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The focus right now for the Golden State Warriors is undoubtedly on winning their fourth NBA championship in five years, but with the recent speculation of a potential Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State’s front office may be looking at this coming offseason a little sooner than anticipated.
Senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski appeared on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt on Monday to discuss the details of the Anthony Davis news, and broke down what that means for the rest of the league, most notably Golden State superstar Klay Thompson.
“The best case scenario for the Lakers is that they add Anthony Davis, and Golden State doesn’t offer a max contract to Klay Thompson; they try to get him to take a little bit less than the max,” Wojnarowski said. “If that happens, I’m told, Klay’s attention will be on the Lakers if they have Anthony Davis. Now, we’ll see what Golden State does there. They have a lot of players to pay going forward. They want to re-sign Kevin Durant. They certainly want to re-sign Klay. They’ve got Draymond Green coming up in free agency the following year, so it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.”
“Klay Thompson’s attention will be on the Los Angeles Lakers if they acquire Anthony Davis.” –@wojespn #LakeShow #NBA #Lakers
Via: ESPN pic.twitter.com/Kz9Ylrcv2B
— Lakers Raw (@LakersRaw) January 29, 2019
While Thompson is having a “down year” by his standards, posting 21.7 points per game, four rebounds per game, two assists per game, and a .379 three-point percentage (the lowest of his career), his value as a defender and elite shooter come playoff time is something the Warriors maybe can’t afford to be without. As most Warriors fans know, he almost always guards the best offensive guard in a seven-game series, and has an unparalleled ability to single-handedly salvage a game from the depths of defeat.
Thompson may not always be the player that is outspoken about his feeling in regards to his contract situation, but if the Warriors front office isn’t diligent in it’s handling of this upcoming free-agency, they may wake up in a Klay-less world next season.