Klay Thompson shocked the NBA world when he announced his departure from the Golden State Warriors after 13 years alongside Stephen Curry, opting to join Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks with a three-year, $50 million deal.
The Warriors will undoubtedly miss Thompson, who, along with his “Splash Brother” Curry, won four championships and formed one of the greatest duos in NBA history. Despite their separation on the court, the bond between Curry and Thompson remains strong.
Recently, both players attended the WNBA game between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, where Curry unexpectedly ran into Thompson. To Curry’s surprise, Klay wasn’t alone—he was with his new Mavericks teammate, Derrick Lively.
Upon realizing that Thompson was hanging out with Lively, Curry had a comically exaggerated reaction, appearing mockingly disgusted by the sight of his former teammate cozying up to his new Dallas companion.
Steph’s reaction when he realized Klay was at the Aces-Liberty game with Mavs teammate Derrick Lively 🤣
Curry’s emotional farewell to Thompson
After Thompson officially signed with the Mavericks, Curry took a moment to share a heartfelt goodbye to his longtime teammate during an interview with ESPN while preparing for the Olympics with Team USA.
“Klay heading to Dallas, it’s tough. It does suck losing Klay. There’s no two ways around it. It’s something that I never imagined would be a reality, but we want him to be happy,” Curry said.
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He added, “we want him to be able to enjoy the game of basketball. We would have loved to maintain the core and finish out together, but we obviously understand the league and how things change. So, you have to be able to celebrate what we accomplished and then be able to move on.”
Kyrie Irving’s crucial role in Thompson’s signing
In an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dubs Talk, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd opened up about the recruitment process, emphasizing Kyrie Irving’s significant role in convincing Thompson to come to Dallas.
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“When it comes to recruitment, a lot of people were part of the process,” Kidd said on Dubs Talk. “But one of the biggest factors was Kai [Irving]. Kai was able to connect with Klay, player to player, and share his experience of what it’s been like in Dallas over the past two years. He gave Klay an honest assessment of what he thinks could happen with him on board.”
Kidd downplayed his own involvement, saying, “I’d love to say it was all me, but it wasn’t. It was a team effort. But in this league, player-to-player recruitment is huge. This was all about Kai and Klay being able to have that conversation.”
