Klay Thompson Denies Stephen A. Smith Rumor He's Unhappy with Warriors

Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson disputed ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith's First Take report that he's "unhappy" and displeased with being the team's third scoring option behind Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.

"That's not true," Thompson told Mark Medina of Bay Area News Group. "Have I ever indicated I was unhappy?"

The Warriors shooting guard has played all eight of his NBA seasons in Golden State, winning four Western Conference titles and three NBA championships. Golden State is one win against the Houston Rockets away from advancing to its fifth straight West final.

Medina added the following:

"Last summer, Thompson told Bay Area News Group that he wants to be a 'Warrior for life,'" Medina wrote. 

"Since then, Thompson said he has not changed his sentiment surrounding his pending free agency. Those familiar with Thompson's thinking said he expects to receive a max contract, and the Warriors have expressed strong indications they will."

Thompson is a free agent after this season, and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (h/t Tyler Conway of Bleacher Report) provided some potential insight into Thompson's summer during a Monday appearance on Get Up!

"If they come with a five-year, $190 million max deal for Klay Thompson, that's done on July 1—he's going into the new building with Steph Curry," Wojnarowski said. "If they try to do anything less than that, you can expect Klay Thompson to be out in free agency. Watch not for the Lakers, then, but the Clippers."

There's little reason to believe the Warriors wouldn't offer Thompson, who has 21.6 points per game over his past five seasons, the max.

In fact, Nick Friedell of ESPN went so far as to say, "Thompson will get a max contract." Friedell also quoted Warriors center Andrew Bogut, who said Thompson "completely wants to be here and he gets it that this is a very rare situation."

The 29-year-old still has plenty left in the tank and wouldn't even be 35 by the time his potential five-year deal ran out. It also seems unlikely that the five-time All-Star would undergo a significant performance decline until the tail end of that contract.

It's exceedingly rare for NBA players to suit up for only one team during the entirety of careers spanning a decade or more, but odds favor Thompson being one of the few.