Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson Poised For Breakout Season
Put yourself in the shoes of the 6’7″ Klay Thompson for just a second. After spending three seasons in the league proving to the world that you were one of the best selections from the 2011 NBA Draft, you’re preparing for a big contract extension.
You’ve made more 3-pointers in your first three seasons than anyone in NBA history and you just averaged a 18.4 points and 2.8 3-pointers per game last season, both career highs. Life couldn’t be better, right?
Wrong. Despite your steady progression into one of the best two-way shooting guards in the league, you just spent all summer hearing your name crop up in Kevin Love trade rumors. Your organization publicly and privately flip-flopped in their stance on trading you, ultimately doing the loyal thing and saying you were off-limits.
Your team stood by you, but now the rest of the basketball community crucified them for that decision and began to call you overrated.
To make matters worse, your impressive summer with Team USA at the FIBA World Cup was drowned out by the chatter about whether or not you deserve a max contract extension by the Halloween deadline. The “overrated” label became thrown about even more.
You’ve already played the game of basketball with a like you had something to prove, but after a summer of being unfairly thrust into the spotlight of public scrutiny, wouldn’t you be pissed off too?
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Klay Thompson has spent his summer and preseason dedicated to improving and proving the doubters wrong. He was Team USA’s second-highest scorer at the FIBA World Cup and in seven preseason appearances, Thompson wasted no time letting everyone know he’s on the verge of a breakout season.
In 26.7 minutes per game, Thompson averaged 21.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.
He was aggressive on offense attacking the rim, he brought his same trademark wing defense and though it was only the preseason, he was one of the main reasons the Golden State Warriors breezed right through it.
On several occasions, Thompson was completely lights out. In the Dubs’ second preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers, he put up 25 points in 25 minutes while shooting 9-for-13 from the floor and 5-for-6 from downtown. Against the Miami Heat a week later, the Splash Brother finished with 29 points and five assists in 32 minutes.
In Golden State’s final preseason game, he put up 35 points in 36 minutes.
Thompson’s production in other columns on the stat sheet still isn’t overly impressive, but if he’s able to score at such a high clip during the regular season, his lack of offensive versatility might not even matter. Thompson already covers for Stephen Curry defensively, so if he can become a go-to scorer as well, the Splash Brothers will be virtually unstoppable.
We can only read into the preseason so much, but all the summer chatter about his value seems to have ignited something in Thompson, a guy who always seemed to play the game with a chip on his shoulder (especially on the defensive end).
The Warriors are hesitant to give Thompson the max contract he desires — in the $15 million per year range — which is a source of frustration for his camp.
I’ve already covered why Golden State may be backed into a corner after refusing to include him in a trade for Kevin Love, and that point becomes stronger with the NBA’s new TV deal that will raise the salary cap over the next few seasons.
In a vacuum, Thompson probably isn’t worth $15 million a year. But since he’s choosing long-term security over an even bigger payday in 2015, the Warriors would be wise to extend him now.
The Dubs can always just match any offer he receives as a restricted free agent next summer, but if he has the breakout season it looks like he’s about to have, Thompson is worth the max deal he’d command on the open market.
Then again, not getting that max extension would just be another source of frustration fueling Klay Thompson’s breakout season this year.