Klay Thompson declined Lakers’ offer to sign with Mavericks

On Monday, five-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson agreed to a three-year, $50 million contract to join the reigning Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks.

Learn more: Klay Thompson joins West Rival in multi-team trade

Thompson was reportedly highly coveted by the Los Angeles Lakers, with LeBron James even reaching out to him early in free agency on Sunday. But he ultimately chose Dallas, sending the Lakers back to square one.

Learn more: What’s next for the Lakers with Klay Thompson off the board?

The Lakers’ failure to land Thompson wasn’t for lack of effort. Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reported Monday that the Lakers made Thompson a bigger offer than the Mavericks, and offered point guard D’Angelo Russell to the Warriors in exchange for a trade. However, Thompson declined LA’s contract offer, and the Warriors wouldn’t even bring Russell back.

“I’m told the Lakers made a pretty good offer,” Haynes said. “It was a three- to four-year deal, like $20 million a year. And they didn’t get their player.”

Haynes continued: “It would have taken a trade to get Klay, and that didn’t happen. I’m told that probably would have involved D’Angelo Russell being part of a deal to get Klay. And from what I’m told, the Warriors were not interested in bringing back D’Angelo Russell.”

So not only did the Lakers make a big effort to recruit Thompson, they also offered him a bigger contract than Dallas, at least $7 million per season. However, that didn’t entice him to join the Lakers, his father’s former team and the team for which his father, Mychal Thompson, is currently a commentator.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski revealed some insight into why Thompson chose Dallas over Los Angeles.

“The Lakers were extremely intriguing to Thompson, but the financial savings of living in Texas rather than California and the fact that the Mavericks were three wins away from an NBA championship were major factors in his decision,” Wojnarowski wrote.

The Mavericks lost the 2024 NBA Finals in five games to the Boston Celtics, but they had an impressive run through the Western Conference, beating the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. Clearly, that meant a lot to Thompson, who is looking to win his fifth championship.

The Lakers made the playoffs last season, but were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the first round. They also lost to Denver in the Western Conference Finals in last year’s playoffs.

The Lakers were clearly an attractive option, but ultimately failed to land their top free-agent target. And worse, he’s left with a Western Conference opponent the Lakers will likely have to face if they want to make a decent playoff run next season.