Mavericks All-Star Kyrie Irving Credited As ‘Biggest’ Reason Klay Thompson Left Warriors

The NBA world was turned on its head this summer when former Golden State Warriors superstar shooting guard/small forward Klay Thompson departed for the reigning Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks in a three-year, $51 million sign-and-trade deal. After being selected with the No. 11 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft out of Washington State, Thompson quickly became one critical half of the Warriors’ once-unbeatable “Splash Brothers” backcourt tandem, along with All-NBA point guard Stephen Curry.

With head coach Steve Kerr, All-Star power forward Draymond Green, and sixth man Andre Iguodala as Golden State’s only other constants on the roster and bench, the Splash Brothers era yielded six NBA Finals berths and four titles — including three in four seasons, from 2014-15 through 2017-18.

Read More: Klay Thompson to Join West Rival Following Multi-Team Sign-and-Trade

In his prime, Thompson was a terror on both sides of the ball. He was named to a pair of All-NBA teams and the 2019 All-Defensive Team. Across 11 years with the Warriors (he missed two full seasons with ACL and Achilles tears), the 34-year-old boasts career regular season averages of 19.6 points on .453/.413/.858 shooting splits, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks a night.

The five-time All-Star left the only NBA team he’s ever known as a free agent this summer, but the move was not altogether unexpected.

It’s undeniable that the 6-foot-6 swingman regressed athletically following the aforementioned ailments. He can no longer move with the kind of lateral speed he could summon during his peak playing days, and has devolved into being a defensive liability. His shooting remains elite, though he is not quite the same level of off-ball cutter he was, either, likely due to the deteriorating quickness.

Kerr experimented with bringing Thompson off the bench in earnest for the first time in 2023-24, a blow that would have been unthinkable prior to the injuries. The decision clearly weighed heavily on the aging future Hall of Famer’s pride, even if it proved to be relatively temporary. Last year, Thompson was a reserve for 14 games, his first time logging any run off the bench since the 2012-13 season.

Now, Thompson will join a Mavericks squad that went 50-32 last season and made it all the way to the NBA Finals, where Dallas was felled by the Boston Celtics in five quick games. The Mavericks lost starting small forward Derrick Jones Jr. to the L.A. Clippers in free agency, but the team is banking on a combination of Thompson on offense and Naji Marshall on defense to essentially replace the production of Jones and backup wing Tim Hardaway Jr.

Read More: Mavericks General Manager Reveals Thought Process Behind Landing Klay Thompson in Free Agency

During a new episode of NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dub Talk Podcast Dallas head coach Jason Kidd revealed to host Monte Poole that All-Star Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving was the biggest factor in recruiting Thompson to the Lone Star State.

“When you talk about the recruitment, it was a lot of people that were involved in that. But one of the biggest players in that was Kai,” Kidd said (Poole provided the transcription in a separate article). “Kai being able to, player to player, (detail) his experience of what Dallas has been like for him in two years and being able to tell Klay the honest truth of what he thinks can happen with Klay coming to Dallas.”

When Irving was still on the Cleveland Cavaliers, he and Thompson faced off in three consecutive NBA Finals from 2015-17.