Report: Lakers offered Warriors D-Lo for Klay in sign-and-trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
According to reports, the Warriors were given the opportunity to reunite with a former star player.
Before Klay Thompson agreed to sign a reported three-year, $50 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers, reportedly one of Thompson’s suitors during free agency, made the veteran guard a strong offer.
The Lakers offered Thompson a multi-year contract that would pay him about $20 million annually in a sign-and-trade deal with Golden State, bringing guard D’Angelo Russell back to the Warriors, TNT’s Chris Haynes reported Monday.
“I was told the Lakers made a pretty attractive offer, it was around three, four years,” Haynes told Bleacher Report. “Somewhere in the range of $20 million a year. [year] and they didn’t get their guy. And it would have clearly required a sign-and-trade scenario, so that had nothing to do with LeBron James’ decision to take less. It would have required a sign-and-trade scenario to get Klay and that just didn’t happen.
“I was told that D’Angelo Russell would likely be part of a deal to bring Klay in, and from what I was told the Warriors were not interested in bringing D’Angelo Russell back.”
This wouldn’t be the first time the Warriors replaced Thompson with Russell via a sign-and-trade deal. After Thompson suffered a torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals, Golden State completed a three-team sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves on July 1, 2019, that sent superstar Kevin Durant to Brooklyn, Russell to Golden State and Shabazz Napier, Treveon Graham, cash and a future first-round pick to Minnesota.
In his 33 games with the Warriors during the 2019-20 NBA season, Russell averaged 23.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game on 43 percent shooting from the field and 37.4 percent from 3-point line. He was the secondary scorer behind Steph Curry as Thompson was sidelined the entire season.
The 28-year-old point guard averaged 18 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game on 45.6 percent shooting from the field and 41.5 percent three-pointers in 76 games for the Lakers last season.
The Warriors clearly weren’t interested.
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