Why the Warriors should give Klay Thompson the max
When you list the top shooting guards in the NBA, what names come to mind?
Kobe Bryant? James Harden? Joe Johnson?
Well, you should add one more name to that list: Klay Thompson.
Thompson has emerged as one of the best two guards this league has to offer. He is a lethal shooter, lockdown defender and an improving finisher at the rim. He has become so good that the Warriors would not offer him to the Minnesota Timberwolves for their prized possession, Kevin Love. Love, as we all know, is a top 10 player in this league and would be an improvement over Golden State’s current power forward, David Lee.
But the front office saw issues with the deal because of what Thompson does for this team. Their first issue was related to his fellow Splash Brother, Stephen Curry, who is an elite scorer, passer, and shooter in this league but lacks the quickness and strength to guard his position. Thompson’s primary role on defense is to shut down the opponents’ best scorer, which, more often than not, is the point guard. Without Klay, the Warriors would have had a huge hole in their defense and Love, like Curry, would not have been able to stop penetration.
Thompson also helps Curry on the offensive end. Defenses cannot just key in on stopping Curry because his running mate is just as capable of taking over a game. Not only is Thompson “a knockdown shooter” (Mark Jackson’s famous words), but he has also become more aggressive driving the lane and getting to the line, essential elements to becoming an elite All-Star and commanding a max contract.
Is Klay Thompson a max player? Probably not, but the market dictates that he is, even though he is not the best player on his team. The shooting guards mentioned earlier — Bryant, Harden and Johnson — are max players and you could argue that Thompson is a better two-way player than all three of them. He may be the best two-way shooting guard in the entire league, but he certainly isn’t paid like one.
Golden State is currently in talks with Thompson to sign him to an extension, but the sides are remain $2 to $3 million dollars apart per season. Thompson’s agent clearly wants a max contract but the Warriors, according to reports, don’t want to make Thompson their top paid player.
Judging by the current market, however, he certainly should be.The top six paid shooting guards are Bryant, Johnson, Dwyane Wade, Eric Gordon, Gordon Hayward and James Harden. Thompson should be mentioned in this group because he is better than half the guys on this list, possibly only behind Bryant and Johnson. Wade is deteriorating with age, Gordon can’t play a full season without getting injured and Hayward is a player on the rise, but nowhere near the player Thompson is.
Hayward was just awarded a max contract extension and while Chandler Parsons is not a shooting guard, he also received a max contract from the Dallas Mavericks. Thompson and Parsons’ games are very similar in that they are great shooters, exceptional defenders and are fearless in going to the hoop. Here is a list of the top paid shooting guards in the game and where Thompson should be on this list:
- Kobe Bryant $23.5 million
- Joe Johnson $23.2 million
- Klay Thompson $15.8 million (max contract extension)
- Dwyane Wade $15 million
- Eric Gordon $14.9 million
- Chandler Parsons $14.8 million (SF)
- Gordon Hayward $14.7 million
- James Harden $14.7 million
Thompson’s confidence soared this summer as a member of the U.S. National Team. He was only second to James Harden in scoring and showed a new swagger that we have never seen before. On a team full of All-Stars and superstars, Thompson thrived and has continued his hot stretch through the preseason, averaging over 20 points per game and shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Thompson is on his way to becoming the best two-guard in this league and it would be ridiculous for Golden State to let him become a restricted free agent next offseason. They need to sign him now to a max extension because he is the best two-way shooting guard in the entire NBA and is the perfect running mate for Curry. Thompson is on the verge of becoming a star and he should be in a Warriors’ uniform now and for many years to come.