Klay Thompson Could Be Reunited With Luka Doncic

Before he signed with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent in the summer of 2024, there was a lot of belief that long-time Golden State Warrior sharpshooter Klay Thompson would remain in California and sign with the LA Lakers. Thompson, born in Los Angeles, had a skill set that, while on the downside, was still exactly what the Lakers, and specifically a LeBron James-led team, needed.

Fast forward a season and a half, and Thompson could be headed to the Lakers if the Mavericks buy out his contract, according to ESPN Los Angeles insider John Ireland. For Thompson's father, Mychal, a two-time Lakers champion, this would be the ending he'd been hoping for all along.

Dallas isn't exactly the championship contender Klay signed up for when he left the Warriors in 2024. The Mavericks are struggling at 17–26, and with Anthony Davis's injury potentially triggering a rebuild and Kyrie Irving still on the shelf, Thompson's championship window in Dallas looks to be all but shut. With the Mavericks heading into a rebuilding phase around Cooper Flagg, keeping a player like Thompson on the roster doesn’t make much sense for either party.

This season, Thompson is averaging 12.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while shooting 38.9% from the field and 37.0% from three-point range. Not the type of numbers we are used to seeing from Thompson. However, he is still knocking down 3 threes per game, which would make him the Lakers' second-best three-point shooter behind Luka Doncic in terms of volume, who ironically just joined LA himself, and one of the team’s best long-range shooters overall.

The Lakers desperately need perimeter shooting, and Thompson, even at the age of 35, can still be a threat on a nightly basis. Head coach JJ Redick has been vocal about LA's shooting issues, and adding a four-time champion with Thompson's playoff pedigree would be a low-risk, high-reward move. While there are questions about his defense and how he would fit into the rotation, those are problems for another day.