Klay Thompson is having a difficult start to the season for the Dallas Mavericks. With a younger, better wing taking his spot in the starting lineup, history is repeating itself for Thompson — and Max Christie is playing him right off of the roster.
Thompson deserves a heap of respect for working his way back from two major lower body injuries and winning another title with the Golden State Warriors. Yet those injuries have taken their toll on him, and he has been steadily declining as an impact player over the past few seasons.
It began with the Warriors, when he was moved to the bench for the first time in his career, replaced by Brandin Podziemski. The young 2-guard didn’t have Thompson’s pure shooting ability nor his length, but he was a much better connective player and made a defensive impact that Klay was no longer capable of.
That was the beginning of the end for Thompson in Golden State; they sent him packing the following summer in a sign-and-trade to the Dallas Mavericks. And thus the cycle began anew.
He was solid enough in his first season with the Mavericks, the ideal sniper to play off of Luka Doncic and his elite passing ability. But the makeup of the team changed when Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, and it created a different enviornment that did less to protect Thompson.
It also brought another young 2-guard to challenge Thompson: Max Christie. And while at times he and Klay started together down the stretch of last season, the writing was on the wall for the future of the shooting guard position on this team.
Klay Thompson is being replaced
Thompson’s pedigree secured a spot in the starting lineup to start the year, but he has been patently awful through the first quarter of the year. On a team without Kyrie Irving and having Anthony Davis for just five games, the ecosystem for role players has been terrible in Dallas. Even so, he has been about as bad as possible.
Klay is shooting 35.1 percent from the field and just 32.1 percent from 3-point range. He never gets to the line, rarely passes a teammate into a shot, and is just 11th on the team in rebounding. Defensively he is a turnstile at this point in his career. By many advanced metrics, the Mavericks would have been better off with a street free agent in his spot.
That is why head coach Jason Kidd was forced to move him to the bench and elevate Max Christie in his stead. Christie, just 22 years old, has real defensive chops but has taken Thompson’s game as well — he is shooting 47.6 percent on 5.5 3-pointers per game. In fact, of all players in the league shooting at least 5 triples per game, Christie ranks third in accuracy (Klay is 89th).
Christie has not only temporarily taken Klay’s spot; barring a miracle, Klay Thompson will never be a regular starter for the Mavericks again. That puts him firmly on the trade block for a franchise that will be looking to get younger and build around Cooper Flagg. Losing his starting spot spelled the end in Golden State; it will do the same in Dallas.
Max Christie is better for what the Mavericks need, and he has been better than Klay in essentially every way. It’s not looking good for the four-time champion in Dallas.
