The Dallas Mavericks have been shopping Klay Thompson for two full months. They still cannot find a taker. That is the story of the summer for the Mavericks, and every week that passes makes the puzzle a little harder to solve.
Dallas has been clear in denial that they are considering a buyout. They insist a trade is coming. The problem is that trades require another team to want the player, and around the league the interest in a 35-year-old Klay Thompson on a real contract has been more polite than serious.
This is a hard reality for a player who was a champion four times and one of the most feared shooters of his generation. Klay’s last two seasons have not been kind. His defense has slipped. His shot selection has become questionable. His three-point percentage, which used to be automatic, has been merely average. On the wrong team, all of those things are dealbreakers.
The Mavericks are that wrong team. Dallas paired him with Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic in a fit that never quite worked, then watched him become a rotation piece as the season went on. The plan was for Klay to be a starter shooting 40 percent from three. The reality was a bench player shooting 35 percent from three. The difference is enormous.
The teams that make sense as trade partners have obvious reasons not to bite. Contenders do not have the roster space or the salary to absorb him. Rebuilders do not want a 35-year-old veteran taking minutes from young players. That leaves the middle-tier teams, the play-in hopefuls who want a name to sell tickets, and none of them have blinked.
What Dallas can offer to sweeten a deal is what makes this interesting. A first-round pick attached to Klay changes the conversation. So does taking on a bad contract in return. The Mavericks appear willing to attach an asset to move him, which is the clearest signal yet that they view Klay as a sunk cost.
Klay’s own preference is what could actually unlock this. If he waives his no-trade protection or approves a specific destination, the market opens up. Word is that he is willing to consider a move to a contender, but not everywhere is on his list.
The buyout option keeps hovering. If the trade market stays cold into September, and it very well might, Dallas may have to accept the loss and cut him loose. He would sign with a contender for the minimum, get a chance to end his career on a real team, and both sides would move on.
That is probably where this is heading. The two-month search is running out of runway. The Mavericks know it. Klay knows it. The rest of the league is just waiting for someone to say it out loud.
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.
