Warriors Need to Be Cautious in Klay Thompson Contract Talks amid Rumors, Comments
Two of the three players most responsible for spawning the Golden State Warriors' dynasty have already secured their futures with the franchise.
The earliest free agency could arrive for either of Stephen Curry or Draymond Green is the 2026 NBA offseason. And if Green wanted to extend his stay, he could easily opt into a $27.7 million player option for 2026-27, which would be his age-36 season.
Free agency—and all of the uncertainty that comes with it—will get here a lot sooner for the third member of this celebrated (and decorated) trio, Klay Thompson. The 33-year-old sharpshooter is down to the final season on his deal, though he hopes this won't be his last go-round in Golden State.
"I wouldn't want to anywhere else," Thompson told The Athletic's Anthony Slater. "... I was here before banners were hung up. So in a way, it's our baby. You want to ride it out. I've just been so lucky to be a part of this franchise. It'd be so hard to envision myself in another uniform."
Do the Warriors share Thompson's enthusiasm about extending this relationship? In a lot of ways, yes.
Earlier this offseason, Warriors majority governor Joe Lacob told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami, "we're going to try to do something here for the rest of [Thompson's] career."
That might be how the Dubs truly feel.
They've won big with Thompson before, capturing four NBA titles to his point of his tenure. They hope they'll win big again with him this season. They've seen firsthand the spacing benefits of slotting him and his elite three-point stroke alongside Curry.
Of course, they also know Thompson isn't the same player he was before having back-to-back seasons erased by injuries (first a torn ACL, then a ruptured Achilles). He still has that picturesque perimeter shot and packs a powerful scoring punch, but he has lost some lateral quickness and the defensive flexibility that once afforded him.
He used to be Golden State's defensive answer to the opposition's best guard. Now, he might be checking power forwards.
He could still be useful in this role, but to what extent? Stardom might be a thing of the past, so the Dubs have to be careful about investing too heavily in a seemingly declining player.
Maybe that feels like a no-brainer, but it's still worth noting given what the rumor mill has said about the payday Thompson expects.
If Thompson really expects a max extension as ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in April, then his days with the Dubs are quickly coming to an end.
Golden State can't afford to shell out nearly that much cash. Not when this nucleus is so expensive already, and certainly not with the new collective bargaining agreement being particularly punishing to the league's biggest spenders.
There is a price point at which it makes sense for the Warriors to keep Thompson, but it's much closer to the deal they just gave Green (four years, $100 million) than the max.
If Thompson is more open to a paycut than Wojnarowski's reporting indicated, then great—he won't have to wrestle with the mental image of donning a different NBA jersey. But if he's looking to be compensated like a star—when he isn't a star anymore—the Warriors will have to thank him for his services and go shopping for his replacement next summer.
