NBA legend and current Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd told Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area that Kyrie Irving played the “biggest” role in getting Klay Thompson to sign with the Mavs.
Irving, who has been teammates with Thompson on Team USA, heavily recruited the Golden State Warriors icon to Dallas.
“When you talk about the recruitment, it was a lot of people that were involved in that,” Kidd said. “But one of the biggest players in that was Kai. Kai being able to, player to player, (detail) his experience of what Dallas has been like for him in two years and being able to tell Klay the honest truth of what he thinks can happen with Klay coming to Dallas.”
Thompson and Irving faced each other in three straight NBA Finals in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Irving, who has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Mavericks, hit the game-winning shot against the Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals.
Thompson and Irving are with ANTA Sports. They have a close relationship.
“I would love to say it was all me,” Kidd said. “But it wasn’t. It was a team effort. But I think player-to-player – in this league, they all talk about their situations, and they all recruit one another – this was about Kai and Klay being able to talk.”
The Mavericks lost to the Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals in five games. Dallas now has a “Big 3” of Thompson, Irving and Luka Doncic.
Thompson averaged 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.5 blocks in 2023-24 for the 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.
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