Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson is set for unrestricted free agency following this season under his current contract, but he doesn’t sound like someone in a hurry to leave the two-time defending champions.
“Not really,” he said when asked if he was thinking about testing the waters as a free agent, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “When guys go into free agency, they’re looking for situations like mine. I’m content.”
It’s hard to argue with Thompson’s assessment of his position on the dominant Warriors.
He gets to play alongside Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who draw plenty of defensive attention from opponents with their ability to light it up from deep and slash through the lane for easy points. That, in turn, opens up shooting windows for Thompson, who was second in the league last season with 8.6 catch-and-shoot field-goal attempts while connecting on 48.1 percent of those looks, per NBA.com.
Thompson’s prowess for taking advantage of those open looks is a major reason the Warriors won three of the last four NBA championships and enter the 2018-19 campaign with all the makings of another juggernaut. As if Durant, Curry and Draymond Green wasn’t enough, they signed big man DeMarcus Cousins—which figures to generate even more open looks for Thompson as he draws defenders into the post.
While there are other situations around the league where Thompson could certainly thrive given his shooting and defensive abilities—such as the Los Angeles Lakers alongside the attention LeBron James attracts—even his father, Mychal Thompson, said he will remain in Golden State.
“Oh yeah, you can mark it down,” Mychal Thompson said, per Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Klay’s going to retire in the Warriors’ uniform. He’s going to play at Chase Center (the Warriors’ San Francisco arena, opening in 2019), and he’s not going to be at Chase Center as a visiting player, he’s going to be a Warrior for the next seven or eight years.”
That is surely exactly what Warriors fans want to hear with the 2018-19 campaign approaching.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
