Getty Klay Thompson reacts to making a shot.
The pending free agency of Klay Thompson will be an interesting situation around the NBA. Thompson has played with the Golden State Warriors for his entire career, but his long-term future with the team that drafted him No. 11 overall in 2011 remains uncertain.
In a June 17 article exploring potential contracts for NBA free agents, ESPN’s Bobby Marks predicted that Thompson would land a two-year, $70 million contract.
“In a perfect world, Golden State would reward Thompson with the same four-year, $134 million contract Jrue Holiday signed with the Boston Celtics,” Marks wrote. “Thompson averaged 19.8 points and shot 42.8% on 3-pointers in 14 games as a reserve. He ranked second on the team in points per game after the All-Star break, shooting 45.4% from the field and 41.2% on 3-pointers. But the Warriors no longer live in a perfect world, and owner Joe Lacob has gone on the record to remind that the days of the franchise’s high spending are over.”
Joe Lacob’s Comments About the Golden State Warriors Avoiding the Luxury Tax
In a February episode of “The TK Show” with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Warriors owner Joe Lacob said that the team’s plan is to get out of the luxury tax next season.
“Our Plan 1, or 1A, is that we’d like to be out of the tax, and we think that we have a way to do that,” Lacob said. “That kind of is the plan, not just under the second apron. I’ll tell you why that’s important because the truth is, we need to be out of the tax two years out of the next four in order to get this repeater thing off our books.”
While that’s his plan, Lacob did mention a scenario where they could go further and make big changes.
“There’s a Plan 1B, I guess, and 1B is we could go even further than that and we could make big changes if we had to,” Lacob said. “If this team were to slide all the way down here and not do well the end of the year here, you know there’s gonna be big changes. But if we do really well, we might decide to go the other way, so everything’s open, we have to be flexible, I can just tell you that the goal is to not be a lottery team ever.”
Lacob’s comments came before the end of the 2023-2024 season, and the Warriors were later eliminated in the Play-In game, which could indicate that he doesn’t plan to be a luxury tax team again.
There’s a scenario where the Warriors aren’t a luxury tax team, even if Thompson returns. According to Marks, a contract that starts at $33 million keeps them below the first and second apron.
Thompson Would Be Open to a Reduced Role
Thompson found himself in a different role for parts of last season, starting in 63 of the 77 games he played. It was the first time since his rookie season that he wasn’t a consistent starter.
However, according to Logan Murdock of The Ringer, Thompson said he’d be willing to take a reduced role if it meant staying with the Warriors.
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Thompson told Murdock. “I’ll be 35 next year. At 35, coming off the ACL and an Achilles [tear] and still have the ability to be a really good player.”
He’s still shown to be an elite shooter, sinking 38.7% from 3-point range on 9 attempts per game last season.
Even if the role is reduced, Thompson could still bring value to the Warriors and potentially finish his career where he started it.