Wild Klay Thompson stat shows change that Jason Kidd must make immediately

The Dallas Mavericks have continued to surge on the momentum train throughout all of December, even though the Mavericks have dealt with an immense amount of adversity this month. Despite injuries and illnesses to multiple rotation players as well as having to deal with a hectic traveling schedule, Jason Kidd and the Mavericks have gone 7-2 on the month leading up to their Christmas Day game versus the Minnesota Timberwolves today.

The evolution of this Mavericks team has been interesting to watch thus far into the season, as the potential of this roster seemed to have been vastly miscalculated amidst early season woes and offensive struggles from Dallas' role players. Superstar Luka Doncic has also stepped up his play on both ends recently, rejoining the MVP conversation after looking a step behind to start the year.

Dallas has found their stride at the perfect time as we trek past the quarter mark of the NBA regular season, and role players such as Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes have raised the ceiling of this Mavericks team by playing far beyond initial expectations recently.

At 19-10 and fourth in the Western Conference, the sky is truly the limit for the Mavericks at this juncture in the regular season, and expectations from fans and individuals apart of Dallas' organization are to return to the NBA Finals this season. However, the Mavericks still have many ways in which they can fine-tune themselves ahead of the end of the regular season, which could include making a trade for another bigger-bodied defensive player in their frontcourt.

Klay Thompson must be in closing lineups moving forward

Dallas will also seek to maximize and amplify their current lineup and rotation to its highest capacity, and there's one immediate change they can make to be better consistently given recent data. Of all players in the entire league with a minimum of 40 fourth quarter 3-point attempts, Dallas sharpshooter Klay Thompson ranks first in the NBA with a 3-point percentage of 51.2 during the fourth quarter.

Thompson struggled to find his footing within all facets of Dallas' offense until very recently, and the Mavs have just started to crack the code at maximizing his catch-and-shoot abilities from beyond the arc. Early season inconsistencies from outside as well as poor efficiency in the paint and mid-range area led Thompson to being in and out of Kidd's closing lineup until a December 7 game against the Toronto Raptors, as Thompson has closed every non-blowout game for the Mavericks since then.

It's been clear that Thompson has erupted out of his shooting slump recently, and stats like his aforementioned fourth quarter shooting percentage are emblematic of how much better Thompson has shot the ball in all realms of the game. Thompson's recent stretch has been the breakout Mavericks fans have been looking for from him in Dallas, and given how well he's performed in the clutch, Kidd would be remiss to not include Thompson in Dallas' closing lineups on a game-to-game basis.

In 24.4 minutes per game throughout the month of December, Thompson is averaging 16.8 points and 1.5 steals per game on efficient shooting splits of 52.1/44.3/81.8. While obviously not at the pinnacle of his talents anymore, Thompson is basically playing as good as he was during his Golden State Warriors championship run in 2022, and Kidd letting Thompson close games for this talented Mavericks team could carry over a similar impact in the clutch as Thompson was able to do for that talented Warriors roster.