If this is, in fact, how Klay Thompson’s time in the Bay Area ends, it’ll be peculiar and inexplicable.
Or, in other words, fitting.
Thompson has never been one to be fully understood. He’s a one-off, a man who goes to the beat of his own drum; the rules that applied to everyone else somehow didn’t apply to him (much to the chagrin of some big-name former teammates). And his inscrutability made him lovable.
Now it might make him a member of another team for the first time in his Hall of Fame career.
Five-time All-Star and four-time champion, who has spent his entire 13-year career with the Warriors, is dipping his toes (and perhaps his whole body) into the waters of unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career.
There are interested parties. The level of that interest will be fully gauged in the coming days.
But amid that interest, there’s also a prevailing sense of animosity permeating from Thompson’s camp, aimed at the Warriors.
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It leaks out in little ways amid the cacophony that is this, the NBA’s silly season, but when words like “respect” and “relationship” pop up in conversation, it’s worth noting.
There’s something larger in play here. It’s personal, at least for Thompson.
And that tells us that Thompson isn’t just bluffing when he talks to other teams. It’s not all a tactic to make the Warriors jealous.
This is no rom-com. In fact, for the Warriors, losing Thompson could qualify as a tragedy.
There’s more than one orange ball bouncing for Golden State right now. Chris Paul and the Dubs agreed to push back the guarantee date on his contract to the end of the weekend — the eve of the new league year (which brings with it new, onerous rules for trading players).
The Warriors are also actively shopping Andrew Wiggins in trades, all while keeping him off the Canadian Olympic basketball team — are they protecting him or themselves?
The Dubs are closely monitoring the Paul George situation in the Southland, too, looking to add one of the NBA’s best players in case (or because) they lost their all-time great wing.
And amid all that, the Warriors are tasked with keeping one of the greatest players in franchise history — Steph Curry’s Splash Brother.
Of course, they’re only willing to do it at the right price, and for the right term.
Oh, and it seems as if to do that, they’ll need to mend a relationship the important folks in the organization had no idea was broken, much less to the point of irreparability.
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Now, I am still of the opinion that the Warriors and Thompson avoid divorce.
But there are more and more reasons being given to think that’s an idiotic take.
Legendary NBA reporter Marc Stein reported on Friday night that Thompson leaving the Warriors looks like an “inevitability” and noted that the Dallas Mavericks and the wing have mutual interest.
I’m sure that interest will dissipate when the Mavericks actually look at their books and realize they are $23 million over the salary cap, but it’s a fun idea otherwise.
There are other teams, though. Quality teams. And while Thompson might not be their first option in free agency, it’s not to say a deal couldn’t be struck in due time.
The NBA wants reality TV drama when it comes to player movement. They have it here — The Real Basketball Players of San Francisco.
If Thompson does leave the Warriors, the exit will be unquestionably messy, even as dozens of questions will swirl.
The biggest one: Where did it all go wrong?
Was it the “insult” of the Warriors’ preseason contract offer? (An offer that would hold up on the open market after this season.)
Was it Steve Kerr asking Thompson to come off the bench?
Was it the 0-for-10 game in the Play-In Tournament to cap an up-and-down season?
Was it something even further back?
Perhaps it’s a combination of everything, with a little bit of nothing sprinkled in. Thompson can have all the reasons in the world for leaving. But he doesn’t need one.
The context of how Thompson leaves — if he leaves — is important for the narrative. Did the Warriors make an honest bid to keep him in the Bay or did Klay walk away?
Was there a replacement in place or did Thompson leave the Dubs high and dry?
These things matter, and we’ll have answers by Monday.
But no matter how he exits (if he exits), Thompson would be leaving behind a legacy that is second to only one in Warriors history.
While the Warriors dynasty — or whatever you want to call four titles between 2015 and 2022 — was, honestly, already dead, Thompson walking away, no matter the impetus, would truly be a death knell.
A new, fresh chapter might be what’s needed for all parties involved.
But that’s not to say it won’t bring about some melancholy, too.
The situation with the Splash Brother is far too fluid to pretend to know the outcome.
But if what’s being suggested turns out to be true — if Thompson leaves, with prejudice, it brings to an end one of the great teams and runs in NBA history.
And I don’t think anyone — perhaps not even Thompson — will be able to explain why.
