Klay Thompson’s offer to Warriors in final weeks with team – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

Klay Thompson’s departure from the Warriors wasn’t without efforts to mend a long-fractured marriage.

On both sides, but to varying degrees.

Six weeks before agreeing to sign a three-year, $50 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, Thompson accepted Warriors owner Joe Lacob’s offer to play a round of golf at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Kendra Andrews reported in a feature story Wednesday.

According to Shelburne and Andrews, Thompson and Lacob did not discuss any contract details or have any discussions about the team during their mid-May golf game, even though Thompson apparently felt aggrieved by the negotiations over the past year.

Over the next few weeks, Thompson’s agent, Greg Lawrence of Wasserman Media Group, fielded several contract offers to the Warriors, Shelburne and Andrews reported, citing sources.

“By the time the offseason began, Thompson’s representatives had offered the team at least four deals,” Shelburne and Andrews wrote. “Each time, throughout the season, the Warriors’ response was that Thompson and his staff should wait for the franchise to try to improve the team through other deals. The most notable, the sources said, were the attempted trades for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges, LA Clippers star Paul George and Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen.”

Shelburne and Andrews also reported, citing sources, that Thompson’s camp made one final offer to the Warriors: a modest two-year deal worth about $20 million per season. Golden State also expressed a desire to use Thompson in a non-starting role, which ESPN said Thompson was not thrilled about but ultimately did not consider the request a deal-breaker.

The final offer made to the Warriors was approximately $4 million more per year than Thompson’s reported deal with the Mavericks and $2 million less per year than Golden State’s reported offer to Thompson before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season.

Golden State’s response to the offer, according to ESPN, was the same as it has been for nearly a year: “We just can’t do it yet.“

Then Thompson, in the final week before free agency, began having a series of difficult conversations about leaving, Shelburne and Andrews reported, citing sources. He first met with coach Steve Kerr in Los Angeles. Then he broke the news to longtime teammates Steph Curry and Draymond Green by phone. Eventually, Thompson called Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy, whom he asked to help him get to his destination of choice via a sign-and-trade.

The Warriors agreed and ended up receiving two second-round picks as part of a three-team sign-and-trade deal with the Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets.

While the two sides failed to reach an agreement, the parting of ways between Thompson and the Warriors appears to be amicable, and Golden State must now figure out how to move forward without one of its beloved franchise icons.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk podcast