Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob was teary-eyed when discussing the departure of Klay Thompson, a franchise icon, to join conference rival Dallas Mavericks.
But despite being overcome by emotions, Lacob’s competitive fire still naturally came out.
“I don’t care what people think happened, or didn’t happen,” Lacob said on “The Athletic NBA Show” on July 17. “He will always be welcome in my life. I hope he feels the same. Honestly, I get a little teary-eyed about it. I hope we’re going to be friends forever. And he’s just going to be in Dallas for a few years and we’ll have to kick his ass. But that’s just the job. And I’m sure he feels the same way. That’s called competition.”
Thompson left for the Mavericks via sign-and-trade with the help of the Warriors to get more than the midlevel exception. Still, the three-year, $50 million deal he signed with the Mavericks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, was less in annual average salary than the Warriors’ initial offer last offseason which he declined.
Last season’s extension talks eroded Thompson’s relationship with the Warriors which led to his tumultuous final season with the franchise.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Thompson felt disrespected as the Warriors only offered him half of what Draymond Green received.
“Thompson was offered a two-year extension in the $50 million range by the Warriors before last season but passed on that pitch and is said to have come away from the offer feeling disrespected mere months after Green was re-signed to a four-year, $100 million pact,” Stein wrote in his Substack newsletter on June 29.
‘It Never Ends Well’
Thompson’s exit signaled the end of an era that defined the last 10 years of the NBA. Thompson was part of the fabric, along with Stephen Curry and Green, of the Warriors dynasty that won four NBA championships.
“Bob Myers used to say this all the time. He’d say, it never ends well,” Lacob said. “It’s just unfortunate business. It’s just the way it is and things get in the way and circumstances prevail. And so it’s a very difficult process — his injury, the coming back from the injury, which he didn’t play for two and a half of the five-year contract and finally came back and really worked hard to get there. All I can tell you is we love him. We’re going to build a statue for this guy without question obviously when they’re all retired.”
Myers, the Warriors former general manager, stepped down last year, citing he could no longer give his everything to the team as the reason. But he also knew the end was nearing and he did not want to be the one who would break up the team that he built.
Thompson left miserable in his declining role with the Warriors, according to an ESPN report. The five-time All-Star wing struggled to find consistency last season which led to Steve Kerr’s difficult decision to move him to the bench. While Thompson regained his starting spot toward the end of the season, his 0-for-10 shooting in their elimination game against the Sacramento Kings was a painful reminder of a lost season, a lost cause.
Joe Lacob: ‘We Wanted Him Back’
Lacob maintained they wanted Thompson back. But it was Thompson who decided that a breakup is the best thing for both sides.
“I didn’t want to see it happen, but it did,” Lacob said. “I could just tell we did try to bring him back. We wanted him back. That’s the truth.
I know people speculate all these things. But I can assure you, we absolutely did want him back.
There are business realities, obviously, in the process. And I don’t want to get into the negotiations and all that stuff. Because it’s not really fair to him or us. And without giving all the details of those discussions, which would take a long time, I just don’t think the public would understand how it all went down exactly.”
It will take time to get used to seeing Thompson in a Mavericks jersey. His first game back in Golden State will be overflowing with emotions.
