The Golden State Warriors will reportedly retain star shooting guard Klay Thompson on a 5-year, $190 million deal according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal includes a 15% trade kicker, according to ESPN.
Golden State All-Star Klay Thompson's new five-year, $190M contract includes a 15 percent trade kicker, agent Greg Lawrence tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2019
After the losing superstar Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets, the Warriors will keep their homegrown star in Thompson. He re-ups with Golden State still having Draymond Green and Steph Curry, so while change is everywhere some things still stay the same.
There was some speculation that Golden State would have some serious competition in keeping Thompson. Both the Clippers and Lakers, which Klay’s father playing for the latter, were rumored to be ready to offer a max contract should the Warriors balk. And his aforementioned father Mychal squashed those rumors himself, saying there is “no question” his son will re-sign with the Warriors.
Thompson suffered a torn ACL in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, where the Warriors eventually succumbed to Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors. Despite that injury, which would likely keep Klay out for the majority of next season, Golden State is still comfortable offering him a max contract. While there is concern given the team losing Durant, the Warriors still have three stars that directed the team to 73 wins a few years ago.
This past season, Thompson averaged 21.5 points per game on 40.2% shooting from behind the 3-point line. That is his lowest long-distance shooting percentage since the 2012-2013 season when he shot one-thousandth of a point worse. In 2017-2018, Thompson scorched from deep and shot 44% on his 3-point attempts. The downtick in shooting percentage will certainly be something to monitor, especially given his knee injury. Regardless, the Warriors will still remain incredibly lethal once Klay Thompson comes back from the torn ACL.
