On Monday, five-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson agreed to a three-year, $50 million deal to join the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks.
Read more: Klay Thompson to Join West Rival Following Multi-Team Sign-and-Trade
Thompson was reportedly being heavily pursued by the Los Angeles Lakers, even having LeBron James call him right when free agency kicked off on Sunday. However, in the end, he chose Dallas, sending the Lakers back to the drawing board.
Read more: What's Next for the Lakers With Klay Thompson Off the Board?
While the Lakers' pursuit of Thompson was unsuccessful, it wasn't for a lack of effort. Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes reported on Monday that the Lakers made a larger offer to Thompson than the one the Mavericks made, and offered point guard D'Angelo Russell to the Warriors to make it a sign-and-trade. However, Thompson declined L.A.'s contract offer, and the Warriors didn't even want to bring back Russell.
"I was told the Lakers made a pretty compelling offer," Haynes said. "It was around a three-, four-year mark somewhere along the lines of 20 million per (year). And they didn't get their guy."
Haynes continued, "It was gonna take a sign-and-trade to get Klay, and it did not — it just did not happen. I was told that it would have likely involved D'Angelo Russell being a part of a deal to get Klay. And from what I was told, the Warriors weren't interested in bringing back D'Angelo Russell."
So, not only did the Lakers make a big effort to sign Thompson, but they also offered him a bigger contract than Dallas by at least $7 million per season. However, it didn't entice him to join the Lakers, his dad's former team and the team for which his dad, Mychal Thompson, is currently a broadcaster.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski revealed some information as to why Thompson chose Dallas over Los Angeles.
"The Lakers were extremely intriguing to Thompson, but the financial savings from living in Texas over California and the fact that the Mavericks came within three victories of an NBA championship were big factors in his decision," Wojnarowski wrote.
The Mavericks lost the 2024 NBA Finals in five games to the Boston Celtics, but they made an impressive run through the Western Conference, beating the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves. Clearly, that meant a lot to Thompson, who's looking to win his fifth championship.
The Lakers made the postseason this past season but were ousted by the Denver Nuggets in the first round. They also lost to Denver in the Western Conference Finals in last year's postseason.
The Lakers were clearly an intriguing option, but in the end, they weren't able to land their top free-agent target. And even worse, he remains with a Western Conference opponent the Lakers will likely have to go through if they want to make a deep postseason run next season.
About the writer
Noah Camras graduated from USC in 2022 with a B.A. in Journalism and minor in Sports Media Studies. He's worked ... Read more
