Thompson is the answer to fix Mavericks' bench problem whether he likes it or not

Jared A’Latorre

Dallas Mavericks, Klay Thompson / Sam Hodde/GettyImages

The Dallas Mavericks might need to rip a page out of one of their NBA Cup foe's books very soon.

It was once again a slow night for the Mavs on Friday, as they trailed early and fought back to take the lead against Phoenix, but Kevin Durant's shooting along with a late Daniel Gafford foul late in the fourth quarter led to a Mavs loss.

This has been a growing trend among the team, and head coach Jason Kidd is getting tired of it.

The Mavs might need to be forced to use their pieces in a different way, at least temporarily. Klay Thompson might be among those players who may need to come off the bench once the squad is fully healthy, whether he likes it or not.

Mavericks should explore bringing Thompson off the bench

The good news is that this is not new territory for Thompson.

Thompson playing a bench role was actually a possibility that some fans pushed for in the months before the season started while everybody was getting adjusted to the 2024-25 season.

This not a surprise considering what Thompson went through with Golden State last season.

He scored 35 points off the bench against Utah last year, and it was a recurring theme that made Thompson relevant again with the Warriors. But his role off the bench didn't seem like something Thompson was a big fan of.

If he were to get benched, it wouldn't be surprising considering it's already happened before and the Mavs need to find some sort of spark off the bench.

Thompson was getting off to slow starts at one point, but that quickly changed when Thompson got plenty of touches early against Chicago.

Naji Marshall is making a key statement to the coaching staff to start for Thompson even when P.J. Washington gets back. This would be a pretty big lineup for Dallas, consisting of Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Washington, Marshall, and Gafford. You would also have Thompson coming off the bench as a sixth man.

This would be a high-energy lineup for the Mavericks. Marshall has been doing a great job playing defense and bullying his man in the paint. Using Marshall as another energy man early in the game could result in better first quarters.

Let's say the injury bug hits Dallas again, Quentin Grimes might need to step in, or at the least get more minutes.

Of course, the players have to be good enough too, no one is denying that. Kidd has the power to use this new and improved roster at his disposal. If Thompson is struggling as badly as he was against Phoenix, he'll need to bring in new faces to make up for that shooting, like Marshall or Grimes.

The Mavericks already have injury issues to worry about, but their on-court issues can be fixed. Mavs fans should watch closely these next two weeks to see how Kidd operates on Thompson's struggles if they continue.

Bringing him off the bench eventually may be what's best for him and the team whether he likes it or not, and this could help the problem of the slow starts that continuously plague them.

Jared A’Latorre

Jared is the Site Expert of Sport DFW, and oversees Dallas sports all the time. He also spent time as a Senior Contributor to The Smoking Cuban, The Landry Hat and Gig Em' Gazette. His work has been featured on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports and MSN. He also covered various sports at Oklahoma State and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Media from Oklahoma State. He's done play-by-play radio broadcasting in North Central Oklahoma and currently does play-by-play radio broadcasting for high school football in North Texas. Jared is also a co-host for Grizzlies Digest, covering the Memphis Grizzlies. In his free time, Jared loves watching sports, spending time with family and friends and watching anything Billy Bob Thornton related.