Klay Thompson Reportedly to Sign with Heat After Agreeing to Mavericks Contract Buyout

The Dallas Mavericks announced Friday they are buying out the final year of Klay Thompson's contract.

The five-time All-Star was due to earn $17.5 million for the 2026-27 season.

Thompson is expected to join the Miami Heat after he clears waivers, ESPN's Shams Charania reported.

Dallas' move is a sign of how far Thompson's value has diminished around the NBA. Once one of the best two-way players in the league, he fell out of the Mavericks' starting rotation midway through last year.

In 69 appearances, he averaged 11.7 points and set career lows in overall field-goal percentage (39.3) and three-point percentage (38.3).

Jason Kidd shifted Thompson to the bench after seven games, which made for a delicate situation considering Dallas promised him a starting spot when it made its pitch during the 2024 offseason.

Kidd indicated it was only a temporary tactical change, and the 36-year-old was with the first unit again in a loss to the New York Knicks in mid-November. But he eventually assumed a reserve role again.

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The Golden State Warriors saw the writing on the wall with a player who had become a franchise icon.

Head coach Steve Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. were pragmatic rather than sentimental with Thompson's usage during the 2023-24 season and then regarding how they approached his subsequent free agency.

Breaking up the "Splash Brothers" wasn't a move anybody in the Bay Area wanted to make, but the Warriors understood Thompson was on a downward trajectory. Missing two full seasons because of a torn ACL and a torn Achilles accelerated the inevitable decline that was coming as he got older.

A change of scenery and a desire to prove Golden State wrong didn't spark a renaissance in his first year with Dallas. He averaged 14 points per game, his lowest output since his rookie season, and his field-goal percentage (41.2) was a personal worst at the time.

The Mavs knew they weren't getting Thompson at his peak when they signed him. They presumably envisioned him occupying a role similar to Ray Allen during his two-year run with the Miami Heat and toward the end of his Boston Celtics tenure. Allen remained a capable three-point specialist as his career wound down, shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc in his final season.

Thompson's long-range prowess has even started to desert him, though, which makes the other flaws in his game tougher to ignore. He's not as dogged a defender and he can't score off the dribble like he once did.

The days of Thompson being a big difference-maker on a contender may be over, but he's a low-risk addition for a Heat team that saw Giannis Antetokounmpo enter the fold this summer.