The Dallas Mavericks finally got in the winning column with a victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night, but it was another quieter performance for Klay Thompson as the Golden State Warriors legend played just 20 minutes at American Airlines Center.
Thompson is averaging a career-low 19.9 minutes over the first three games of the season, leading to suggestions that the 5x All-Star and Mavericks should part ways given this was hardly what he signed up for when departing the Warriors on a three-year, $50 million contract in free agency last year.
Could former Warrior Klay Thompson be on the move again?
According to Austin Veazey of Sports Illustrated, Dallas' inability to maximize Thompson's shooting without Luka Doncic (and the injured Kyrie Irving) might make it best to split with the 4x NBA champion.
"It may be best for both sides to move on, because Thompson can't generate open shots for himself with the way this offense is structured. And with how bad the spacing is in the offense, defenses can just key in on Thompson because he's the only threat from deep that they respect," Veazey wrote.
While Thompson has still started all three games for the Mavericks, his dwindling minutes since joining the franchise is certainly notable and remains even more as the season gets underway.
No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg has started at point guard and is averaging over 31 minutes per game, while Max Christie (27.4) and Naji Marshall (24.3) are both averaging more than Thompson despite coming off the bench.
Even former Warrior D'Angelo Russell played more with 29 minutes off the bench on Sunday, with his minutes perhaps trending above Thompson's too if the 35-year-old can't overcome his early shooting woes.
Thompson is currently averaging a career-low 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds on 37% shooting from the floor and only 26.7% from 3-point range, though he did knock down two of his four attempts from deep on Sunday.
There's no doubt that another team could certainly utilize Thompson far more productively than what the Mavericks currently are. It just remains to be seen whether Dallas believes things will be different once Irving eventually returns from injury, or whether they're actually willing to consider trading the veteran sharpshooter in the meantime.
Perhaps a reunion between Thompson and the Warriors could be on the cards at some stage, but on his current deal it seems unlikely that the franchise would trade for one of their greatest ever players.