On July 1, Beijing time, according to a reliable source in the league told American reporter The Athletic, the Golden State Warriors are ready to lose the team's four-time champion Klay Thompson in the free agent market. It was an unexpected parting of the ways between a legendary dynasty and one of the legendary players.
According to the Warriors' reporters, Thompson and his agent team have not had any contact or communication with the Warriors for nearly two weeks, and the Warriors have not sent Klay a new contract extension offer.
The Warriors had too many things to do in the offseason, and after multiple offers were rejected by Klay, they didn't prioritize Klay's contract extension in favor of Paul, Payton Jr., and Looney. The Warriors had hoped to sit down with Klay and renegotiate a new contract that would be acceptable to both parties after dealing with the rest of the players. However, Klay's team believes that the Warriors' interest in Klay's retention is insincere, and Klay does not want to passively wait for the Warriors' final unilateral decision, so it decided to let Klay take the initiative and give up the Warriors who have played for 13 years, try to enter the free agent market, and find a new owner for Klay.
According to sources, there are many teams in the league that are interested in Klay, including the Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Mavericks, Lakers, etc. Among them, in order to attract Klay to join, James of the Lakers even revealed that he was willing to cut his salary to leave enough salary space for the team to sign people such as Klay and Harden. And Clay has also expressed interest in teaming up with James.
However, among the above-mentioned teams with deep intentions for Klay, they can only provide Klay with a middle-class special contract, which is too different from the 3-4 year contract that Klay wants to ask for, with an annual salary of about 30 million. After the Warriors assessed that they had to let Klay go in the end, in order to pay their last respects to Klay, they agreed to cooperate with Klay to sign and trade Klay, and try their best to get Klay a bigger and longer contract. At the same time, it also recouped some losses for the team, and will not let Clay go in vain.
The Warriors' move can be regarded as a benevolent and righteous act for Klay, as one of the achievements in establishing the Warriors dynasty, sending players to the other team they want to go to, to get the contract they want, and the two sides can be regarded as getting together and dispersing.
The Warriors are now in a situation like the setting sun, and if they want to rise again, it is inevitable to make big changes, and it may be a pity to break up the Splash Brothers, but if they want to return to the stage of the Finals again, they have to optimize their players. It can be clearly said that not only Klay, but also veterans such as Dream Chaser and Wiggins may be traded by the Warriors in addition to Curry, in order to re-improve the team's competitiveness. Survival of the fittest, this is a kind of cruelty as a competitive sport, no player can never grow old, always stay in a hot state.
However, even if the Splash Brothers do finally disintegrate, the highlights and legends of the two will remain in history.