Getty Klay Thompson looking frustrated.
Klay Thompson’s future with the Golden State Warriors is a topic of conversation around the NBA. The Warriors legend is a free agent and could sign with a different team, leaving Golden State for the first time in his career.
Proposing five “surprising moves we could see” this offseason, Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report listed Thompson signing with the Detroit Pistons.
“Klay Thompson has spent the entirety of his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors and helped fuel their rise as a dynasty,” Buckley wrote on June 12. “All things being equal—or even in the same ballpark—one would think that the other Splash Brother would want to keep playing in the Bay Area.
“All things might not be equal, though. The Warriors have talked about needing change and trimming their payroll. Re-signing Thompson would be a strange way of pursuing either objective, meaning there’s a well-beyond-non-zero chance that he has already played his last game as a Warrior.”
Klay Thompson’s Thoughts on His Pending Free Agency
Thompson recently said he wanted to re-sign with the Golden State Warriors in free agency on an episode of “The Draymond Green Show” in April.
“Just smelling the roses and appreciating all the work it took to get here. In saying that, when it comes to free agency in July, I just got to keep that in mind,” Thompson said. “Yes, I want to re-sign with the [Warriors], but I also have to prioritize my mental health and lay out what is important to me at this point in my career.”
Thompson means a lot to the Warriors organization, helping them win four championships. After the Warriors were eliminated in the Play-In game, head coach Steve Kerr said that Thompson “still has good years left” and “we want him back,” according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“He’s still got good years left,” Kerr said. “And I know I speak for everybody in the (organization) — we want him back.
“What Klay has meant to this franchise, as good as he still is, we desperately want him back.”
Other teams are interested in the five-time All-Star, including the Orlando Magic. According to Shams Charania of “Run it Back FanDuel TV,” there’s mutual interest.
“The Magic can open up an excess of sixty million dollars in cap space this off season…One name to keep an eye on, Klay Thompson, I’m told there is mutual interest between the Magic and Klay Thompson.”
@ShamsCharania on the Magic’s future plans.
Thompson Admitted to Struggling in the 2023-24 Season
Thompson has dealt with multiple injuries in his career, missing the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons for the Golden State Warriors. Since his return, the 34-year-old has slowed down defensively but can shoot the basketball at an elite level from three-point range.
His 2023-24 season was arguably the worst yet, finishing with the third-lowest field goal percentage and the second-lowest three-point percentage in his career. The California native still managed to shoot 38.7% from three-point range on nine attempts per game.
In the same episode with Draymond Green, Thompson admitted that he had let the contract situation and other factors bother him.
“I was actually struggling a lot with that at the beginning of this year because of the unknown. I might’ve let contract situations or playing time or making up a lot of excuses rather than just appreciating what is in front of me.
“It took me and Steve [Kerr] like four real heart-to-heart talks to finally break my shell. Being like you know what? I got to have fun this year. I deserve to have fun.”