Despite recently getting benched, a new report claims the Los Angeles Lakers could be part of a surprisingly robust market for Klay Thompson in the summer.
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The 2023-24 NBA season has been a nightmare for five-time All-Star Klay Thompson. Over the 50 games he has played, the 34-year-old is averaging career lows in points, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage. And even before this season, he was already seen as a diminished player after missing two years due to Achilles and ACL tears.
Following his career with the Golden State Warriors hit a new low point on Thursday when he was benched after a decade as a starter, the assumption was that his market in free agency this summer went into an even steeper decline. Well, that surprisingly may not be the case.
- Klay Thompson stats (2023-24): 17.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 37% 3PT
Los Angeles Lakers could be competing with Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers for Klay Thompson
On Friday during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” veteran NBA insider Shams Charania made some very interesting comments about the various teams that could target the future Hall-of-Famer on the open market in a few months.
“He’s shown still that he can be Klay Thompson. He can go and help a team, I think to a high degree,” Charania said. “… From everything I’ve been told, this has been a stressful year for Thompson. And I think he’s doing the best he can to get through it.
“He’s set to be a free agent at the end of the season, I expect him to test the marketplace. I would expect both Florida teams, I would expect both LA teams, I would expect potentially a couple of East Coast teams to have interest in Klay Thompson.”
Although he came off the bench on Thursday, he scored a team-high 35 points in 28 minutes during a big win over the Utah Jazz. If he is looking for half the $43 million he made this season, he certainly could garner some solid interest due to his clutch shooting and championship pedigree.
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