Mavericks can't bring Klay Thompson back under any circumstances

Mercifully, the 2025–26 season is over. For the Dallas Mavericks, it ended as one of the lowest points of the millennium. And now, change feels inevitable. That likely means saying goodbye to familiar faces, including perhaps the biggest of them all: Klay Thompson.

Thompson, arguably the biggest name on the Dallas Mavericks roster, even alongside rookie sensation Cooper Flagg and nine-time All-Star Kyrie Irving, is on the downswing of a storied career. And at this stage, he’s not the player he once was.

Of course, that’s to be expected. Thompson is now 36 years old, and while his game has always revolved around his otherworldly shooting ability, devastating injuries have inevitably taken their toll. He returned from back-to-back season-ending injuries, a torn ACL and a ruptured Achilles, but hasn’t quite been the same player since.

Klay Thompson's decline in Dallas

Thompson was once the pinnacle of the 3-and-D archetype, being one of the NBA’s elite shooters who also took on the toughest wing assignments nightly. Now, Thompson remains a lights-out shooter, but that’s largely where his impact ends. By CraftedNBA’s catch-all defensive metric (CraftedDBPM), he ranked 389th out of 461 qualified players.

Moreover, even the limited contributions Thompson typically provides outside of scoring dipped to career lows in 2025–26. He averaged just 2.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.5 steals per game, while shooting 39.3 percent from the field and 42.0 percent on two-pointers.

This isn’t a knock on Klay Thompson. He’s one of the greatest three-point shooters in NBA history, now 36 years old and nearing 1,000 career games. But for Dallas, it’s time to move on.

Thompson no longer fits with this iteration of the Mavericks, and it’s not the situation he signed up for. When he agreed to a three-year, $50 million deal in 2024, the vision was to play alongside Irving and Luka Doncic. Instead, over two seasons, he’s shared the floor for just 45 games with Irving and only 21 with Doncic before he was sent packing.

The longtime Golden State Warrior spent the season as one of the few true veterans on the roster. He never quite fit with this version of the Mavericks, and that doesn’t appear likely to change. The team’s other similarly aged players, Khris Middleton and Dwight Powell, are both on expiring contracts, equally on their way out.

Klay Thompson's fit is no longer with the Mavericks

Unlike the team’s other veterans, Thompson still has one year and $17.4 million left on his deal, limiting the Mavericks’ flexibility. Letting him walk isn’t an option, and waiving him is unlikely, leaving a trade as the most realistic path… albeit a complicated one.

An expiring contract typically increases trade value, but Thompson’s $17.4 million salary muddies the picture. For a rival team to take that on, the Mavericks may need to include draft capital or other incentives to get a deal done.

Thompson wasn’t a negative asset for the Mavericks. In fact, Dallas was better with him on the floor. But the fit no longer works. He still provides valuable spot-up shooting, which the Mavericks could use, but the roster direction has shifted. This isn’t the same team he signed with, and for that reason, moving on may be the only realistic option.