The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have much of a chance to land Klay Thompson this offseason, but they tried to get him two years ago. Thompson left the Golden State Warriors in free agency and wanted to find a path towards NBA Championship contention. The Lakers got turned down in favor of the Dallas Mavericks. Thompson ended up seeing the Mavericks make huge trades to ruin the core he hoped to play with.
The Athletic’s Christian Clark revealed why Thompson didn’t want to play for the Lakers two summers ago:
“Back in the summer of 2024, Thompson’s representatives had discussions with the Lakers about him winding up there. It would have made sense on several levels. Thompson has deep ties to Los Angeles.
He spent much of his childhood in the city and still owns a home there. But one of the reasons Thompson chose the Mavericks over the Lakers was that he had concerns about Anthony Davis’ availability, a source with knowledge of his thinking said.”
The health concerns of Davis ultimately ruined the title dreams of the Lakers during that time frame. LeBron James and Davis led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA Championship, but they only had one deep run after that. Davis’ injuries led to lackluster regular season records and complicated playoff series to prove Thompson right there.
Klay Thompson Experienced His Fears In Dallas
Fate would see the Lakers and Mavericks making a shocking trade to flip Thompson’s world upside down. Klay initially joined Dallas to play with the duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving since the Mavericks were coming off losing in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Thompson believed that he would be able to put them over the top, but the Mavericks traded Doncic for Davis and Max Christie during his first season there. Davis barely played for Dallas to show why Klay feared trusting his health.
Irving then suffered an injury that ruled him out for the end of that season and all of last year. Despite the positive of playing with rookie sensation Cooper Flagg, Thompson did not make the playoffs with the Mavericks. The drastic roster changes ruined the potential he saw from this situation.
Why Lakers Didn’t Sign Klay Thompson This Summer
It appears that neither Thompson nor the Lakers were as active towards finding an agreement this summer as in 2024. Klay quickly signed with the Miami Heat within hours of getting his buy out from Dallas to enter free agency.
Miami is hoping to contend after trading for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, but they clearly need more shooting behind him. Thompson will likely get a lot of three-point attempts to contribute more here than he would have for the Lakers or any other team.
The Lakers’ side also saw them looking at adding other positions, like Jonathan Kuminga as a forward. Klay wasn’t as valuable to them now due to having guard depth with Doncic, Grimes, Austin Reaves, and Collin Sexton all expected to split the back court playing time up together. The timing just didn’t make sense for Thompson to join the Lakers now.
Klay Thompson Turned Down Lakers Because Of Anthony Davis