Report: Lakers Didn’t Promise Starting Spot To Klay Thompson

According to NBA insider Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily, the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t promise a starting spot to Klay Thompson.

Thompson wound up signing with the Dallas Mavericks. 

The Lakers also didn’t offer a starting gig to Gary Trent Jr, who joined the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Sources: Gary Trent Jr. signed in Milwaukee in large part because they promised a starting gig. Lakers didn’t want to promise a starting gig to Klay Thompson and didn’t offer it to GTJ. More here in The Lounge: https://t.co/aimPbYHOPF

— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) July 17, 2024

Thompson averaged 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.5 blocks in 2023-24 for the Golden State Warriors while shooting 43.2% from the field, 38.7% from beyond the arc and 92.7% from the free-throw line.

The Warriors drafted Thompson with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft out of Washington State. Thompson made five All-Star teams, two All-NBA teams and one All-Defensive team with the Warriors. He helped the franchise win four championships.

Thompson has career averages of 19.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks. He turns 35 next season.

During an interview with NBA reporter Dave McMenamin of ESPN, LeBron James spoke about the Lakers missing out on Thompson and DeMar DeRozan.

The Lakers heavily pursued Thompson, who was recruited by LeBron.

“It takes two to tango,” LeBron told ESPN. “I think our front office, our coaching staff, they tried to do the job that they wanted to do or tried to get guys to come and it didn’t happen. And that’s OK. That’s part of the business. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that sometimes it happens, sometimes it don’t.

“So we don’t sit here and lie about or cry about it. We move on and Klay’s a great player. Obviously DeMar’s a great player. Valanciunas was one of those guys who ended up going to Washington, was someone that was in talks with us, but we move on to see how we continue to get better.”

The Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 playoffs in five games. Denver also beat Los Angeles in the 2023 Western Conference Finals in four games.