The curtains came down, the lights came up, and the show was over.
After months of speculation and uncertainty, Klay Thompson is set to leave the Warriors for the Dallas Mavericks, along with parting ways with longtime bandmates Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Thus ended a glorious triumphant streak that saw the most glorious era in Golden State’s 62-year history after 13 years, nine playoff appearances and four NBA championships.
This contradicts the expressed desire of Curry and Green, who expressed a desire in April to keep Thompson as part of their family, to extend the uniqueness of being the NBA’s longest-serving group of teammates on the same team.
“We’ve been through the best of times and the worst of times,” Thompson said at the end of the season. “Losing championships, winning championships, missing the playoffs, we’ve been through it all together, so it really means a lot. I’m grateful for the time I had with those guys. That was pretty historic.”
The unofficial Warriors logo features Steph flanked by Draymond and Klay, all three holding up four fingers to represent their greatest collective accomplishment, and all three, deep down, loved the idea of spending their entire careers with one franchise.
But reading between the lines of Thompson’s statement and noting the past tense references suggests he is open to the possibility of moving on.
The lure of a new commitment with the Mavericks and the three-year, $50 million contract reportedly offered on Monday was too strong for Thompson to resist.
The Warriors wanted to keep Thompson, but luxury tax issues made their budget limited, and they realized last summer they might lose out to an aggressive team with ample salary-cap space and a desire to acquire a veteran scorer.
Golden State was hopeful Thompson might sacrifice millions of dollars for familiarity, continuity and security with the team that drafted him in 2011 and signed a max contract (five years, $190 million) just a month after he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in the 2019 NBA Finals.
He will likely remain with the franchise for which he has “only good things to say.”
But Thompson, 34, is a free thinker. He captains a ship at sea and has a beloved English bulldog, Rocco. He’s fiercely independent and lives life at his own pace, and that’s part of his charm.
That’s why he might be intrigued by a new environment. You can’t blame him for exploring, especially if it’s lucrative. This could be a rebirth for Thompson.
It’s bittersweet for the Warriors and Dub Nation, which has grown exponentially over the past decade and can trace much of the glory behind that expansion to a near-perfect pairing in the Curry Thompson backcourt.
Curry is three inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter, but he runs the point and dominates defenses at every level between the rim and the logo. With Thompson, a much better on-ball defender, manning the guard who poses the biggest offensive threat, Curry was able to put most of his energy into attacking, whether he was a 6-foot-3 point guard like Damian Lillard or a 6-foot-6 scorer like DeMar DeRozan.
At their respective peaks, Steph was the most dangerous offensive force in the game and Klay was a member of the All-Defensive Team, and the way they complemented each other is what made these two the most complete backcourt in NBA history.
Those days are over. Thompson can still shoot the ball in the zone and get it through the rim, but his on-ball defense has clearly fallen victim to devastating injuries, including a torn ACL in June 2019 and a ruptured right Achilles tendon in November 2020.
Thompson’s decline in defensive production was one of the factors that led Warriors coach Steve Kerr to experiment with him as the team’s sixth man last season, and it undoubtedly influenced Golden State’s evaluation of him.
What’s over is what’s over, Clay is gone, Dub Nation will be heartbroken, and some heartbroken people may shed some tears.
A legendary band breaks up. Steph was the lead singer and biggest celebrity, Draymond was the red-hot drummer, and Clay was the guitarist whose amazing solos captivated audiences and evoked memories for years to come.
The final note has been struck. The silence is momentary, but then a loud bang reverberates.
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