Klay Thompson’s future with the Golden State Warriors continues to get bleaker and bleaker. The five-time All-Star and the organization have reportedly not made any progress on a potential contract extension. As a result, it is appearing more likely that he will be testing the free agent market this offseason. Thompson had a down season by his standards. The team failed to make the playoffs and signs of age seemingly started to affect the Warriors as a whole. Regardless, Klay Thompson is still a future hall-of-famer and will garner plenty of interest from other teams. That being said, teams need to realize that they will not be getting the same Klay Thompson of old.
Warriors, Klay Thompson Have Not Made Progress on Potential Contract Extension
Klay Thompson’s Prime Years are Behind Him
As alluded to already, Thompson seems to be at the downhill slope of his prime. This past season, he averaged 17.9 points, 2.3 assists, 0.6 steals, and 3.3 total rebounds per game. Not to mention, the second Splash Brother also tallied a three-point shooting percentage of 38.7 percent but only shot 43.2 percent from the field. While the Golden State Warriors certainly have other areas they must address, Klay Thompson certainly did not play up to his standards this past season.
Teams who will garner interest in him will have to keep this in mind as the four-time NBA champion is 34 years old. Thompson’s defensive impact is not the same either as he logged a career-worst defensive rating of 118 to go along with a defensive box plus/minus rating of -1.5. He also had a defensive rebounding percentage of 10.2 percent and a defensive win-share rating of 1.7. If Klay Thompson does decide to test the free agent market this summer, the Golden State Warriors do have other options to look at this offseason.
Other Possible Offseason Targets for the Golden State Warriors
There are plenty of key players who will be free agents or on the trade blocks the Warriors could look at this coming summer. Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans has been linked in many trade rumors. He would provide a nice scoring punch. Ingram would also take some pressure off Stephen Curry on the offensive end of the floor. Golden State could also target is Clint Capela.
Not only would Capela assist on the defensive end of the floor, but he could also alleviate many of the Warriors’ frontcourt woes. Especially on the glass. Last, but not least is Nic Claxton. Claxton is another player who would assist in the frontcourt. Averaging 2.1 blocks per game, he would give the Warriors some much-needed rim protection along with some solid rebounding. If the Warriors do lose Klay Thompson, all is not lost as they have plenty of options to improve their roster this offseason.
