Klay Thompson will join the Dallas Mavericks, league sources said Monday, a move that ends his 13-year run as a core member of the Golden State Warriors dynasty.
The Warriors will receive two second-round draft picks — Dallas’ 2031 second-round pick and a 2025 least favorable pick between the Denver Nuggets and the Philadelphia 76ers — to complete the sign-and-trade deal, per league sources.
Thompson, 34, has spent his entire career with Golden State, winning four NBA championships and making five All-Star teams.
He played 77 games last season, averaging 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Thompson’s 268 3-pointers made ranked fourth in the NBA last season.
His decision closes the chapter on a months-long saga surrounding Thompson and the Warriors front office. Golden State had no communication with its star guard as the negotiating period opened, per team and league sources.
The Warriors, after other business, wanted to circle back and negotiate with Thompson, but he wasn’t interested in being a willing secondary priority in their summer plan, with his side feeling that the Warriors’ interest in a reunion was disingenuous.
This split is a major stunner across the league, given the deep history between the Warriors and Thompson. It been trending this direction for a couple seasons, as Thompson’s extension talks stalled, his role shifted, the team failed to make the playoffs. The Warriors drafted (Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski) and extended (Jordan Poole) possible replacements under him and he never felt reciprocated love from management about his firm place in the franchise’s plans, league sources said.
That continued into this summer. The Warriors maintained an outward desire to keep Thompson as part of the core, but they made it clear it’d have to come at the right price, in the right role and he’d have to wait for the right time.
The Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers were also expected to be strong suitors at the outset of free agency.
For most of the past decade, the Mavericks were known as the team that chased star free agents and then failed to get them, retreating to backup plans and promising future pursuits behind false bravado that couldn’t quite hide the embarrassment.
That was another front office pitching an entirely different team. Now it’s Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving helming the team. Now it’s Nico Harrison leading the front office. And now the Mavericks have signed a free agent who might be the biggest star name acquisition in franchise history: Klay Thompson.