TJD
2024-06-23 01:49:28
🚨 BREAKING: Talks between Klay Thompson and the Warriors are essentially frozen, per sources.
• There has been no offer made. It's more probable than ever he may leave the only franchise he's known, regardless of his market.
• Via, TheAthletic, Anthony V. Slater
The_Dream
2024-06-23 02:15:02
Klay Thompson isn’t currently mulling a shorter-than-desired offer from the Golden State Warriors. Despite a wide open negotiation window, there isn’t a one-year, two-year or three-year deal on the table. Because nothing is currently on the table, according to league sources. There’s been no productive discussion between the Warriors and Thompson or his representatives.
Talks are essentially frozen. With free agency now less than 10 days away, Thompson’s exit from the only franchise he has ever known feels closer and more probable than ever before.
The Warriors have outwardly maintained their desire to bring Thompson back at the right price and in the right role, per league sources, but have viewed his situation as business to sort through after various other roster-building avenues have been explored. They’ve been actively searching for paths to larger-scale upgrades, using Chris Paul’s non-guaranteed $30 million contract as a flexible tool. There’s been talk with Paul about possibly pushing that guarantee date back from June 28 into July, if necessary, per league sources, which would only be telling Thompson to wait longer.
If the Warriors can acquire a big name, high-salary player, that would significantly impact what they’re able to offer Thompson, considering their plan to duck the second apron and perhaps drop below the tax entirely. This calculated business approach — which has merit, considering the Warriors’ desperate need to improve an inadequate roster — can come off as cold to a franchise legend like Thompson, who won four titles in his 13 seasons with the Warriors but is being bumped far down the current offseason priority list.
Part of the Warriors’ calculus, it seems, is that Thompson could discover a lukewarm free-agent market and eventually return at a bargain rate. Controlling owner Joe Lacob, second-year general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and vice president Kirk Lacob are pulling the levers. Early indications are that that read of the market will be proven correct. Word is there are mostly shorter-term contracts out there for veteran free agents, partly why Malik Monk returned to Sacramento on a four-year deal at only $78 million.
There has been no traction between Thompson and the Orlando Magic, according to league sources, despite some initial mutual interest. Other cap space teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder could theoretically enter the mix. But Thompson’s best offers may end up smaller in money and shorter in years than many predicted or expected, leading some to presume that’ll lead back to an inevitable reunion with the Warriors at a rate both sides are comfortable.
But that’s not necessarily the case. Even if the Warriors eventually approach Thompson with a competitive offer, matching or exceeding the money and years, it has become increasingly conceivable, according to league sources, that Thompson will decide to leave regardless, searching for a fresh start in a different environment, detached from some of the built-up friction of the previous couple seasons.
Before last season, the Warriors did approach Thompson with a contract offer in the two years, $48 million range, as our Shams Charania reported. He declined. Less than a year later, it now looks like this could all be heading toward an unceremonious end to a legendary 13-year career with a single franchise.”