Klay Thompson's regret over departing the Golden State Warriors for the Dallas Mavericks is growing louder, with the veteran sharpshooter making a heartbreaking in-game comment during a loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Thompson joined a Mavericks team coming off the 2024 Finals and foreseeably set up to contend for a long time, but less than two years on he's stuck on a tanking team that's won just five of their past 32 games.
Klay Thompson's regret grows louder with recent comment
In a recent report, Christian Clark of The Athletic relayed an exchange between Thompson and the Spurs bench while the 5x All-Star was on a heater with 14 points in less than four minutes.
"Amid that flurry, according to multiple sources inside Frost Bank Center, Thompson turned toward the Spurs’ bench and said, '"It doesn’t matter. We’re tanking,'"
If this doesn't perfectly illustrate the sad truth of Thompson's situation, nothing likely will. While the 36-year-old has remained a true professional in the face of what's happened around him, the reality is that this is not what he signed up for when he agreed to a three-year, $50 million contract with the Mavericks.
While Thompson isn't the star two-guard he once was at the Warriors, he's still a more than capable rotation player. Such a player -- at his age and in his 13th NBA season (15th if you include the two full years he missed through injury) -- doesn't deserve to be on a team that's not looking to win.
After a rough start to the season that saw him quickly moved to the bench, Thompson has still put up reasonable numbers and performances in recent months. That included four threes and 18 points on Friday against the Orlando Magic, but again it didn't matter as the Mavericks lost anyway despite Thompson's bench production and an extraordinary 51 points from rookie sensation Cooper Flagg.
Klay Thompson might regret not joining the Lakers
As much as the Mavericks may be in a tanking situation right now, the Warriors aren't much better thanks to a myriad of injuries that's seen them lose 22 of their past 33 games and sink to the 10th-seed in the Western Conference.
With the benefit of hindsight, Thompson may be regretting not heading to the Los Angeles Lakers who were reportedly offering a four-year, $80 million contract. The 4x NBA champion thought the Mavericks were in better position to contend, only for them to turn around and trade Luka Doncic to the Lakers less than 50 games into Thompson's tenure with the team.
Perhaps Thompson's future may be re-evaluated again this offseason, with more chance of a potential trade considering he'll be on an expiring contract.