Mavericks hit Klay Thompson tipping point no other team wants to be in

Klay Thompson played just 13 minutes last night in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the second-lowest mark of his Dallas Mavericks career, and they've reached a tipping point with him that no other team wants to be a part of. Thompson has been in trade rumors this season, as he wants to play for a contender, but the Mavericks aren't doing him any favors by not playing him much.

The Mavericks need to play him extended minutes to showcase that he still has positive value, but they are showing the league that they don't trust him at the same time.

Even with the Mavericks being one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA, Thompson is barely playing. He has played under 20 minutes 13 different times this season, and he only played under 20 minutes five times over 72 games last season (all starts).

To put this in perspective, Thompson played less than 20 minutes just 11 times from 2014 until 2024 for the Golden State Warriors. His glory days are clearly behind him, and with two years remaining on his three-year, $50 million contract, teams may not even be eyeing him as the February 5 trade deadline rapidly approaches.

Klay Thompson is no longer the 3-point sniper he once was

The Mavericks are ready to build around Cooper Flagg, and moving on from Thompson and granting his wish of playing for a contender may be one of the best ways to move toward that goal. Thompson's timeline does not line up with Flagg's, and he isn't the best fit alongside him either.

Thompson has started just eight games this season, and he had his starting spot taken away from him for the first time in his Mavericks career this season. He isn't used to coming off the bench, as he started in 93.6 percent of the nearly 800 games he played for the Warriors, and his role decrease, combined with his decline in production, has not fared well for him.

Dallas signed Thompson for him to play alongside Luka Doncic, and ever since Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, Thompson hasn't been the same player. Doncic's on-ball gravity helped create countless open looks for him, but his play has diminished quickly with the Mavericks not having a steady starting point guard.

Both Ryan Nembhard and Brandon Williams have had some great moments, but they aren't the type of dynamic on-ball creators that Thompson needs to succeed. He spent the first 11 years of his career playing with Stephen Curry, and this Mavericks team doesn't have the personnel to make Thompson a difference-maker anymore.

And this is where Dallas runs into an issue.

If they want to trade him and get good value back for him, he at least has to be putting forth some solid performances. Teams can only go so far to bet on the potential fit on their roster, and they have to take into account his large contract as well.

Oftentimes, teams will play players that they have on the trade block more minutes than usual ahead of the trade deadline to help drive their value up, but Jason Kidd has strayed away from that strategy recently. His contract once looked like a steal, but that is no longer the case.

Thompson is posting career lows in field goal percentage (37.4), 3-point percentage (35.1), free throw percentage (66.7), points per game (11.1), assists per game (1.3), steals per game (0.4), and minutes per game (21.7), and this unfortunately passes the eye test as well.

He is shooting 33.3 percent on 2.4 wide-open threes (closest defender being more than six feet away), and this is a massive drop-off from last season. Thompson shot 45.9 percent on these looks in his first season in Dallas, and he isn't providing the same deadly floor-spacing value that he once did. Interested teams are likely watching this closely, and he isn't giving them a good show with multiple years left on his contract.

Bad contracts are one of the toughest things to navigate in today's NBA, and teams are going to be wary before making a trade for him.

The Mavericks are now stuck in this inescapable limbo with him, and there doesn't look to be a safe way out. Kidd doesn't even feel good enough about his minutes to play Thompson during the team's horrendous 3-point drought, and Dallas may have reached a point of no return with him.