Warriors offered Klay Thompson contract ahead of free agency – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

The Warriors have yet to reach a deal with impending free agent tight end Klay Thompson, but that doesn’t mean the team hasn’t made an effort recently.

Just Wednesday, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported on “The Hoop Collective” podcast with fellow co-hosts Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps that Golden State had offered Thompson a deal before he was eligible to try out for agency free without restrictions on June 30.

“We heard it was a two-year deal,” McMahon said (with Tom Dierberger of Sports Illustrated). “In some of these cases, it’s as much about years as it is about money.”

The co-hosts did not share any financial information regarding Golden State’s offer to Thompson.

But Windhorst noted that the five-time NBA All-Star likely wouldn’t be willing to take a pay cut that rivals that of his aging teammates.

“It’s fair to point out that when Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green recently took pay cuts, neither of them – I think if you put Wiggins’ and Green’s pay cuts together, (I don’t think) that that will average the salary cuts they were probably going to want Klay to take – up to 20 (million),” Windhorst added.

“But when Wiggins and Draymond took pay cuts, they got four-year contracts. And if you’re Klay, those are interesting factors… It’s not so much about money as it is about respect…”

Nobody wants to lose money. However, the four-year contracts signed by Wiggins and Green show a long-term commitment from Golden State, which Thompson, rightly, clearly wants.

Unfortunately, the NBA free agent market is neither friendly nor nostalgic over mediocre prospects.

Thompson, who suffered two season-ending leg injuries, will turn 35 during the 2024-25 NBA season. He is also coming off one of the poorest seasons of his storied 13-year NBA career, in which he averaged 17.9 points on 43.2 percent shooting from the field and 38, 7% on the 3-point line.

Clearly, Thompson is yearning for this last star-sized, long-term deal with the only franchise he’s ever known. But the NBA is a business.

Golden State offered Thompson a two-year contract ahead of the 2023-24 regular season, but nothing came of it for unspecified reasons.

Only time will tell which uniform one of the best two-way snipers in league history will be in the fall.

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