Eastern Conference Contender Interested in Warriors’ Klay Thompson: Report

Getty Klay Thompson stares ahead.

With free agency starting on June 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Klay Thompson looks poised to hit the market without a contract from the Golden State Warriors. Thompson will have interest from other teams, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, including the Philadelphia 76ers.

“A league source said Philadelphia has interest in Thompson,” Amick wrote on June 28.

The Warriors are looking at other moves, but they’re interested in bringing Thompson back if they have money left over.

“Depending on what else the Warriors can get done and how much money they have left over, they’ve maintained a desire to bring Thompson back and an eventual plan to put an offer on the table, believing it’ll be competitive with anything else he’s able to find out there,” Amick wrote.

‘Increasingly Conceivable’ That Thompson Will Leave the Warriors: The Athletic

Amick wrote that the Golden State Warriors haven’t offered him a contract yet, and there hasn’t been much contact from the two sides.

“There remains no official contract offer and little contact between Thompson and the Warriors, league sources said, as the potential end of his 13-year run with the franchise becomes more plausible,” Amick wrote.

With Thompson’s contract situation, Amick added that he could decide to leave regardless of how his contract situation plays out.

“But, as The Athletic reported earlier in the week, it has become increasingly conceivable, according to league sources, that Thompson will decide to leave regardless, searching for a fresh start in a different environment, detached from some of the built-up friction of the previous couple seasons and the Warriors’ cold-natured approach to his contract discussions and future,” Amick wrote.

Klay Thompson Contract Prediction

The sharpshooter can still shoot it with the best of them in the NBA, shooting 38.7% from 3-point range on 9.0 attempts per game last year. That was down from his 41.2% on 10.6 attempts per game the season prior, but it was still an efficient mark.

However, Thompson, once an All-Defensive member, has taken a hit on that side of the basketball. Due to that, he likely won’t get a max offer. According to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, Thompson realizes that he won’t see a five-year, $190 million contract, but he’s searching for at least three years.

“Gone are the days when Thompson was among the NBA’s best two-way wings, an All-Defensive team selection whose exceptional shooting was the basis for five consecutive trips to the All-Star game,” Poole wrote on June 17. “He still can go for 30 or 40 on a given night, but frequency and efficiency have dipped, as has his defensive versatility.

“For those reasons, Thompson realizes he won’t see anything like his expiring contract, a five-year max worth $190 million. League sources indicate he’s seeking an offer of at least three years.”

With Thompson wanting a three-year deal, Yaron Weitzman of Fox Sports predicted a three-year, $100 million deal for him to return to the Golden State Warriors.

“Despite Thomspon recently unfollowing the Warriors on social media, the two sides find a compromise and Thomspon returns to the Bay Area on a three-year deal for around $100 million,” Weitzman wrote on June 25.

There appear to be suitors for the 34-year-old, making the chance of him leaving bigger than ever.