Lacob Reveals Warriors’ Preseason Klay Offer Was Bigger Than Mavs’ Deal originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
In the weeks since Klay Thompson signed with the Dallas Mavericks, several people in and around the Warriors have offered insight into the process and the reasons behind the high-profile departure.
Now, more news has come from the top as Golden State owner Joe Lacob has revealed some key information about the team’s contract offers to Thompson.
“We made him an offer — it’s well chronicled — in the fall that was substantially higher than what he ended up signing,” Lacob told Tim Kawakami on Friday’s episode of “Audacy’s TK program.”
This statement seems to corroborate reports the Warriors offered Thompson a two-year extension worth about $24 million annually before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season. This summer, the shooting guard signed a three-year contract with the Mavericks worth a total of US$50 million.
After Thompson’s team turned down the pre-season offer, Lacob revealed that the offer was taken off the table; was unavailable as free agency loomed after the end of the season.
“That’s clear, it was an offer in the fall and we were in the process of developing an offer [at the start of free agency]”, stated Lacob. “We really couldn’t do it – he knew that – without seeing how many different chips, things were happening. We had a lot of things going on.”
Rather than wait for another contract offer from Golden State, Thompson simply decided he would not return before the start of free agency.
“He made the choice a little early – he did it for us,” Lacob added. “It wasn’t what we wanted, but it happened.”
Lacob made it clear that the Warriors were interested in keeping Thompson “a Warrior for life, on a fair and equitable basis,” but the logistics of the situation dissuaded the team from making any additional offers after the original was denied.
One can only wonder if Thompson regrets not accepting that first contract offer that was worth more money, but perhaps he wanted to move on regardless of the money at stake.
