The End Of Klay Thompson

The End Of Klay Thompson

klay Thompson was one of the NBA’s elite two-way threats A sharpshooter who didn’t need endless touches to catch fire Every time the ball landed in Klay’s hands you just knew that it was going in No matter the defender no matter the angle and certainly no matter the distance we’re talking about a guy so elite that he once poured in 60 points on just 33 shots And if that somehow isn’t impressive enough for you consider this He achieved that feat in only 29 minutes of play dribbling the ball just 11 times total A lot of players dribble the ball 11 times for one possession Klay took 11 dribbles for an entire game and dropped 60 Just imagine what he could have done if he took 22 dribbles Unlike many of today’s players who dribble circles trying to emulate Kyrie Irving James Harden or Jordan Pool Pete Clay Thompson was all efficiency and zero wasted motion everyone in the building knew exactly what he was about the moment that he stepped onto the floor Straight buckets That December 5th 2016 masterpiece against the Indiana Pacers was truly legendary I don’t think that I’ll ever see anything like that again But if you are enjoying the video then right now is the perfect chance to like it subscribe and turn on notifications as all of these things help the channel out a lot and they don’t cost anything I still vividly remember Mark Jackson boldly declaring back in 2013 that he had the greatest shooting back court in NBA history right there on his roster At the time it felt ambitious almost audacious Steph Curry had just been drafted four years prior in 2009 and Klay Thompson only two years earlier in 2011 Both were still years away from their peaks but Jackson’s bold prediction turned out to be absolutely prophetic Think about it Klay Thompson shot over 40% from three-point range in each of his first eight seasons with Golden State Yet remarkably he was still considered the worst shooter in his own back court That’s not a slight at Clay but rather a testament to Steph’s unparalleled greatness Klay’s elite consistency from beyond the ark was a key factor that allowed Curry the space and freedom that he needed to fully unleash his talent This season has highlighted precisely how crucial that Klay’s role was This season Steph has had to fight as hard as ever to find open looks The series against the Rockets provided a perfect example of this ultimately wearing down Steph and contributing to a grade one hamstring strain in the following round against the Timberwolves There isn’t a Warriors fan alive who wouldn’t trade for a prime Klay Thompson right now Jimmy Butler has done a commendable job in the short amount of time that he’s been Curry’s Robin But even at Butler’s peak Warriors fans would still choose a prime Clay without second thought But Klay’s value wasn’t just in his shooting He was an irreplaceable cornerstone in Steve Kerr’s defensive scheme as well A genuine two-way star I’m not sure that a lot of people understand how impressive that something like this is Nowadays players routinely earn good contracts for excelling in just one area For example elite shooting or elite defense Back in the day Andre Robersonson was often just chilling in the corner for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook not taking any pressure off of anybody on that end of the floor When he shot a three it felt like he was trying to shoot on one of those rigged carnival rims that are really hard to shoot on The ones that we’ve even seen shooting legends like Steph Curry struggle with Robersonson routinely shot below 30% from three-point range but stayed relevant through defensive excellence alone PJ Tucker made a lot of money from just being a really good and tough defender that can consistently hit corner threes The league is so starved for decent 3 and D players that we see undersized point guards who fit the billing of being able to knock down some shots and play defense get opportunities like Patrick Beverly There weren’t many players like Klay Every time that Klay Thompson suited up and played for the Warriors there was a 70% chance that the team would win Or at least that’s what the numbers said before his injury Because Clay according to Stat Muse had a record of 432 wins and 183 losses with the Golden State Warriors until the 2019 2020 season That includes seasons prior to the Warriors blowup and it also includes a decent amount before the ultimate mercenary Kevin Durant arrived But those injuries man those injuries will always suck They sucked then they suck now they will always suck Unlike some stars from his era Klay Thompson has had a tougher battle against Father Time Players like LeBron James Steph Curry and Tim Duncan have been exceptions to the rule defying age with uncommon longevity Unfortunately for Clay injuries have haunted his career far more than his superstar peers I feel like Kevin Durant’s incredible return from his Achilles tear skewed expectations dramatically We tend to forget that legends like Kobe Bryant and talents like Demarcus Cousins struggled mightily to return to their previous form after the same injury This leaves me worried about guys like Dejante Murray Damen Lillard Jason Tatum and Cyres Hallebertton All of whom have recently faced major Achilles problems It’s scary that we have no idea what any of them are going to look like when they return And for Klay Thompson it wasn’t just one devastating injury It was a cruel double whammy Before his Achilles tear Klay first endured a torn ACL An injury already considered one of the worst nightmares for athletes And this didn’t just happen at any moment It happened during the most critical stage imaginable the 2019 NBA Finals The Warriors lost Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in the same series People love to talk about the Warriors so-called injury luck but losing two superstars at the peak of their dynasty that’s about as brutally unlucky as it gets Just as Klay was fighting his way back from his ACL injury from those finals November 19th 2020 his Achilles tendon would snap during a workout in Southern California adding another brutal chapter to an already heartbreaking story Few NBA players have faced such a relentless run of injuries Although Thompson delighted us with an incredible dunk in his return game after two years out with injury the reality is that his explosiveness was no longer there His two-point attempts dropped to levels not seen since his first two seasons in the NBA You never want to see a shooter with a true shooting percentage below 55% As his true shooting percentage was falling Klay was making it his mission to prove that he was now a shot creator It constantly felt like he was trying to get everything back with every shot that he took Clay’s off of the dribble experiment was a disaster And although during the 2022 2023 season right after winning the ring Klay led the NBA in three-pointers made averaging 4.4 per game that was the last time that we saw the shooting guard offer anything in the same stratosphere as his best His ability to defend was limited by that loss of athleticism and explosiveness and his two-point attempts kept declining steadily until finally with the Dallas Mavericks he would turn into being mainly a simple spot-up shooter In the 2017 2018 season Klay Thompson played 73 games averaging 20 points per game on 48.8% from the field and the career best 44% from three During that year he led the Warriors in distance traveled on the court covering an impressive 13,177.2 ft But by his first season in Dallas that number dropped significantly to 10,899.5 ft across 72 games only fifth best on the Mavericks One of the greatest movement shooters that we’ve ever seen was now just a spot-up threat But here’s the thing This role made sense for Clay A perceived lack of respect from the Warriors during contract talks the desire for a fresh start and an undying hunger to compete again all combined perfectly placing Klay Thompson in a situation where he could zero in on what he’s always done best shooting the basketball Luca Donuch and Kyrie Irving were going to get Klay Thompson open He just had to knock them down Klay’s six three-pointers in his debut game with the Mavericks would set a franchise record for most threes made by any player in their first game with the team The previous record was held by Luca Donic who hit five threes in his debut as a rookie Tim Hardaway Jr who his efficiency would waver in Dallas But even between the struggles every time that he touched the floor with Luca and Kyrie you could see the potential that this trio had especially with Derek Lively an underrated passer and elite vertical spacer holding things down at the five Two of the best offensive players in the game one of the best center rotations in the league good role players and a team that was just in the finals that came back hungry Klay’s time in Dallas was supposed to be something that I told my kids about Fittingly his best game in Dallas came against his former squad the Golden State Warriors On December 16th he erupted for 29 points on nine of 14 from the field including seven of 11 from beyond the ark while adding five rebounds five assists and helping Dallas to a thrilling 143 to 133 victory Luca poured in 45 like it was routine So I can’t quite claim that Klay was out there playing Hero Ball but his fingers were all over this victory which is about as much as you could ask for from a 2024 Klay Thompson This game was personal for Klay as every game that he played against the Warriors this season was back-to- back threes then Shimmy Curry’s in disbelief Klay was having some fun in some of these games Before the Luca trade this matchup was circled on my calendar as one of the season’s best But that trade flipped everything upside down especially for Klay Thompson who arrived in Dallas eager for the chance to run alongside Luca Donuch
I know what you know now would you have made the same decision to come to Dallas last summer
Don’t do this to me Don’t do that to me Don’t do that That’s that that that that’s kind of a ridiculous question because like there’s I don’t own a time machine and I don’t believe in uh going back looking back if I did that my whole career I would not be where I’m at and I would have been able to persevere through two really hard injuries So I’m here in Dallas and I uh enjoyed my time and I’m looking forward to the future Future Clay if you have that time machine please go back and save Klay from the mess that has transpired this season in Dallas Klay Thompson was supposed to be in Dallas in his Miami Heat Ray Allen era Instead the trade and Kai’s injury forced him into the same old bad habits of trying to create for himself something that nobody should be forced to see in 2025 Klay finished this season averaging 14 points 41.2% 2% from the field 39% from downtown 3.4 rebounds and two assists His points per game fell a full 3.9 points which would have meant nothing and would have been overlooked had the Mavericks made a deep run in the playoffs But that Luca trade and then Kai going down and AD constantly hobbling gave Clay and this team no chance for anything Dallas went from boasting two of basketball’s best ball handlers to practically begging anyone to run the offense Even Klay’s own dad called it basketball purgatory And honestly that might have been putting it mildly
Know Clay probably tried the best tonight Um is there any reason or decision why you didn’t get as much run in the third quarter
Um well we’re trying to get stops it’s something you know you you got to figure out how to stop the the leak and you know they’re scoring and we’re having trouble you know stopping them So we brought him and and PJ out and that’s you know PJ was done for the night Um and so just looking at you know our defense we you know guarding the three-point line we just did not do a good job tonight and we have to be better If I’m Klay Thompson I’m fuming when I hear this It has to sting when your own coach publicly calls you out Basically saying “Hey we couldn’t stop anybody with you out there so we had no choice but to bench you.” Now for the Golden State Warriors things have gone a little better than they have for Clay They acquired former Sixer Buddy Healed to fill the void left by Clay And although Buddy started off on a roll as did the Warriors for the first few weeks of the regular season everything regressed to the mean shortly after Yes it’s part of the infamous buddy healed cycle but if you compare the chemistry of a newcomer with that of a player who has spent his entire career with the franchise you can’t expect anything else So if Klay who was already struggling in his last few seasons couldn’t get used to the direction that Kerr’s offense was headed what made Dun Levy think that Buddy could Well they got Buddy for two reasons because he’s one of the best volume shooters in the NBA and because the pickings were slim Despite his poor performance during the second half of the season he seemed to wake up during the playoffs Jimmy’s arrival made his role so much easier providing him with a ball handler capable of directing the offense and helping him find his looks And the truth is that Butler was already used to playing with players of this type in Miami such as Duncan Robinson the kind of player who earlier in their career preferred not to put the ball on the floor
We just got to stay in the fight box out you know have some technique and stop uh patting the ball like I be doing and just go grab it with two hands and Buddy stop trying to dribble the ball I hate that
If you told me a few years ago that Buddy He was brought in to help replace Klay Thompson on the Warriors I would have never believed you Above all else Buddy Heield’s positive vibe has felt like a breath of fresh air By the end of his Warriors run Clay didn’t quite seem like himself and it was clear that weighed heavily on the team Meanwhile every time you catch Buddy out there he’s grinning ear to ear joking around and trading friendly trash talk with Jimmy Butler I need those vibes in Dallas to mirror the vibes that have been in Golden State The Mavs just landed Cooper Flag another dynamic creator with enormous offensive upside What’s also interesting is that he enters the NBA as an elite defender You guys heard Kid earlier Klay ain’t getting any stops anytime soon So this addition along with Anthony Davis behind him bodess well for the Mavs hiding Clay on that end of the floor if both parties decide to move forward together Although I don’t like that we’re still not sure when Kai is returning from that season ending ACL tear that he suffered March 3rd 2025 I expect the Mavericks to be very busy this off season Something that should work in Klay’s favor and give him an idea of where he stands within the organization If the Mavs look to contend next season then Klay remaining in Dallas makes sense If they don’t you shouldn’t be surprised if Klay finds himself sporting another uniform Klay still has plenty left in the tank But since he’s no longer the player that he once was finding the right situation is more important now than it ever has been If he has to be a bench sniper then he has to be a bench sniper But there’s a role out there that makes sense for Clay He’d be an expensive bench sniper though Next season he’s going to be in the second year of what is a three-year $50 million deal In the comments below let me know what situation that you guys think makes sense for Klay and what role that you would like to see him in Before Klay landed in Dallas via sign and trade we saw teams like the Lakers Clippers 76ers and Orlando Magic showing interest in Clay If he becomes available again maybe one of these teams circles back or perhaps a new contender like the Detroit Pistons jumps into the mix Cade might not be Luca Donic but he might not be as far away from Luca as many people think He had Malik Beasley lighting it up I think another shooter like Clay would undoubtedly excite Pistons fans Maybe it wouldn’t but it would undoubtedly excite me Clay I’m trying here man and I’m rooting for you Anyways there’s some more going on in the basketball world that we have to be covering So clicking one of the videos on the screen right now is a great way to support this channel from Get Like Coupe bringing you guys the scoop until our next upload [Music]

Things have been getting ugly for Klay Thompson, and what sucks about it is that most of it isn’t his fault.

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