It’s the end of an era in Golden State.
Klay Thompson is gone. The sharpshooting wing who won four championships with the Warriors and ushered in the NBA’s 3-point revolution alongside Stephen Curry is now a member of the Dallas Mavericks after agreeing to a sign-and-trade and three-year, $50 million contract on Monday.
On Tuesday, Curry delivered a message on Instagram to his teammate of 13 years.
“Gonna miss you,” Curry wrote. “Even though we won’t finish the journey together, what we did will never be done again. Couldn’t have imagined a better run with you and [Draymond Green].
“Changed the whole Bay Area. Changed the way the game is played.
“Killa Klay at the center of it all. Thank you for everything bro. Go enjoy playing basketball and doing what you do.
“Splash Bros 4 life my guy.”
Curry and Thompson truly did change the game together. Thompson joined the Warriors in Curry’s third season in 2011 and stepped in as a rookie to shoot 41.4% on 6.8 3-point attempts per game. For perspective, that was two more 3-point attempts per game than Curry averaged in any of his first three seasons.
From then on, the 3-point volume ramped up in Golden State, and it resulted in a dynasty that produced four NBA championships in eight seasons. In 11 active seasons, Thompson shot 41.3% on 7.6 3-point attempts per game as one half of the greatest shooting backcourt in basketball history.
Now he’ll do so in a diminished capacity for a Western Conference rival.
Thompson made five straight All-Star teams during Golden State’s run. Devastating leg injuries cost him back-to-back seasons and most of a third from 2019-22, and he’s never been the same. That he was able to return at all is remarkable. A ruptured Achilles on top of an ACL tear would spell the end of the vast majority of professional athletes’ careers.
Thompson remained a valuable contributor (20.4 ppg, 38.5% from 3) after returning midway through Golden State’s run to the 2022 title. Since then, his relationship with the franchise diminished, and Monday’s exit was a foregone conclusion. It was just a matter of where he would land.
Shortly after his trade to Dallas, the Warriors released their own ode to Thompson in a Monday announcement that his No. 11 jersey would be retired in San Francisco. That retirement ceremony will have to wait. For now, Thompson and the Warriors are rivals.
