Report: Lakers offered Warriors D-Lo for Klay in sign and trade originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors reportedly had the opportunity to reunite with a former star player.
Before Klay Thompson agreed to sign a reported three-year contract worth $50 million with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers – one of Thompson’s reported suitors in free agency — made the veteran guard a strong offer.
The Lakers offered Thompson a multi-year contract that was expected to pay him approximately $20 million annually in a sign-and-trade deal with Golden State that would have sent guard D’Angelo Russell back to the Warriors, Chris Haynes of TNT on Monday.
“I was told the Lakers made a pretty convincing offer, it was around three, four years,” Haynes said on Bleacher Report. “Something around US$20 million per [year] and they didn’t catch the guy. And it would obviously require a sign-and-trade scenario so that it had nothing to do with LeBron James’ decision to accept less. It would have taken a sign and trade to get Klay and that simply didn’t happen.
“I was told it would likely involve D’Angelo Russell as part of a deal to get Klay, and from what I was told, the Warriors weren’t interested in bringing D’Angelo Russell back.”
This wouldn’t have been the first time the Warriors replaced Thompson with Russell via a sign-and-trade deal. After Thompson suffered a torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals, Golden State completed a three-team sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves on July 1, 2019, which sent superstar forward Kevin Durant to Brooklyn, Russell to Golden State and Shabazz Napier, Treveon Graham, money and a future first-round pick to Minnesota.
In his 33 games with the Warriors during the 2019-20 NBA season, Russell averaged 23.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 43 percent from the field and 37.4 per game. percent from 3-point range as Steph Curry’s secondary scorer. with Thompson sidelined for the entire season.
The 28-year-old point guard averaged 18 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 45.6% from the field and 41.5% from 3-point range in 76 games with the Lakers during the last season.
The Warriors clearly weren’t interested.
