"It's a burning building": Former NBA player shares his take on Klay Thompson's Warriors exit
The Golden State Warriors and Klay Thompson parting ways was one of the biggest offseason stories in the NBA. “Game 6 Klay,” after playing 13 years for the Dubs, agreed to a three-team sign-and-trade deal that sent him to the Dallas Mavericks. Thompson signed a three-year, $50 million contract to play alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Thompson’s departure, despite being no longer the player he once was, still shocked many. Steve Kerr told reporters after the Warriors’ season ended that the team wanted to get the four-time NBA champ back. Three months after Kerr’s comments, the other half of the famous “Splash Bros” tandem packed his bags for Dallas.
Former NBA player Rashad McCants had this to say about Klay Thompson’s decision to leave the Warriors on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast:
“It’s a burning building. The motherf**kers [are] coming down, and unfortunately, it’s due to all of the things that the Warriors allowed to happen with Jordan Poole… I feel like that’s why Klay [Thompson] left.”
McCants added that Poole played like a borderline All-Star before “literally running into someone’s fist.” The former Minnesota Timberwolves star is convinced that Thompson’s decision to leave was impacted by the team choosing “Podziemski, Kuminga and Draymond [Green]” over Poole.
Green’s controversial punching of Jordan Poole happened in the offseason after the Golden State Warriors won the 2022 NBA championship. Steve Kerr admitted that the incident hung over the team the following campaign, part of the reason the Dubs failed to defend their title.
The incident, though, likely didn't have anything to do with Klay Thompson’s departure. Poole’s trade to the Washington Wizards gave the Warriors a little financial wiggle room to extend Draymond Green and Thompson. The difference was Green took his, but according to Joe Lacob in NBA insider Tim Kawakami’s podcast, Thompson refused the Warriors’ offer.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob claimed Klay Thompson decided to leave before a new offer was on the table
Joe Lacob, on the TK Show, claimed that the Golden State Warriors’ first offer to Klay Thompson came at the start of the 2023-24 season. Shams Charania, another NBA insider, reported that the offer was roughly two years for $48 million. Once Thompson turned it down, Lacob allowed the five-time All-Star to become an unrestricted free agent.
Lacob said this in the podcast regarding the Warriors’ effort to keep Thompson (11:20):
"We were in the process of developing an offer [at the start of free agency]. We really couldn't do that, he knew that, without seeing how a lot of different chips, things were happening. We had a lot of things going on."
Joe Lacob’s comments made it clear that Klay Thompson wasn’t their top priority. The Dubs were reportedly interested in acquiring Paul George, perhaps the biggest “chip” the team waited before dealing with the four-time NBA champ.
In the end, Thompson left because he said he wanted a fresh start with a team that wanted him. Rashad McCants likely got his take wrong regarding the Jordan Poole incident as the reason for Thompson leaving the Bay Area.