After 13 years with the Warriors, Klay Thompson is leaving. It will be for Dallas, without having had an offer from the Warriors to retain him. The last date was in the preseason ($48 million over two years), but he had refused it. In a very long article, The Athletic reveals that the divorce had lasted five years. Something had broken between the management and Thompson, and he had decided to leave. At Golden State, boss Joe Lacob is not the type to speak first. Time is on his side, and that's how he had proceeded with the contract extensions of Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green. And that's how he had decided to act with Thompson and his agent.
The Athletic confirms that the two parties had not spoken for several weeks. On one side, a Thompson determined to leave. On the other, Warriors who were playing for time. Between the two, Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr who hoped that everything would return to normal. During the end-of-year interview, Kerr had warned Thompson that he would play less, but that he would be a starter. A decision that Thompson did not appreciate, since he was coming off a season of 77 games with more than 30 minutes per game.
Stephen Curry's Beautiful Farewell Message
And what about Curry? Thompson asked him not to interfere. You could imagine Curry convincing a Lacob or a Mike Dunleavy Jr. to make a nice offer to his “Splash Brother” and throw his weight behind the negotiations. But Thompson asked him not to do anything, and Curry didn't budge. He respected his teammate's wishes for 13 years, and Thompson went to Dallas for $50 million over three years. That's less than the Warriors' offer at the start of the season, but he got that third year he wanted so badly.
On Instagram, Stephen Curry posted a farewell message to him: “I’m gonna miss you Klay. Even though we don’t end up together, what we did will never be done again. I couldn’t have imagined a better journey than with you and Draymond. It changed the entire Bay Area. It changed the game of basketball. Killa Klay was at the center of it all. Thanks for everything bro. Go play basketball and do what you gotta do. Splash Brother for life.”
