Today marks the debut for Klay Thompson in Dallas for the first official time, as the Dallas Mavericks' marquee free agent addition is set to play against the San Antonio Spurs tonight in Dallas' first regular season game of the year.
The excitement for Thompson in Dallas has been readily apparent from the jump, as he fits perfectly alongside two dynamic shot creators in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on paper. However, Thompson's fit in Dallas may not be as seamless as fans want at the start, as it must be taken into consideration that it may take some time for him to start thriving to the fullest degree.
Thompson had a shaky preseason from a shooting perspective, and though he never had a chance to play with Doncic and Irving at the same time which would've inevitably given him some premium open looks, his shooting struggles in preseason from outside and the mid-range can't be neglected.
Doncic and Thompson's two-man game will be unstoppable
With all that being said though, the inverse scenario of Thompson being insanely efficient right off the bat is still certainly a possibility, and it seems like that has been the case at Mavericks practice recently.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein of the DLLS Mavs podcast, from what he's heard, Thompson has been "living' off the passes" he's been getting from Doncic in practice recently ever since Doncic has recovered from his calf contusion.
Thompson's ability to come off of staggers and pin-down screens to find open space on the perimeter projects to only work even more efficiently in Dallas than it has in recent seasons in Golden State, as the pick-and-roll game between Dallas' bigs and Doncic and Irving will already command a lot of attention from defenses.
If Thompson is already thriving off of these actions in practice, it'd be no surprise to see it carry over to the regular season, especially if his preseason shooting woes are nothing more than a minor slump in the grand scheme of things.
Even off of busted plays and instances where Dallas doesn't necessarily have a play drawn up, Doncic draws so much gravity on his drives and can find open players from nearly everywhere in the half-court, so this should give Thompson the opportunity to shine in those type of scenarios as well.
With the amount of times Doncic and Irving get trapped, Dallas can run guard pick and pops with one of them and Thompson as another way to feed one of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history more open shots, so all signs are pointing toward Thompson's movement shooting being extremely effective in Dallas' offense.
If Doncic and Thompson's two-man game is as lethal as these reports from practice are saying, the Mavericks may have one of the best offenses in the league this season, as the spacing on the floor will be abundant with Irving on the floor together with them as well.
We'll finally get to see this in action for the first time tonight after months of speculation, so hopefully Thompson's official debut and two-man game with Doncic is just as fulfilling as it has been in practice.