For the first time in 13 years, Stephen Curry is preparing to take an NBA court without the promise of suiting up with Klay Thompson. Sure, they’ve played games without each other plenty of times—Thompson did miss two full seasons with injuries, after all—but now, Thompson is not on the Warriors roster, he is slated to wear another NBA team’s jersey.
That’s would be the Mavericks. And he’s not exactly thrilled by the prospect.
“Man, we talked about it a lot, the journey we’ve been on,” Curry said, seated alongside Warriors (and Team USA coach) Steve Kerr for an ESPN interview. “We would have loved to maintain the core and finish out together. But we obviously understand that things change.
“Having Klay head on to Dallas, it’s tough. It’s something I never imagined in reality. But I want him to be happy, I want him to enjoy the game of basketball. It does suck not having Klay, there’s no two ways around it. But we have to be able to celebrate what we accomplished, and then we’ve got to move on.”
Stephen Curry: News Has Not ‘Sunk In’
The Warriors gave a half-hearted attempt at re-signing Thompson, the team’s first-round pick in 2011, this summer after having extended an offer of two years and around $48 million before the start of the season. Thompson held out for a longer deal, though, but the Warriors held firm.
Thompson found the free-agent market difficult, though, and with the NBA’s new financial realities restricting what he could be offered by contenders. He accepted a three-year deal from the Mavericks, worth $50 million in total.
Speaking to Yahoo Sports, Curry said that he has not quite gotten his head around the departure.
“Not having Klay, man, it still hasn’t quite sunk in,” Curry said. “Just because we’ve been doing it for years together. Coach made a joke, like, sometimes you can’t really find Klay in the offseason, you don’t really hear from him as much, but then he shows up for training camp ready to go.
“I kind of have this idea that in October he is going to show up in October and he’ll still be like, ‘Hey, you guys, what’s up?’ But I know that’s not happening. So that will sink in a little bit.”
Warriors, Klay Thompson Divorce was Deep-Seated
Thompson has a sterling resume, all forged with the Warriors and alongside Curry. The pair quickly became known as the Splash Brothers and revolutionized the game with their 3-point prowess.
Thompson has made 2,481 3-pointers in his career, No. 6 on the all-time list, and has done so making 41.3% from the arc. He made 301 3-pointers in 2022-23, one of only three players in league history to hit that mark.
The final strand of his mostly disappointing 2023-24 season, though, will go down as a bitter one in the NBA’s play-in tournament. He scored zero points on 0-for-10 shooting, was a minus-12 in the box score and missed all six of his 3-point attempts in a blowout loss to the Kings, 118-94, ending Golden State’s season.
Thompson wrapped up the 2023-24 season with 17.9 points per game on 43.2% shooting and 38.7% 3-point shooting. It was a wildly inconsistent season, though Thompson had appeared to be heading to a strong finish. After a bench stint, he returned to the starting lineup for the final 10 games and averaged 21.8 points on 49.1% shooting and 41.6% 3-point shooting.
But with some rising young players on hand, the Warriors wanted Thompson to take both a lesser role and a lesser contract. Now, he’s in Dallas. And that might take a while to sink in.
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