Ex-NBA guard believes Klay Thompson picked Mavericks over Lakers to avoid joining ‘circus’

Rashad McCants gave his two cents on why he believes Klay Thompson spurned a chance to join the Los Angeles Lakers and joined the Dallas Mavericks instead.

“Why didn’t Klay Thompson pick the Lakers?” McCants asked. “Why didn’t he even consider them? I’ll ask him, but I don’t have to. I know the answer. I know the answer: I’m cool on that circus over there. I’m cool.”

The Lakers are perhaps the NBA’s most storied organization. Los Angeles has won 17 NBA titles over the course of its history as a franchise, but great success often comes with great expectations as well, so the Lakers are held to a high standard as an organization.

Perhaps Thompson felt as if he had to deal with enough drama in his final season with the Golden State Warriors. In the 2023-24 regular season, a lot of criticism was directed at the Warriors.

Draymond Green was suspended twice during the season, and Thompson saw his production take a step back compared to the past, as he averaged his fewest points per game since the 2012-13 season. The Warriors also weren’t one of the 16 teams who qualified for the 2024 NBA Playoffs.

Thompson’s new team — the Mavericks — enjoyed a whole lot more collective success last season than the Warriors did. Dallas won 50 games during the regular season and ended up as the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.

After what was a productive regular season, the Mavericks then reached the NBA Finals for the first time in over a decade. They fell short but certainly impressed the NBA world by getting there.

Thompson may not be an All-Star caliber player at this stage of his NBA career, but he still projects to be a great on-court fit with star guards Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic thanks to his ability to shoot the ball.

Thompson can still shoot the ball from 3-point range at a higher level than most players in the league. He shot 38.7 percent from 3-point range in his last season with Golden State and averaged 3.5 made 3s per game.

Only time will tell if Thompson made the right choice by spurning the Lakers for the Mavericks, but the latter arguably stands out as the better team on paper at this time.