s just unfortunate business. It’s just the way it is and things get in the way and circumstances prevail. And so it’s a very difficult process — his injury, the coming back from the injury, which he didn’t play for two and a half of the five-year contract and finally came back and really worked hard to get there. All I can tell you is we love him. We’re going to build a statue for this guy without question obviously when they’re all retired.”
Myers, the Warriors former general manager, stepped down last year, citing he could no longer give his everything to the team as the reason. But he also knew the end was nearing and he did not want to be the one who would break up the team that he built.
Thompson left miserable in his declining role with the Warriors, according to an ESPN report. The five-time All-Star wing struggled to find consistency last season which led to Steve Kerr’s difficult decision to move him to the bench. While Thompson regained his starting spot toward the end of the season, his 0-for-10 shooting in their elimination game against the Sacramento Kings was a painful reminder of a lost season, a lost cause.
