Klay Thompson’s signing signals the Mavericks are all-in

The Dallas Mavericks lost the NBA Finals not that long ago, it hasn’t even been a month since the Game 5 defeat in Boston ended their season. In that series, for the first time in a long time the most pressing question for the Mavericks to answer was about their shooting — they needed more of it and how could they get it?

If you’ve followed the Mavericks closely — or even not that closely — since the drafting of Luka Doncic, you’ll know how preposterous that question seems. It wasn’t even a year ago when the Mavericks were a defensive mess, only able to win games with high-powered shooting nights and nothing more. For the entirety of the Doncic-era, Dallas has had an elite offense and needed to back it with defense and athleticism. They did that at February’s trade deadline, but perhaps the dial was turned too far toward that end. Now the Mavericks needed to thread the needle — somehow find a way to retain the newfound defensive edge while infusing the rotation with necessary shooting. As great as the Mavericks starting lineup was entering the Finals, surrounding Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving with three poor shooters is difficult to overcome, even with elite rim protection and physical perimeter defense.

Enter Klay Thompson. The Mavericks needed shooting and they signed one of the greatest shooters of all time.

Thompson is a Maverick, after Dallas agreed to terms on a multi-team sign-and-trade Monday with the Warriors and Hornets, shipping out Josh Green and a few second round picks in exchange for Thompson on a new 3-year, $50 million contract with no team or player options.

When the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving last February, it signaled the franchise was finally ready to move forward with a roster that had worn out its welcome, and attempt to give Luka Doncic the talent infusion needed to support a contender. The move came with plenty of question marks and a window, due to Irving’s prior history and age — if the Mavericks were going to win, it needed to be while Irving still looked like a star.

Irving held up his end of the bargain and that seemingly empowered the Mavericks revamped front office even more. While the Mavericks ended the 2023 season on an embarrassing note, Irving looked the part of willing co-star to Doncic. That continued at the start of last season, leading to the Mavericks brain trust, led by general manager Nico Harrison, to bring in even more defense and athleticism with the Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington trades. You know the rest, as the Mavericks rode Doncic and Irving’s brilliance with suffocating defense and athletic swagger to the NBA Finals, losing to the historically great Celtics in five games.

Now Dallas has accomplished by far the greatest off-season free agent signing in franchise history, although that probably speaks to the Mavericks rather egregious summer history more so than it does Thompson’s stature, although he’s still plenty good even at 34-years-old. That age definitely gave Mavericks fans and media pause when rumors first popped up that the Mavericks were intent on pursuing Thompson last week — are the Mavericks really going to hitch their wagon to Thompson at this stage of his career with a 32-year-old Irving? Yes, and Irving’s age is one of the better cases one could make for the Mavericks to take the plunge: it’s win-now time.

Dallas has spent a lot of money and a lot of picks in the last 18 months and credit the Mavericks, it’s all mostly worked. In came Irving, Dereck Lively, Dante Exum, Gafford, Washington, and more recently Quinten Grimes, Naji Marshall, and now Thompson. Dallas used lottery picks, multiple future firsts, cap space, exceptions, and mid-sized salary to make it all happen, and while the Mavericks cupboard isn’t barren (Dallas still has its 2025 and 2031 first round picks to dangle), it’s definitely thinner than it was 24 months ago. That’s OK though — a team with a player as historically good as Doncic should be spending assets to improve, and the Mavericks have basically posted a perfect batting average since the disastorious summer of 2022 and losing Jalen Brunson. The only swing-and-miss since then was Grant Williams, who was then turned around to acquire Washington. Besides Irving, Dallas not only got more athletic but younger too — Doncic, Lively, Washington, Gafford, Grimes and Marshall are all 26 or younger, with Irving as the only resident 30 or older rotation player before Thompson’s arrival on Monday. But with Irving turning 33 before the 2025 playoffs start, it’s clear Dallas has to maximize the best remaining years of Irving’s career. That’s not to say Irving will turn into a pumpkin anytime soon, but time is a factor now. Dallas will be paying Thompson until his 37-years-old, but it feels Dallas is correctly gambling on the window of opportunity being these next few seasons, before Irving starts to show signs of decline or an injury potentially derails a season. It feels a little foolish to be overtly concerned with Thompson’s age when Irving is nearly just as old. If there was ever a time to push the chips in even further, off the back of a promising Finals run feels as good a time as ever.

As for whether Dallas pushed the chips in for the right veteran, that remains to be seen, but on paper it makes sense. The Mavericks need shooting — after the trade deadline Dallas shot 36 percent from three as a team. In the NBA Finals, they shot 29.4 percent on above-the-break threes. On wide-open threes, which NBA.com classifies as the closest defender being six or more feet away, Dallas shot 37.1 percent in the playoffs, and a dreadful 31.1 percent in the Finals. While the Celtics coverage dared Doncic and Irving beat them with contested two-pointers, the Mavericks role players were not good enough offensively with the limited opportunities they had.

Limited opportunities is the key term, and a potential divide on what truly was the Mavericks biggest problem on offense against the Celtics. Dallas shot poorly, and yes Thompson undoubtedly helps, but Dallas also just didn’t get many open shots in the Finals to begin with — the Mavericks averaged only 5.2 corner three attempts per game against the Celtics, after averaging more than 10 per game in the previous three rounds. Dallas shot 12.2 wide-open three pointers per game in the Finals compared to Boston’s 17.4. Dallas needs some off-the-bounce juice, as their perimeter role players were stymied with the Celtics defenders mostly staying home and not giving Doncic or Irving clear passing lanes. Thompson doesn’t give the Mavericks much relief there — he had a lower usage rate last season than both Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jaden Hardy. With his physical decline with the ACL and Achilles injuries, Thompson won’t do much to add more off-the-bounce creativity to the Mavericks offense.

But there are other ways to create space and opportunities and Thompson’s off-ball gravity is second to maybe only his now former teammate Steph Curry. As much as Thompson struggled at times post injuries, he still shot 39.7 percent on threes in the past three seasons on almost 10 attempts per game. Thompson is still an elite movement, catch-and-shoot player, a skill set the Mavericks never really had past Hardaway.

It’s Hardaway’s performance last season that necessitated the Mavericks desire for Thompson and funny enough it’s Hardaway’s prior performances in Dallas that provides the best blueprint that Thompson’s fit won’t be so awkward next to Doncic and Irving’s ball dominance. No, the Mavericks aren’t going to look like the whirling pinball movement of Thompson’s Warriors teams, but the Mavericks have seen success moving Hardaway around the floor and in different spots to create good looks not only for himself but his teammates.

It’s not hard to imagine Thompson in Hardaway’s place in these sets, and Hardaway was one of the more accurate shooters amongst the most high-volume players in the league next to Doncic. We’ve also seen Doncic adapt his playstyle to new talent — Dallas went from a bottom-rung team in pace to top-seven this past season thanks to Irving’s desire to get up and down the floor and Doncic changing things up to fit the roster. If anything, offense is the last thing the Mavericks will have to worry about with Thompson.

That’s not to say there aren’t concerns. Thompson’s defense fell off a cliff post-injury, with Thompson both unable to accept his diminished effectiveness and the Warriors roster still demanding Thompson to look like the Thompson of old. During his prime and before injuries, Thompson was a lights-out defender, capable of guarding one through four. Now Thompson is probably best suited to using his smarts more than his physical talents, perhaps playing more off-ball and using his size as a deterrent when helping in the paint. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, that leaves Washington as the only other reliable defender that could defend opposing guards for longer stretches in the starting lineup, unless the Mavericks want to run Irving through the ringer. New additions Grimes and Marshall will help ease the load off the bench, but when it’s crunch time and the Mavericks have Doncic, Irving, Thompson, Washington, and one of the centers on the floor, who defends the other team’s point guard? The Mavericks coaching staff will have their work cut out for them in deciding the best angle to attack the issue. Thankfully it’ll be easier for the Mavericks to get by in the regular season where scouting and game plans aren’t dialed in over the course of a long season — but the playoffs will be the telltale sign of if the Mavericks have things figured out when opposing teams target the Doncic, Irving, and Thompson trio.

Dallas at least has structure in place for Thompson to get by defensively — both Gafford and Lively were two of the top rim protectors last season after the trade deadline, and those two locked down the paint perhaps better than any other big man rotation in the NBA. Gafford and Lively can clean up mistakes, so the pressure might not be too intense for Thompson to regain his All-Defense form.

Otherwise the only other real issue could be something that can’t be measured in a box score or data set — how the team chemistry will welcome another big voice in the Mavericks locker room. Thompson was visibly frustrated with his fluctuating role last season with the Warriors, offering terse answers to coming off the bench or being yanked around in the rotation as he went through ups and downs. Recent reports indicate a big source of the Warriors and Thompson’s deteriorating relationship came down to the organization and Thompson having vastly different views on the type of player Thompson is. Thompson wants to prove to the Warriors they made a mistake, but if push comes to shove, what happens if the Mavericks perform better for a few games with Grimes finishing games over Thompson? Or what happens if Thompson hits a cold spell that costs Dallas games while other players that could help sit and watch from the bench? Can the Mavericks navigate the player Thompson is now with the version that Thompson thinks of himself? Time will tell, and Thompson’s willingness to be the third option in the pecking order will be crucial to his success in Dallas. Thompson leaving Golden State for less money compared to what he could have gotten with the Lakers or even the Warriors perhaps offers a sign that he understands he’s entering the next phase of his career. Thompson chose the Mavericks as much as the Mavericks pursued him, that has to matter.

Those concerns can be put on hold for now, as the Mavericks front office can celebrate another roster-building victory. Dallas went from a team that seemingly couldn’t sign any major player or value the right talent, to almost overflowing with youth, athleticism and skill. It’s quite the turnaround from the previous regime and if Thompson proves to be another winner for Harrison and his front office, the Mavericks might be playing deep into June once again.