One of the biggest question marks of the upcoming NBA offseason is Klay Thompson’s future with the Golden State Warriors.
Thompson, 34, helped build a dynasty in the Bay Area after being selected by Golden State with the No. 11 pick of the 2011 NBA draft. Thirteen years and four championships later, Thompson is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer with no contract extension in sight.
The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported Thursday that there has been “no notable movement” toward a contract extension between Thompson and the Warriors, meaning one-half of the franchise’s Splash Brothers duo will likely hit the open market this summer.
Thompson could still sign with the Warriors in free agency. He has said many times that he wants to retire in a Warriors uniform. Shortly after Golden State’s season-ending loss to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in game in April—a contest in which Thompson scored zero points on 0-for-10 shooting—coach Steve Kerr shared the same sentiment.
“He’s still got good years left. We want him back,” Kerr said of Thompson. “Obviously, there’s business at hand, and that has to be addressed. … What Klay has meant to this franchise, as good he still is, we desperately want him back.”
The Warriors have plenty of work to do this offseason after getting bounced in the play-in tournament. They have a big decision to make on guard Chris Paul, who has a $30 million non-guaranteed option for 2024-25 that becomes guaranteed if he’s not waived by June 28. Warriors owner Joe Lacob also would prefer to get out of the luxury tax, where Golden State has operated in recent years.
Thompson, who averaged 17.9 points per game and shot 38.7% from three-point range last season, is confident he still has a few seasons of good basketball left. Where he suits up to finish off the final chapters of his career will be decided in the coming months.
The 2024 NBA Finals tip off on Thursday night, as the Boston Celtics look to add an 11th Larry O'Brien Trophy to their trophy case, while the Dallas Mavericks look to secure the franchise's second-ever NBA title.
For viewing purposes, getting the opportunity to see a seven-game series between the Celtics and Mavericks would be wildly entertaining. It's somewhat uncommon for an NBA Finals series to go the full seven games, however. Throughout history, the NBA Finals has gone the full distance of seven games only 19 times.
Most recently, the 2016 NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors was decided in seven games, but the past seven championships have been decided quicker than that.
Here's a look at every NBA Finals series that has gone seven games:
YEAR
MATCHUP
1951
Rochester Royals def. New York Knicks
1952
Minneapolis Lakers def. New York Knicks
1954
Minneapolis Lakers def. Syracuse Nationals
1955
Syracuse Nationals def. Fort Wayne Pistons
1957
Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks
1960
Boston Celtics def. St. Louis Hawks
1962
Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers
1966
Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers
1969
Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers
1970
New York Knicks def. Los Angeles Lakers
1974
Boston Celtics def. Milwaukee Bucks
1978
Washington Bullets def. Seattle Supersonics
1984
Boston Celtics def. Los Angeles Lakers
1988
Los Angeles Lakers def. Detroit Pistons
1994
Houston Rockets def. New York Knicks
2005
San Antonio Spurs def. Detroit Pistons
2010
Los Angeles Lakers def. Boston Celtics
2013
Miami Heat def. San Antonio Spurs
2016
Cleveland Cavaliers def. Golden State Warriors
Game 7's have been few and far between in recent history. Since 1995, only four NBA Finals series have reached the coveted seventh game.
Of course, those that have gone the distance have resulted in some iconic moments, including the Cavaliers becoming the first team in league history to overcome a 3–1 deficit in the Finals in '16 against the Warriors.
Of the 19 Game 7's in NBA Finals history, only two have gone to overtime, and none since 1962 when the Celtics took down the Lakers.
Among the four major North American sports leagues, the NBA has traditionally stood out in the popular imagination as being the league of the dynasties. The Boston Celtics of the 1960s begat the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s begat the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, and so on and so forth.
For this reason, it may surprise you to learn that in the NBA Finals' entire history—from its quaint 1947 origins to the present day—professional basketball's final series has seen just nine sweeps.
Here is a look back at the nine perfect performances in the event's annals. Note before we begin that there were four best-of-five finals sweeps in the history of the National Basketball League, the NBA's immediate predecessor.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Celtics 118, Lakers 115
Game 2
Celtics 128, Lakers 108
Game 3
Celtics 123, Lakers 110
Game 4
Celtics 118, Lakers 113
The very first Finals between Boston and the Lakers, and the only one that took place while the Lakers were located in Minneapolis. The first of the Celtics' run of eight straight championships, the longest streak in the history of the four major North American sports. Boston center Bill Russell averaged 29.5 rebounds per game, which will play.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Bucks 98, Bullets 88
Game 2
Bucks 102, Bullets 83
Game 3
Bucks 107, Bullets 99
Game 4
Bucks 118, Bullets 106
The Milwaukee Bucks' first title, and their only title until 2021. The first of six rings for Bucks center Lew Alcindor, the future Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The most recent of two series, along with the 1956 Finals, played under a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 format in which the two teams alternated home games.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Warriors 101, Bullets 95
Game 2
Warriors 92, Bullets 91
Game 3
Warriors 109, Bullets 101
Game 4
Warriors 96, Bullets 95
Both the Golden State Warriors (Al Attles) and Washington Bullets (K.C. Jones) had Black head coaches, which hadn't happened before in any league. The Bullets actually took three of four from Golden State in the regular season, anticipating a highly competitive matchup. A 14-5 run late in Game 4 gave the Warriors their last title until 2015.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
76ers 113, Lakers 107
Game 2
76ers 103, Lakers 93
Game 3
76ers 111, Lakers 94
Game 4
76ers 115, Lakers 108
A fitting conclusion to Hall of Fame center Moses Malone's third and final MVP season. Polished off a 12-1 playoff run after Malone predicted the Philadelphia 76ers would need only four games to win each series. The last major Philadelphia championship until the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in 2008.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Pistons 109, Lakers 97
Game 2
Pistons 108, Lakers 105
Game 3
Pistons 114, Lakers 110
Game 4
Pistons 105, Lakers 97
The Detroit Pistons' first title after a grueling seven-game loss to the Lakers the season prior. Featured a superb performance from Pistons guard Joe Dumars, who averaged 27.3 points per game. The curtain call on Abdul-Jabbar's spectacular 20-year career.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Rockets 120, Magic 118 (OT)
Game 2
Rockets 117, Magic 106
Game 3
Rockets 106, Magic 103
Game 4
Rockets 113, Magic 101
Notorious for the Orlando Magic's complete meltdown in Game 1, during which guard Nick Anderson missed four crucial free throws to open the door for Houston Rockets guard Kenny Smith's game-tying three. The Rockets, seeded sixth, became the lowest-seeded team to win the title. Houston's title followed a seven-game championship win over the New York Knicks in 1994.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Lakers 99, Nets 94
Game 2
Lakers 106, Nets 83
Game 3
Lakers 106, Nets 103
Game 4
Lakers 113, Nets 107
The Lakers' third consecutive championship, and center Shaquille O'Neal's third consecutive Finals MVP award. Los Angeles overcame a superb individual series from New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd, who had averaged a triple-double in the Eastern Conference finals. The last Finals aired on NBC to date.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Spurs 95, Cavaliers 76
Game 2
Spurs 103, Cavaliers 92
Game 3
Spurs 75, Cavaliers 72
Game 4
Spurs 83, Cavaliers 82
Noted for its astoundingly low scores, Game 3 was the lowest-scoring Finals game since 1955. The first Finals for Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James, and for every Cavalier apart from veteran guard Eric Snow. Despite several close games, only in Game 4 did Cleveland lead in the second half.
GAME
RESULT
Game 1
Warriors 124, Cavaliers 114 (OT)
Game 2
Warriors 122, Cavaliers 103
Game 3
Warriors 110, Cavaliers 102
Game 4
Warriors 108, Cavaliers 85
The sweep everyone remembers. Began with a bizarre overtime game in which Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith appeared to forget the score at the end of regulation and James scored 51 points in defeat. The average margin of victory, 15, is the largest in any NBA Finals.
Klay Thompson is coming off arguably the worst season of his NBA career, but he's still expected to get plenty of interest once he hits free agency this offseason. On Monday, the basketball world got the first hints of that interest.
Shams Charania reported for The Athletic that Thompson and the Orlando Magic are showing "mutual interest" as the offseason rapidly approaches. The Magic were eliminated from the NBA playoffs on Sunday by the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Thompson's season ended in the play-in tournament at the hands of the Sacramento Kings.
"The Magic can open up an excess of sixty million dollars in cap space this off season...One name to keep an eye on, Klay Thompson, I'm told there is mutual interest between the Magic and Klay Thompson."@ShamsCharania on the Magic's future plans.
Thompson and the Magic have made sense as a pairing for a while now. The former All-NBA shooting guard is no longer the player he was and regularly hurt the Golden State Warriors' chances to win throughout the 2023-'24 season. However, even in a down year by his standards, Thompson still shot 38.7% from three point range on 9.0 attempts per game.
That level of shooting would transform Orlando's offense. The only Magic player anywhere near Thompson's accuracy and attempts per game last season was Jalen Suggs, who made 39.7% of his 5.1 three point tries per game. The organization's two stars, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, both shot below 34 percent from beyond the arc. The fact that the Magic managed to take the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the opening round of this year's postseason despite shooting 30.9% from three as a team throughout the series is, frankly, pretty remarkable.
The fit makes perfect sense. The question, of course, is whether Thompson would really leave the Warriors. He made $43.2 million this past season and will struggle to find any team willing to pay him that much going forward. From the sounds of reports like Charania's, teams like Orlando will be willing to pay more than Golden State in order to steal Thompson away from the only team he's ever known.
The choice, then, will likely come down to whether Thompson wants to stay in the Bay or get paid. As noted above the Magic will have oodles of cap space to utilize and could pay the four-time NBA champion quite a bit. Probably more than what his output calls for, but still worth it because the Magic need shooting and veteran leadership more than anything. But sometimes no amount of money can pry a player from his longtime home. Thompson may flirt with other teams in free agency in order to secure some leverage over the Warriors.
Free agency will not begin until July so there is plenty of time for things to change. But with the season over this feels like the first sign we've gotten that Thompson might truly leave the Warriors for a team like the Magic. Weird to imagine.
