Klay Thompson's disastrous start ties back to Mavericks' Luka Doncic trade

It's no secret that many of the Dallas Mavericks' offensive struggles have stemmed from their lack of offensive creators within the starting unit. There's no doubt that the addition of Brandon Williams off the bench will help the Mavericks in their search for viable creators in a reserve role, but the problem still stands: the Mavericks don't have a viable ball handler in their starting five.

With this in mind, plenty of Mavericks have started the opening five games struggling to find their offensive identity and get into an offensive rhythm early, and nobody understands this more than Klay Thompson. To start the season, Thompson has averaged an abysmal 8.2 points and three rebounds per game on 25.9 percent shooting from behind the 3-point line and 31.3 percent from the field.

Not only would these numbers out Thompson in a historically low category for his career, assuming he finished the season shooting this badly, but Dallas' lack of creation is easy to point back to after trading away Luka Doncic. It's easy to blame a lot of the Mavericks' offensive woes on the Doncic trade, but for Thompson, it's already easy to see that he needs a floor general to return to his normal self.

Thompson wouldn't be struggling as badly with Luka Doncic on the team

Entering the offseason, the Mavericks had two major offensive concerns that they needed to address following the shocking departure of Doncic at the trade deadline. For starters, the Mavericks needed to add more ball-handling to a roster deprived of a primary ball-handler without the likes of Kyrie Irving healthy, and the team needed to add more shooting in a double-big starting lineup.

While the Mavericks would eventually sign D'Angelo Russell in the opening hours of free agency and give first overall pick Cooper Flagg a bulk of the offensive workload to start the season, the Mavericks failed to add any other shooters besides Klay Thompson and Miles Kelly, who is only a rookie on a two-way contract.

Not to mention, the Mavericks' plan all along this season was to roll out a starting lineup with two center-caliber players, without the ability to space the floor outside of Thompson.

For Thompson, historically, he has benefited largely as the number two offensive option for a team that features a superstar offensive talent that warrants two players guarding them at all times. Now, with Doncic off the team, Thompson is being asked to create his own open looks and find his own offensive rhythm with the defense already head-hunting his three-point spacing abilities.

Fans already understood that the Mavericks were going to take a huge dip in their productivity on offense without Doncic, as they lacked a player who could force defenses to react to every single movement, but this has affected nobody worse than Thompson. It's unclear if Jason Kidd has any thoughts of putting Thompson on the bench and allowing him to work out his funk in a reserve role, but almost two weeks into the NBA season, it's already clear that Thompson could be played off the court.

The Mavericks will have plenty of problems to work out over the course of the season, and Thompson's lack of floor spacing abilities is unfortunately one that has found itself at the top of the list. The Mavericks will likely need to add another guard with the capabilities of attracting double teams for Thompson to feel like himself again, but in the meantime, the former champion will need to find his shot and a new role for a team desperately searching for offensive life.