THOMPSON COULD WIN A FIFTH TITLE, BUT WARRIORS ARE THE LAST NBA DYNASTY
Curry says Golden State’s four rings represent the final championship run, where the new ‘second apron’ limits big spenders from wielding multiple large contracts and creates a Thompson-to-Dallas mess
The crash came inevitably, with our wristwatches set, after four championships in 10 years. If the Golden State Warriors approached the Chicago Bulls for glory in a dynastic period, they also collided with their forerunners by crudely tampering in the end. What they won was joyful, not only in the Bay Area but throughout sportsdom.
Today? The franchise looks cold, far from the “light years ahead of everybody” self-assurance once made by owner Joe Lacob, who has lost track of astronomy.
Klay Thompson should have been retained this summer for the same salary he signed with the Dallas Mavericks — $50 million for three seasons. He shouldn’t have been slow-played by Lacob at Riviera Country Club, where golf was the so-called assignment and negotiations weren’t discussed in May. If a player should have been ambushed, why not Draymond Green, who avoided a jail term by executing unforgivable acts on a basketball court? With the Warriors stuck in play-in territory, they should have finished the Stephen Curry era with Thompson somewhere by his side, Splash Brothers forever.
Instead, Green remains in virtual-suspension mode with a $100 million deal while Curry fires three-pointers beside Buddy Hield. That left a shuttered Thompson to blow off LeBron James, who asked him to join the Los Angeles Lakers, and escaped drama-land by signing with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Last seen, he was smiling in white clothes and a nice cap Thursday at Michael Rubin’s Hamptons party, wrapping his arms around Derek Jeter and Michael Strahan while Draymond wandered elsewhere.
He will speak Tuesday in Texas, where he’ll no doubt claim a right to a fifth title. “I would like to win again. One for the thumb would be nice,” Thompson already has said. “I still think it’s in reach.” Those words might make him a bigger local cause than Jerry Jones, or at least Dak Prescott’s injured foot.
Up in Las Vegas, Curry has made it clear that he “desperately” wanted Thompson in uniform and that it “sucks” to see him leave. But he makes a bigger point. In the age of the NBA’s second apron, which will restrict heavy-spending teams from loading up with multiple large contracts, he said the Warriors are the league’s final dynasty. We’ll see if the Boston Celtics defy his words, made to ESPN, but they’ll need at least four titles in eight years.
“I mean obviously defining a dynasty can take a lot of different looks. People thought this was over in 2019 ... but 2022 was an amazing championship because we defied the odds. That's 11 years of almost 12 years of championship relevancy built around a certain core,” Curry said. “I don't think (it will be replicated) just because it's very hard to keep things together in this league. A lot more player movement. Me, Klay and Draymond, we complemented each other so well for so long. We all brought something different to the table, so we'll see. Records are meant to be broken. Dynasties come all different shapes inside of us, so we'll see.”
Do not be surprised if Thompson renews himself later in the Finals. He isn’t the same player, with dimming physical skills after he tore his left ACL in the 2019 Finals and tore his right Achilles tendon in 2020. But if we’ve learned anything, he can unleash himself as hell when his soul burns. He joins a team that hit only 31 percent of its threes and scored just 106.2 points in losing five title games to Boston. He is there to score, in droves, which only will help Doncic and Irving dominate. On defense, he’ll need help, but without the unsightly body language and frequent potshots against Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., he’ll love life again in his new home, where he also keeps the income tax.
Imagine the truth that Steve Kerr, who helped make Curry and Thompson among the best scoring backcourts ever, thinks a one-way push over the Bay Bridge isn’t an awful event for anyone. He’s the one who watched the Bulls evaporate after Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson were pushed aside by management after six titles. He spoke often with Thompson last season, when he was benched for poor play and Lacob wondered about the $189 million contract he provided after the knee rupture — which began rehab warfare forcing him to miss 2 1/2 seasons. His mind was as brittle as his shot, not the Klay we once knew. Remember when he committed fouls that cost his team games? When he’d encounter sorry slumps? Kerr gave up.
“I think it makes sense for him in his heart to get a different change of pace, change of location," Kerr said. “Get out of California, go play on a different team. It's what's right for him right now.”
The remark might cost the coach if Thompson wins a fifth ring, leaving Curry and Green with four. No wonder Klay was upset days after he went 0 for 10 in an elimination loss, when Green commended Warriors leadership. “They did right by me. They’ve done right by Steph. They’ve done right by all of us. Klay tore his ACL and they gave him $160 million.” he said. He meant $189 million, but to Green’s point, he said Lacob rewarded Thompson after his injury. The words were almost as bad as swinging and hitting Jusuf Nurkic, headlocking Rudy Gobert and stomping on Domantas Sabonis.
“Oh, man,” Thompson griped. “Well, 2019, could you imagine if they didn’t pay me after I got hurt? That would have been really bad. Like, ‘Oh, you went to five straight finals, you blew your knee out, yeah, sorry.’ That was very nice of them.”
He returned after 941 days of inactivity and helped the Warriors win their fourth championship. With Green in the throes of madness, despite his defensive and dirty-work efforts, Thompson should have been the focus of one more Lacob deal. Kerr knew better. He loves nostalgia, but he also likes Green when many of us loathe him. He was in on it: Brandin Podziemski would start, and Thompson would sit.
“I haven't ever had fantasies that this thing would just go on for another five, six years and Steph, Klay and Dray would retire together and I’d retire with them. There's never been that thought,” Kerr said. “I’ve been around the league a long time, whether it's Chicago or other situations. It's never easy, when these things start to run out. But the biggest thing is the relationships endure. The memories endure. Klay's going to have a statue outside Chase (Center) someday, he'll be beloved by his teammates and coaches and our fans forever. And yeah, it's never easy. But it's all going to, I think, it'll all work out for everyone.”
Not that he won’t miss him. “This has become a family over the years and people have watched us grow and stay together and succeed and fail,” Kerr said. “So Klay leaves, it's like, yeah, it's bizarre for us, it's bizarre for everybody. (But) everybody is given a ton of freedom here and they have to do what's in their heart. The best thing for Klay, he needed a change.”
On social media, everyone has moved on. Thompson can’t ride his bay boat in Dallas-Fort Worth, but he greeted Warriors fans with pleasantries. “Oh Bay Area, there are not enough words and images to convey how I really feel about yall,” he wrote. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for the best times of my life. It was such an honor to put that Dubs jersey on from day 1. I really just wanted to be the best I could be and help bring as many championships as possible to the region. The best part was not the rings though, it was the friendships I made that will last a lifetime. My family and I would like to thank the amazing people who work tirelessly to make the Warriors first-class. Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened.
“Until we meet again. Sea captain out.”
Wrote Curry: “Gonna miss you. Even though we won’t finish the journey together, what we did will never be done again. Couldn’t have imagined a better run with you and (Green). Changed the whole Bay Area. Changed the way the game is played. Killa Klay at the center of it all. Thank you for everything bro. Go enjoy playing basketball and doing what you do. Splash Bros 4 life my guy.”
Yet Curry also told him to “go enjoy playing basketball.” And Green said, tellingly: “Basketball brought unhappiness to him. A part of me wanted him to leave, because you only want to see him be the guy you know he is.”
He was steady enough in his decision to reject James, who will carry on with son Bronny and no free agents. The Lakers are a crap shoot and couldn’t sign Thompson, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan or Jonas Valanciunas. And to think Thompson had a key meeting with the Mavericks near his summer home in Hermosa Beach, a quick ride from Crypto.com Arena.
“It takes two to tango,” James told ESPN. “I think our front office, our coaching staff, they tried to do the job that they wanted to do or tried to get guys to come, and it didn't happen. And that's OK. That's part of the business. I've been in this business long enough to know that sometimes it happens, sometimes it don't. So, we don't sit here and lie about or cry about it. We move on. And Klay's a great player. Obviously, DeMar's a great player. Valanciunas … was in talks with us, but we move on to see how we continue to get better.”
The days of Klay Thompson scoring 37 points in one quarter are over. But compared to the legends, Curry and James, guess who has — by far — the best chance of winning again? The dynasty may be over, but individual pieces can scram and thrive.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.