NBA insider offers deflating update on Klay Thompson extension talks with Golden State Warriors

Shams Charania recently offered an update on Golden State Warriors wing Klay Thompson’s extension talks with the team as he enters his 11th season with the Warriors.

“The Warriors and Klay Thompson have been discussing an extension, but from what I’m told, there’s a significant gap in years and money,” Charania said. “The negotiations right now, from what I’m told, they’re at a dead point. So Thompson wants much more than what the Warriors are offering overall in both years and salary. … So as of right now, all signs point to Klay Thompson going into free agency in the summer, not getting an extension done. And in an ideal world, the Warriors wanna take care of him. They wanna pay him. But they also wanna see how the season goes, and Klay Thompson, he’s gonna have a chip on his shoulder I think.”

Thompson averaged 21.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in 69 appearances with the Warriors during the 2022-23 regular season. He was one of the most effective 3-point shooters in the NBA a season ago, seeing as how he converted 41.2 percent of his 10.6 3-point attempts per game, an impressive blend of volume and accuracy. Thompson also shot 43.6 percent from the field.

Unfortunately for Warriors fans, Thompson wasn’t able to carry over his efficient scoring during the 2022-23 regular season into the 2023 playoffs. In Golden State’s first-round playoff series against De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings, the veteran converted just 35.6 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Also, against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs, he shot just 34.3 percent from the field. The Warriors were eliminated by Los Angeles in six games.

The Warriors’ 2022-23 season was very disappointing from a collective standpoint. The team entered the season with the hope of winning back-to-back titles after beating the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. But it became clear early on in the regular season that Golden State was not as good as the team that won the title the season before.

Golden State finished the regular season with a mediocre 44-38 record and was one of the worst road teams in the league, as it ended up with an awful 11-30 road record. The only teams in the Western Conference who had a worse road record during the regular season were the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, both of whom went 22-60 on the season.

At home, however, the Warriors were tough to beat. They owned a 33-8 home record a season ago.

As Charania alluded to, expect Thompson to be extra motivated during the 2023-24 regular season thanks to his looming free agency. Thompson and the Warriors will tip off their regular season against Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.