Charles Barkley gives blunt assessment of Klay Thompson's Hall of Fame credentials ahead of 4x champion's debut on Mavericks
Hall of Fame forward and TNT analyst Charles Barkley gave a blunt assessment of Klay Thompson ahead of his official Dallas Mavericks debut on Thursday night. Thompson left the Golden State Warriors in free agency and signed a three-year contract with the Mavericks.
Speaking on the "Inside the NBA" pregame show, Barkley had nothing but praise for Thompson's accomplishments. He called him a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
However, Barkley was very frank in saying that no player gets better with age. He added Thompson's two devastating injuries suffered in 2019 and 2020.
"(Klay) was the best two-guard in a span of X amount of years, offensively and defensively," Barkley said. "He's a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Everybody likes Klay Thompson, but no player gets better with age. He got the two bad breaks, ACL and the Achilles, and that's the reason the Warrior wanted to move on. He's not the same player.
He added:
"He's got a great, great career. He's a great dude, but Father Time is undefeated. And you factor in those two major injuries, an Achilles and ACL, those are really bad injuries."
Klay Thompson was once one of the best two-way players in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. He's among the most feared shooters in the game, consistently hitting over 40% of his 3-pointers. And while he made just one All-Defensive team, he was considered a strong and versatile defender capable of covering multiple positions.
Thompson won four championships with the Warriors in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. He formed one of the greatest backcourt duos in NBA history with Steph Curry.
However, Thompson's torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals and a torn Achilles tendon while recovering from it took more than two years to fully recover. He's no longer the player once was, given he had a nightmare campaign last season. He averaged 17.9 points on 43% shooting, significantly down from his career norms.
The Warriors offered him a new contract, but Thompson opted to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. He gives the Mavericks a new offensive weapon besides Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Draymond Green gives his take on Klay Thompson's departure
Speaking on the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show" on Monday, the former Defensive Player of the Year gave his take on Klay Thompson's upcoming first season with the Dallas Mavericks. Green believes that Thompson viewed his final year with the Golden State Warriors as a "stain" on his legacy. (Start at 20:57)
"I hope and pray that (Klay) goes to Dallas and plays great," Green said. "Because that will allow him to appreciate what he's done here. Like, right now, if I'm totally honest with you, I think it's like a stain on (his career), for him. And Klay hasn't said it's a stain on it, by the way. It's just how I feel in my gut."
The Warriors and Mavericks will face each other three times this season, with the first one scheduled on Nov. 12 at the Chase Center. It will be interesting to see how Thompson will play in his first game against his former team.