The meeting was supposed to be about Klay Thompson and his future as a free agent.
But when the group of four sat down for a 90-minute dinner at the Bottle Inn Italian restaurant in Hermosa Beach, Calif., on Sunday night, just a block from all those fancy homes The Strand overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Golden State Warriors legend decided to focus on the Dallas Mavericks great who had come alongside the team’s president of basketball operations, Nico Harrison, to recruit him: Michael Finley.
Thompson spent his formative years in nearby Orange County, a sharpshooter at Santa Margarita High School who always cited the late Kobe Bryant as one of his main basketball muses and whose father, Mychal, won two titles with the Lakers during the Showtime era before becoming a longtime commentator for the team. But at that moment, with the Lakers waiting in the wings and LeBron James himself even promising to take a significant pay cut if it meant Thompson would wear the purple and gold, he wanted to know everything about life as a Dallas Maverick. And so began the line of questioning for Finley, the Mavs’ vice president of basketball operations and a former All-Star who had his best seasons in Dallas from 1996 to 2005.
Thompson, who was also accompanied by his agent, Greg Lawrence of Wasserman Media Group, asked about his career and the old-school days in which the 51-year-old Finley played. He asked about the Dallas scene and life in Texas, about the Mavericks fans and the arena environment that came with them. Thompson is a true basketball player, no matter the context, and his respect for Finley’s journey and ideas was accompanied by an authenticity that struck those at the dinner as quintessential Klay. Finley, at the guest of honor’s request, agreed to share his institutional knowledge as Thompson moved closer to a final decision.
Thompson had been following the Mavericks’ NBA Finals run and had explained to those close to him how he planned to fit in, creating space for Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving on offense while bringing his championships to their burgeoning program. His time with the Warriors was coming to an end at that point, with league sources saying that contract offers made by Thompson’s team to the Warriors about two weeks ago had not only been declined but were also revealed by the lack of counteroffers. With free agency a week away, league sources said, Thompson was convinced the Warriors had no interest in bringing him back.
GO FURTHER
How Klay Thompson’s 13-Year Career With the Warriors Was Cut So Abruptly Short
The two-year, $48 million contract that could have been in effect last summer, when talks of an extension for that amount were brewing, is gone. So are offers even lower than that. After Thompson’s tumultuous final season with the Bay, when frustration with his extension situation and a significantly reduced role made it much harder to enjoy playing, this chance for a fresh start seemed more appropriate in every conversation he had within their group.
Thompson had been talking on the phone and texting regularly with Irving, his former Warriors-Cavs Finals rival of yore and an expert if ever there was one on the subject of righting a career amid a dimmer light in Dallas. He had spoken on the phone with Mavs coach Jason Kidd, the Hall of Famer who won a title with the Mavericks in 2011, and who offered to cut short his family vacation to attend the recruiting meeting. (Thompson told him it wasn’t necessary.) It’s unclear whether Thompson had any contact with Dončić, as he was busy competing with the Slovenian national team at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece, but the franchise’s centerpiece was known to be excited about the prospect of adding him to his core.
The Mavericks didn’t get an answer that night, as Thompson decided to add a good night’s sleep to the decision-making equation. But the next morning, as the Lakers waited for their chance to convince Thompson to come to them, he made it clear that a second in-person meeting wouldn’t be necessary. He was headed to Dallas on a three-year, $50 million contract via sign-and-trade, with the Warriors ultimately receiving two second-round picks in return.
The irony, given the reasons for his dissatisfaction with the Warriors, is that money was not a factor in his decision to join the Mavericks. Thompson, well aware that the $43 million he earned last season with Golden State didn’t buy him happiness, chose Dallas primarily because he saw it as his best chance at a fifth title.
GO FURTHER
Even now, Klay Thompson is the star the Mavs could never sign before
According to league sources, a deal with the Lakers would have been much more lucrative. Discussions were underway for a four-year, $80 million deal for Thompson if they could convince the Warriors to cooperate in a trade that would have sent D’Angelo Russell to the Warriors (or a third team). He had phone conversations with James and new Lakers coach JJ Redick, all of which were positive, league sources said. Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka stayed in touch with Lawrence, but the appeal of the Lakers situation simply didn’t match what the Mavericks had to offer.
Finances, of course, had everything to do with his perceived disrespect for the Warriors. They gave Draymond Green that four-year, $100 million extension last summer, only to come back to Thompson with talk of a deal worth about half that amount. Thompson had chafed at the way Warriors owner Joe Lacob kept his distance from him all seasonchoosing not to allay his concerns about whether he was still part of their plans.
The latest example of this difficult dynamic came in mid-May, when league sources said Thompson accepted an invitation from Lacob to play golf with him and some friends at the prestigious Riviera Country Club in Palisades, Calif. They had a great time, league sources said, but said nothing about whether they would continue to work together in the basketball world. As Thompson learned that day, Lacob prefers not to discuss professional matters on the course.
In truth, the rift between Thompson and the Warriors was entirely about their differing views on the devastating injuries that cost him two and a half seasons of his best and forever changed him as a player. The Warriors felt that their decision to offer him a five-year, $189 million contract at the maximum salary, just a month after he tore his ACL in the 2019 Finals, was proof enough of their appreciation.
Add to that the fact that Thompson tore his Achilles tendon during off-season training As the 2020-21 season approached, the end of the contract was nothing short of excruciating from the team’s perspective. For Thompson, who can rightly point to the Warriors’ 2022 title and his pivotal role in it as his revenge, there will always be the unfulfilled hope that they would have made him feel wanted one last time.
The Mavericks, in turn, did just that. They met him where he was, literally and figuratively, respecting his four rings and making it clear that he was their top offseason priority. They kept their meeting in that back room of the restaurant casual, conversational and easygoing in a way that perfectly matched Thompson’s off-court vibe. And in the end, with Harrison and Finley there to explain why the Mavericks could offer such a respite from the turmoil of his Warriors days, Thompson decided to seek peace in basketball.
Required Reading
Roofer: How Klay Thompson’s 13-Year Warriors Career Was Callously Cut Short
Kawakami: The Poetic Timing of Klay Thompson’s 13 Seasons for the Warriors
(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)