Klay Thompson Signs With the Heat After Mavericks Buyout. Miami Just Got Its Spacing
Klay Thompson gave up about $9.5 million to leave Dallas. That is not a small number, and it tells you exactly how badly he wanted out.
Thompson agreed to a buyout with the Mavericks, cleared waivers, and signed a two-year deal worth roughly $11.5 million with the Miami Heat in late August. The second year is a player option. He initiated the whole thing himself, telling Dallas he wanted to play for a contender.
Hard to blame him. The Mavericks went 26-56 last season. Thompson is on the back nine of a career that includes four championships, and he decided he would rather chase a fifth than collect a check on a lottery team. Good for him.
Why Miami Was the Obvious Landing Spot
The Heat traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason, sending Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis to Milwaukee along with three first-round picks, a 2030 swap and a 2033 second. Bobby Portis came back to Miami with Giannis.
Look at what left in that trade. Herro was Miami’s best shot creator and their highest-volume shooter. Jaquez could put the ball on the floor. The Heat turned their perimeter depth into the best power forward alive, which is the correct trade to make, but it left a hole exactly where Giannis needs help most.
Giannis has spent his entire career being guarded by a wall. Two, three, sometimes four defenders collapsing into the paint the second he turns downhill. The single most valuable thing you can put next to him is a shooter defenses refuse to leave, and Thompson is still that guy even at this stage.
That is why Miami made him the top target after the Giannis deal closed, and why Thompson took less money to come.
What He Actually Gives Them
Let’s be honest about what Thompson is now. He is not a two-way terror anymore. The days of him guarding the other team’s best perimeter player for 40 minutes are over, and pretending otherwise does nobody any favors. He struggles laterally, and teams will hunt him in pick and roll.
But the shot has not left. Thompson is a career 41 percent shooter from three, and more importantly, he shoots it off movement, which is rarer and harder than standing in a corner. He runs off screens and lets it fly on the catch without needing a beat to gather.
That skill is worth more next to Giannis than next to almost anyone else in basketball. Giannis draws help from everywhere. Thompson punishes help. The geometry works.
Erik Spoelstra will also use him correctly, which matters. Spoelstra is going to hide Thompson on defense, run him through staggered screens, and keep his minutes in a range where the legs hold up. Dallas never had a clear plan for him. Miami does.
At around $5.75 million a year, this is one of the best value signings of the offseason. Thompson is not going to average 20 again and nobody in Miami is asking him to. If he gives the Heat 24 solid minutes a night and stretches the floor in playoff games where every inch of driving lane matters, he has earned the deal several times over.
The player option in year two is the smart part for Thompson. If it works in Miami, he stays. If it does not, he moves on at 37 with a ring chase still available.
Miami traded away its shooting to get a superstar. Then it went and bought the shooting back for pennies. That is a good summer.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.