What Myers thinks will decide Klay’s upcoming free agency originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Where Klay Thompson will play next season remains a mystery, with the prolific shooter’s impending free agency set to be a major storyline of the 2024 NBA offseason.
Former Warriors general manager Bob Myers, who spent more than a decade with Thompson in Golden State, weighed in on the five-time NBA All-Star’s impending unrestricted free agency. Myers explained the connection between the Warriors’ three foundational players while revealing why he believes Thompson’s ultimate desire is to remain in Golden State.
“I will say this. Big credit to Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry, and Draymond Green,” Myers, now an ESPN analyst, said Wednesday during the “NBA Countdown.” “I don’t know if people know or believe the competitiveness of those three. You don’t do what they’ve done for the time they’ve been doing it without being special inside.
“Obviously we see what they do shooting-wise – Steph and Klay – and what Draymond does defensively. But who they are as people is rare. So it’s hard for me to see Klay almost even the free is dealt. ‘I don’t think he knew the date of free agency. Most players go through the free agency date five or six times, he didn’t even know what day it was.
“That tells me he wants to be there. You heard Steve Kerr last night, you heard Steph Curry and Draymond Green. They all want him there.”
But will Thompson stay? That’s the question that remains, and for Myers it comes down to one thing: money.
“Klay will stay if he feels he is valued and paid what is appropriate,” Myers explained. “But if he’s not, that’s the question. It’s always kind of a pride component, because it’s not money. People will say, ‘Klay Thompson made all this money.’ But you know what? There’s a pride component to it for any professional athlete. So it’s not just about the money and the Warriors’ bid could change things.”
While Thompsons’ impending free agency has taken center stage on Golden State’s offseason to-do list, Myers reiterated that the overall results of the roster as a whole are problematic for a team that will be competing during the 2023 NBA season -2024 had the NBA’s highest payroll.
“What do the Warriors do? It’s not just about Klay Thompson, that’s the hard question,” Myers explained. “We’re talking about Klay Thompson, but there are other things that need to be answered. Because you’re bringing this team back and Klay Thompson is coming back, it’s not an end to what we saw was a healthy team that is acceptable to Joe Lacob and that payroll .” .”
Even as the Warriors finished the season with two more wins than the year before, Golden State fell from No. 6 to No. 10 before being dispatched by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Despite an aging core — Curry is 36, Thompson and Green are both 34 — there appears to be plenty of tread left on the Warriors’ Big Three tires, raising questions about how long the legendary group can stay together.
Thompson shook off a rough start to his campaign to become one of the league’s most consistent shooters during the second half of the regular season, a humbling reminder that the five-time All-Star still has tremendous value in a competition that can never have enough. elite shooting.
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