Klay Thompson is not the player he used to be, but the talk of his total decline has been greatly exaggerated.
Thompson averaged 17.9 points per game last season on high-volume 38% 3-point shooting. He can still be a big-time asset in the right situation, and it looks like he’s found that opportunity with the Dallas Mavericks.
In his first game as a Maverick, the 34-year-old Thompson went for 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 26 minutes in Dallas’ season-opening 120-109 win over the Spurs on Thursday night. In the process, he made six 3-pointers, a Mavericks record for a player making his franchise debut. He didn’t commit a turnover. He defended.
Thompson’s first bucket came on a pump-and-go, step-in pull-up jumper against a closeout, which he’s going to see a lot of with all the downhill attention Luka Doncic draws, forcing defenders to scramble back out to shooters.
Shortly thereafter, Thompson buried his first 3-pointer — just a casual curl-and-shoot from the corner while nearly fading out of bounds.
This Luka-Klay chemistry is going to be pretty special. Doncic always has his eyes and antennae up, and he draws so much attention that Thompson is going to be able to slip into a lot of open spaces. Here Luka sees Klay trailing in transition, and boom.
Thompson might not move quite like he used to, but the quick release from the standing position is still as lethal as ever. Here the pass well outside of his shooting pocket and he still flows right into a rhythmic, perfect-form 3-pointer.
This is the type of shot Thompson is going to have available to him all season. This one was contested and he’s obviously still capable of making those, but the point is he’s not going to have to be in such constant motion as he was with the Warriors.
I remember talking to Allan Houston a few years ago about how hard catching the ball and shooting off a dead sprint is, which Thompson was a master at during his days in Golden State. He can still do this here and there, but in Dallas he’s going to get a more consistent diet of stationary looks with the downhill attention Doncic and Kyrie Irving draw.
Look at how much time Thompson has to line this one up as multiple defenders gravitate to Doncic, who knew it was in the second it left Thompson’s hand.
The same thing happened here as a scrambling defender flies out at Doncic, who makes the easy pass to a wide-open Thompson, who has his feet set and all the time in the world to knock down his franchise-debut-record sixth 3-pointer.
This is new life for Thompson, who was always going to be held to the standards of his former self as long as he was in Golden State. With the Mavericks, he can just be appreciated for what he can still do rather than lamented for the parts of his game that have faded. Good for him.
Not every night is going to go this well. As Thompson has aged, he tends to mix in a lot more really bad performances, with enough really big ones keeping the averages intact. Don’t be surprised if Thompson throws up a 2-for-12 night from 3 in the next week or so. Doesn’t matter. This Mavs team has plenty of firepower to cover for Thompson’s off nights. It’s when he’s on, like on Thursday, that Dallas can go to another level.
