Klay Thompson Has Proved the Golden State Warriors Right
By Eric He
Would the Golden State Warriors be sitting on top of the NBA world right now if they had James Harden or Kevin Love?
It is a very valid question, considering they nearly traded Klay Thompson on two separate occasions (that we know of).
In 2013, Bill Simmons reported that the Thunder had offered Harden to the Warriors in exchange for Thompson and a pick, but the Warriors wanted Oklahoma City to take back expiring contracts Andris Biedrins or Richard Jefferson.
The very next year, of course, there were the ubiquitous rumors surrounding a Thompson-for-Love deal, a trade that was fiercely debated within the Warriors’ front office but ultimately turned down.
It’s not hard to discern why a player of Thompson’s caliber would be mentioned in so many rumors: his potential is sky-high, his build at 6’7″ combined with his ability to shoot with precision is special and a model of what the prototypical NBA player is in this age, and he is the perfect player for teams to ask for if they were to trade away their superstar.
It would be easy to commend the Warriors on their shrewdness, on Bob Myers and Jerry West and Joe Lacob — among others — originally on different sides but ultimately concluding that Thompson was indeed too valuable to include in any deal, even for superstars in Harden and Love.
Apr 14, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) loses the ball against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
And yes, Harden and Love as individuals may be better players than Thompson. Harden is one of the premier scorers in the league with an uncanny ability to pile up an insane amount of points at the free throw line. Love is the best shooting power forward — outside of Dirk Nowitzki — in the game, able to drive defense crazy with his shooting stroke.
Imaging either one with the Warriors right now would be extremely hypothetical, but interesting. Would having Harden — a star who thrives on isolation and possessing the ball for a majority of the shot clock — bury Stephen Curry and prevent him from having an MVP season? Would Love — who struggled being the third option in Cleveland behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving — fit in playing second fiddle to Curry and yielding to the Warriors’ pass-heavy offense?
Thompson fits the Warriors’ style perfectly. He is an elite player who doesn’t need the ball in his hands all the time like Harden. He is an excellent three-point shooter who also happens to be very mobile and an excellent defender, unlike Love. He is content to defer to Curry, and in turn benefits with open looks from the ball movement that confuses defenses, predicated on fear of Curry burying a three. In this sense, Thompson is the perfect wingman to Curry, possessing a unique set of skills that Harden and Love do not.
Apr 13, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) celebrates ahead of majority owner Joe Lacob after a three point basket against the Memphis Grizzlies during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Obviously, Lacob and Co. will gladly spout, “I told you so,” that the Warriors knew all along that Thompson would show vast improvement while Harden and Love would have prevented the Warriors from winning the championship.
But Lacob was all for trading Thompson for Love at first, and who wouldn’t be? The impulse when considering such a deal is to look at Thompson and Love and conclude that a) Love is a star b) Klay is a star-in-the-marking and pull the trigger on a flashy, news-making deal that would anoint the team as immediate contenders.
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Instead, they did nothing, and we should give them the benefit of the doubt in doing so. A lot of General Managers and executives would have pulled the plug on either deal — Klay for Harden or Klay for Love — but the Warriors did not. They did what smart teams do, keeping an asset who they hand-picked from the draft, teaching him, watching him develop, and finally reaping the rewards of having a homegrown star.
Many moons ago, Warriors fans would have been irate at the fact that they turned down trades that would have netted them bona fide All-Stars. Today, fans can proudly say that they indeed said “no thanks” to such a deal, and they can feel even more triumphant that Klay Thompson has more championships than James Harden and Kevin Love — combined.