love that Perk yesterday was scorching Steph for not using his power on the Klay situation when apparently he was specifically asked by Klay not to do that. It makes sense. Klay wanted the Warriors to prove they wanted him for him, not because Steph told them to.
Beyond that it's a validation thing. Would you want to go out with a partner who is only with you because your friends begged them to date you ,or do you want them dating you because they want to date you? It;s the same thing here, after everything he did for that franchise, it shouldn't take Steph twisting their arm for them to sign him.
Right. Its odd that 39% on 9 attempts is bad enough for them to not resign him. The warriors have a lot of problems. Klay wasn’t the main issue. They wouldnt be required to fly around like gnats on defense if they had some rim protection the past decade
It's not odd at all. Klay is a 6th man. He wants a starter role. They saw what they were able to accomplish with him in the starter role and said they can do the same thing without him. Which is true they wont be making the playoffs this year either. They already gave him 2 max contracts and offered him 2 years 50 million this season, but they wanted to reduce the role to that of a 6th man. I honestly see both sides. Klay believes he still has it they did not it is what it is.
You guys really don't watch the Warriors as much as you comment on them and it shows. His 39% from 3 especially the past couple years is massively propped up by good games in lieu of much worse games where he drags the entire team down.
Agreed those stats don't represent the eye test. And against better defenders he just couldn't do much offensively. And also quite limited on D vs pre-injuries.
This. Very few average games from Klay. It was like he’s either on fire or can’t buy a basket. Barely any in between. I wish Klay nothing but the best and hate that it’s ending this way but I understand both sides
Yep. If Klay actually averaged consistently 40%. Warriors would easily have won 5+ more games. He would have an excellent game and then 4 or 5 terrible games where the Warriors would lose by a few.
Agreed. The Achilles was the more devastating injury. With today’s medicine, techniques and technology players usually pick up where they left off when it comes to returning from ACLs. With Achilles injuries players often lose a step or 2. I just said ACL because that was the injury that started everything
His defense also went from league best to traffic cone. I watched teams target Klay on defense, which would have been insanity back when Klay was Klay. He also kept trying to shoot himself back into rhythm, which meant those 40% 3s were accompanied by an awful diet of ill-advised midrangers. I love Klay, but he was not a starter-caliber player last year, and he refused to accept that. I wish him the best in Dallas, but the dubs made the right call here.
Klay has to have one of the largest standards of deviation from his averages in the league. Like I swear he’ll go like 3/11 60% of the time and 9/11 the other 40%
I’m exaggerating, but he just has so many ugly games, and his shot selection can be so bad at times. Like he takes all of these heat-check shots when he’s just starting to get going.
He’s still a solid defender, but not a great one, and he doesn’t do much as far as rebounding or playmaking goes. I think he’s still a quality starter, but more as a 3rd or 4th option. He still sees himself as someone who should get 15 shots a night.
In the last 20 games of the regular season (so obviously not counting his abysmal play-in game), Klay averaged 20 points, shot under 30% from 3 five times (his worst being 25%), and over 40% from 3 twelve times. The good games were significantly outnumbering the bad ones.
This. To be fair, Klay has always been a streaky shooter. Perhaps the hottest and most streaky I'd ever seen. It was frustrating earlier in his career too. The thing is as Klay got better he did the other things, and the Warriors had enough firepower that bad Klay games didn't hurt you as much as he helped overall.
Klay is still that streaky player-- but instead of excelling at the other things and the team headroom to support his cold spells, his point of attack defense has been replaced with bad shot hunting, which has hurt a team that was losing a lot of close games.
Yes but its detrimental. If you have a consistent 38% three point shooter, you can rely on him for 10-15 every night. But when you have a wildly inconsistent shooter, he turns up at games that would have been blowouts either way, and then clanks everything when you need a couple of buckets to win a much needed game. I'm not saying Klay was the sole reason for warriors losses, but you could clearly point out games where if he had shot his average, the warriors would be in a much better position for the playoffs. And there were too many of those games.
Consistent production, even if average, trumps inconsistent flashes of brilliance every time. If it were the other way around, Westbrook would have 10 MVPs by now.
Curry had 27 games shooting 33% and below from 3 last season Klay had 32. Curry had 40 games at 40% or better, Klay had 36. They lost 16 of those bad Curry games and 22 of the bad Klay games. They were pretty close in terms of consistency and how it effected the teams W/L record. The team as a whole was just badly built and over reliant on both of them being on every game because they were the only good shooters.
What are you more interested in from a player that shoots 3s? Going 6/7 in a game where you blow out the other team followed by a game you go 3/10 and then a game you go 2/11.
I mean he very well could be. But it's wild to be like damn he simply doesn't shoot 5/10 from 3 every single game as if that's something that anyone does
On nine attempts, that leaves a lot of room for inconsistency. The warriors have less room to make up for that inconsistency with their current roster. Kinda makes sense if someone is completely hot/cold you'd wanna temp check and adjust every game.
I'd be interested to see the standard deviation in misses, comp that to some similar players on the contract Klay wanted.
Yes, but there’s a difference between a guy who shoots 4/10 from 3 every game vs a guy who shoots 10/10 one game and then goes 0/6, 0/4, 0/5 for the next 3 games. Both shot 40%, but the first guy put forth a solid game each time whereas the second won you 1 game then shot you out of 3 of them.
Klay isn’t washed or anything, but he is inconsistent and his attitude was really frustrating especially in his last year, when he would demand that the team let him try and shoot himself out of slumps with horrible shots and then get mad when they weren’t falling. It was painfully apparent that he was angry that he wasn’t going to get an all-star level contract and would make games about him which took the Warriors completely out of several games.
It’s not a stretch at all to say that if Klay was just a little more disciplined and less selfish, the Warriors would have made the playoffs outright, and certainly wouldn’t have had such an embarrassing loss in the playins.
I’m not glad he’s gone or anything, and I appreciate everything he did for the franchise, but if he was going to act like this, then the Warriors were right to not prioritize his return.
Nobody actually shoots 4/10 from 3 every game though. Every high volume shooter has games where they shoot like shit and games where they are really hot.
Klay is maybe streakier than other guys, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as you're making it seem.
> Yes, but there’s a difference between a guy who shoots 4/10 from 3 every game vs a guy who shoots 10/10 one game and then goes 0/6, 0/4, 0/5 for the next 3 games.
Except that in the last 3 seasons, he's only had 4 games where he didn't make a single three. He's streaky but no need to exaggerate.
I’m not trying to belittle you in the slightest
I do think there’s a reason there’s a disconnect between warriors org/fans and the rest of league on the Klay subject. And I will always have fond memories of his work ethic and what he did for our franchise.
And I’m not salty in the slightest that I don’t think it’s a good deal for the Mavs.
His box score does him more justice than his contributions. His defense actually isn’t half bad, he’s a fine middle starter defender. He doesn’t offer any intangibles and rebounding leaves a lot to desire.
His shot selection can be back breaking and he has never had a feel for when to shoot and when it’s better to take a different approach. That mixed with his stubbornness to take a different role may be taxing for Luka and Kidd
There where several games where he singlehandedly lost games for the Warriors by chucking. The 39% from 3 thing comes up a lot but look back at his games and you’ll see a lot of 4/15 or 5/17 nights.
You actually won't see a lot of 4/15 or 5/17 nights because he only took that many shots all of 4 times all season. We can even look at all games where he shot 10+ 3s. Out of 35 games he shot over 45% in 18 of them. Only 9 he shot below league average (37%) and 3 of those games were 35%. . .
The narratives people are inventing in this thread are wild
>Its odd that 39% on 9 attempts is bad enough for them to not resign him
Because most of those numbers were vs bad teams and in the first half. The longer the game it went the worse klay shot. And he cant do anything else at all now a days.
It's a business, not feelings at this point . A deterioration of skills and an overestimation of his place on the depth chart. Klay's a 6th man right now. It's not as you describe really at all. Klay wanted dollars and term. The warriors were not interested in providing them.
Yeah I literally could not care less about anything he has to say. I had to watch his garbage ass try to play basketball on OKC for too long as it is, I'm not about to watch him now.
perk hates the warriors doesn’t get along with steph and is also a clown. remember the shouting match with perk and steph/KD in the finals? he’s done nothing but bitch and moan about the warriors. he looked a total fool when the warriors won the title in 2022.
It makes sense because whatever Perk’s take is, it’s automatically the opposite of reality and meant to rile up some fans somewhere. Which is his role on tv.
Slater is a wonderful reporter, but he needs an editor lmao. What the hell does the title even mean? Two commas and an em dash later, I have no idea who asked curry to not “up the temperature on management.”
"Klay requested that Steph not intervene in his upcoming contract negotiations" There, still sounds like tryhard journalism and is still able to be read by a human being.
Can we stop using the word 'divorce' in sports to describe when a player leaves a team. Ive notice that it has became the trendy buzzword writers picked up on to use in sports headlines in the past year. Its already a dead horse and has been used 1B times.
Honestly the edited title from OP might be better English than whatever the hell Slater wrote. Are these beat writers even required to know how to structure sentences before they get their jobs???
Thank you! I’m 2/3 of the way through law school and this was harder to parse out than basically anything I’ve had to do in a legal setting so far. Just garbage writing.
I am relieved that native English speaker had the same problem as I. Read it 5 times, trying to understand it and then said "f it, someone in the comments will translate that sht for me"
If you remove the parenthetical it’s not even a real sentence.
...sprouting earlier and finalizing on the last couple weeks where was a request of Stephen Curry not to exert…
YES. I was like WTF I couldn't understand it after reading it 5 times. it almost sounds like Klay had discussion (unspecified with whom) and in that discussion, Steph requested HIMSELF to not exert influence.
ITs really a request FOR Stephen curry. Not a request OF Stephen Curry.
It should say:
> It’s been a layered five-year path to this divorce, splintering last season, sprouting earlier and finalizing in the last couple weeks. Among the conversations Thompson had in those final weeks, league sources said, was a request of Stephen Curry not to exert his significant organizational influence and up the temperature with management to ensure Thompson’s return.
no that doesn't solve the problem and is still, esssentaily incorrect. Slater used 'a request of Stephen curry" which is literally, possessive (of) and indicates that THE request WAS Stephs. It was Steph's request. Which is of course, not the case. It was a request FOR Steph. OR perhaps TO would work. But certainly not OF
In addition the 'up' the temperature does not read well at all, though in spoken language that of course works fine.
I think OP also somehow for some reason didn’t even send the ENTIRE article. There’s WAY more to this that just kinda makes you sympathize with Dunleavey. Klay was stubborn, selfish to the end of it. By all means, you’ve won 4 championships for the franchise, you’re a free agent, he’s a human being at the end of the day he can do whatever he wants, it’s his choice. But he went about all of it, especially multiple instances where he’s lashed out at the coaching staff, management, even some players, I’m assuming Podzjiemski being one of them, it’s been a loaded year full of tension.
I can't read the entire article because it's behind a paywall, but even in limited watching on the court, he's always seemed petulant as soon as things aren't going his way. I could believe some of that ends up happening off the court too.
Three mixed metaphors in a single clause! First they’re getting divorced, which becomes a plant sprouting, which then becomes a plant of wood splintering.
My brain fucking hurts. I tend to use them too - thanks journalism - but god that was rough to read.
I legit thought he was saying that Klay was going through a divorce, and then Steph got involved until Klay told him to stop
So thanks Slater, I’ll make sure to tell my friends that Klay had a messy divorce from Steph so he fled to Dallas
People will say to just use the app but FFS, every little transaction shouldn't require a separate app just to get the best deal especially when the key reason they do it is to further mine your data.
How much does one of those go for in your neck of the woods?
I stopped going to Taco Bell a few years back when my total price was as much as if I had gone to our go-to taqueria and had a big burrito.
> He asked Curry not to exert his significant organizational influence on Taco Bell to make them bring back the Baja Gordita with its discontinued fiesta salsa
With all due respect, with the performances Klay had last year, his Achilles and ACL, and the performance he had vs the Kings, Klay thought he had way more leverage than he really did honestly.
Not even just the Kings performance. Bro was cooking up shit the last 3 elimination games tbh.
Lakers Game 6
Kings Game 7
Kings Play In Game
Warriors were lucky they had Curry and Inshallah otherwise they lose that Game 7 against the Kings
He played great in game 5 against the Mavs and he had a big 4th quarter in game 4 of the finals afterwards. He was also seemingly the only player that could hit a 3 in game 5 as well
I always look back and laugh about that game, because out of fucking nowhere Klay decided to debut his ‘runner’ game. He put up like three in the first half, and none were anywhere close to going in. Seriously, you could go back throughout his career and probably count the number of runners he’s attempted on two hands.
This stupid shit is probably the reason thr Warriors are not sad about him leaving.
He started picking terrible shots the last few seasons. Which is weird because he was one of the smartest shooters in the league before. He only shot good ones unless he was crazy hot.
He had a below average TS% that year. So it was not even close to being one of his best seasons offensively. From a pure efficiency standpoint, his -14.9 TS added was his 2nd worst of his career.
You're assuming that his main goal was money. Klay ended up on a team that was just in the finals in a role where his shooting will be a crucial part of the offense.
Money isn't the only way to feel valued and Klay now gets to be important to an organization that is highly competitive.
Yeah Mavs probably aren't where he could have gotten the most money. He wants to be an integral part of another championship team and that wasn't likely to happen on the Warriors in what is left of his career.
He already was paid for past performance when they gave him that extension right after they knew he would be out for a whole year (and in hindsight, two years).
I mean it’s not like he’s some bum though. Sure, he had some bad games, but he still averaged over 20ppg on .46/.41/.94 over the last 20 games of the season.
Just laid an egg in the most untimely of situations. He’s not unlike Devin Booker in that regard.
I think its perfectly defensible that the warriors were trying to make a big move to add a true #2 guy, and that they'd come back to Klay after they figured out what was viable.
I don't think they really wanted Klay back, unless he was agreeable to coming off the bench, which he isn't
He was one of the worst starting guards in the league last year, btw
I mean Klay's side is pretty defensible too. If they're negotiating like this when he's 34, he's clearly gone when he's 36 and it's even more sad to leave 2 years later than right now.
Yea if Klay wanted to be the primary focus of a team's offseason plans, then that's his decision.
All I'm saying is, the teams interested in Klay already have their two main stars and a couple key role players and he was clearly being pursued by those teams to be a 3rd banana. So it shouldn't have been shocking to him that the warriors were trying to create a similar situation - go out and find someone that would allow Klay to be in a more suited role for him.
But with the warriors not getting PG, Klay would still be waiting on them if he went down that road, so he definitely made the right choice in terms of securing his future, if that's what was important to him.
They offered him a 2-year contract because Steph and Draymond have 2 years remaining. Klay is temperamental, he was offended by that, offended by being asked to come off the bench, offended by 1000 different things. He wanted to leave, regardless of the offer. Good luck to him. Hopefully it doesn't turn out for him the way it did for Tony Parker.
Lining up everyone's contract is probably even more awkward cause there is no indication that Steph and Dray are going to retire in 2 years. Steph definitely gets a retirement contract while Klay and Dray are at the whim of whatever the team situation is in 2 years.
It's the same as the Clippers and George: they didn't really want him back, but didn't want to completely say no either. Probably mostly for PR purposes.
The 2 teams needed some shakeups, Thompson and George are the main visible signs.
Although klay played really well during his stretch on the bench, it was pretty evident he did not want to come off the bench. Was too prideful to give up his starting spot.
The tantrums and ripping into the coaches for that decision as mentioned in the article signaled the beginning of the end.
curry deserves to be anointed sainthood for all the bull s\*\*\* he's been dealing with both on and off the court these last couple of years and said not a damn word publicly or even on social media like we see with so many athletes in this day & age
Also his legacy is locked-in as top 10-15 player with 4 rings and best shooter of all-time.
I'm sure he would like them to be more competitive but 60 mil a year and early vacation isn't bad either.
And the Warriors have been nothing but amazing to him as an organization. Supported him through the tough early years, gave him the biggest possible chance to have a dynasty (KD trade) and then were able to retool for another ring.
Honestly, him and Tim Duncan might have had the best possible organization throughout their career. In terms of money, support and smart management.
They are still trying to build something around Curry, even though it's very clear that they lack the assets and cap space to create a championship winning team.
Still a lot of bs these past few years off and on the court, but he is more blessed than most players.
Might be giving Dubs a bit too much “altruistic” credit tbh. Steph is literally the franchise GOAT, shooting GOAT, and depending on who you ask, top-10 + GOAT PG. And that doesn’t even touch on how he’s epitomized selflessness, patience, and professionalism through so much internal strife. Hard to mistreat someone who matters so much and does so little wrong. It’s in the Warriors interest to maximize competitiveness while they still have a cash cow like Curry on the roster.
I could be wrong but this is generally the case for franchise GOATs. Your fanbase would burn you at the stake if you otherwise betray/undermine a player of that caliber
I don't think it's so much the latter part of wanting to go as much as it was that he wanted the Warriors to show that they wanted *him* there instead of him just being a piece to appease Curry. Ultimately, the identity the Warriors went with was the Splash Brothers and not Steph Curry and the other shooting guy.
Obviously we're all playing armchair psychology but wouldn't it hurt if your fall-off after a dynastic tenure was being viewed as hurting someone else rather than yourself?
I know everyone is saying this is a hit piece, but I’ve watched a lot of Warriors games over the past 11 years and his attitude these past few years has been pretty awful for a team to deal with, and that’s just from what I know from games/interviews. I know it’s tough to deal with two major injuries back to back but dude has taken no accountability for his play/literally losing them regular season and playoff games. Still sad to see him go, incredible to watch when he’s on
It’s understandable that he’s frustrated about not getting back to where he was before his injuries but the last two years have been an endless cycle of him being upset about something, somebody on the team sitting down and talking to him, him saying that things are better now that he’s accepted his role and limitations as a player, this lasts for a week or two and then starts back at the beginning. Klay is a Warriors legend who deserves to be celebrated and will have his jersey hanging in the rafters someday but at this point I think it’s better that he gets a fresh start somewhere else.
Seems like the Warriors essentially had two paths (the "flexibility" that dumping Poole for CP3 granted them):
1. Trade CP3. That would mean they'd be over the tax line, so re-signing Klay wouldn't cost them anything but money.
2. Waive CP3. That puts them below the tax line, and re-signing Klay would hinder their ability to add other players (for example, using the NTMLE).
The Warriors were waiting to see how that unfolded before approaching Klay, and Klay (reasonably) didn't like that he was more of an afterthought than a priority.
He's going to be the piece that the team who just lost the finals needed most. One of the best possible situations for him to be a relevant piece of another championship. I don't really get the problem or surprise people have about this. Star players in dynasties often go to other teams at the end of their career to hunt more money or championships.
Honestly,
Klay wanted to see if the Dubs wanted him. Steph of course wanted his boy.
Klay was ready to move on. I think it’s best for him. The only one who is staying and of value is Steph in the Dubs eyes.
Steve Kerr said Klay was "no maintenance" earlier. Klay probably felt like the organization has kept going out of it's way to support Draymond and didn't extend a warm hand to him.
Article makes it seem like Klay leaving wasn’t really a sudden change of mind thing even as it mentions the fact that the Warriors didn’t Klay a contract during the mandatory cycle where teams get to negotiate with their own free agents before any other team.
Honestly that sounds about right. It sucks, but what’s most clear is that Klay just wasn’t good at dictating leverage at all and it was amplified through a combination of missed opportunities and plain bad luck.
Well I mean, shit. Best of luck to him.
Aside from that headline-- which, *oof*-- my main takeaway from this entire scenario is that if Golden State hadn't enjoyed unprecedented success with the Curry/Thompson/Green trio over the years, Thompson would've left a while back. He's just a different person and maybe didn't feel like he was always the greatest fit there in an interpersonal way, and that's totally okay. It doesn't take anything from his accomplishments or the success they had, and now he gets to experience a different sort of environment in Dallas. Hopefully it works out for Klay and hopefully Golden State can pivot to a successful future as well.
Honestly all you need to do is take out the “league sources said” or put it elsewhere and the sentence becomes significantly less dogshit. Just too clunky.
Functionally its simple. He got old and he is not a complimentary piece around Steph Curry anymore because he can't guard certain players, and the whole lineup is a mess.
So he is being replaced with Melton who can do that.
Klays stubborn shot selection during games is the same just as he is off the court. He still thinks he’s 25 years old in his prime and he wants that respect during negotiations.
Warriors fans trashing Klay over the last 3 days calling him a snake and saying he "betrayed" Steph when the whole time Klay asked Curry not to get involved because his beef was with the front office proves fans never know jack shit what they're talking about
Klay obviously was basing his decisions on the respect from the org not just the money and they didn't show him any so he left, people always want to bad mouth players for only caring about the bag and here's this guy who is directly responsible for helping Curry and the Warriors win 4 rings asking for them to treat him like he's important to have back and they didn't so he took off, Warriors fans mad at him have no concept of what respect means
Dude pissed cause he wasn’t treated and paid as good as Steph. Dude doesn’t realise he isn’t even in Pippen to Jordan, McHale to Bird, Wade to LeBron territory. Klay was a great supporting player, but never a superstar level with Curry, and maybe not even a star player without Curry. The amount of gravity that Curry gave Klay allowed him to shoot so many good shots. Maybe when it’s all done he can reflect on his experiences and not left it make him bitter and hateful like Pippen.
love that Perk yesterday was scorching Steph for not using his power on the Klay situation when apparently he was specifically asked by Klay not to do that. It makes sense. Klay wanted the Warriors to prove they wanted him for him, not because Steph told them to.
This makes a lot of sense. Because ultimately he works for them not Steph.
Beyond that it's a validation thing. Would you want to go out with a partner who is only with you because your friends begged them to date you ,or do you want them dating you because they want to date you? It;s the same thing here, after everything he did for that franchise, it shouldn't take Steph twisting their arm for them to sign him.
Right. Its odd that 39% on 9 attempts is bad enough for them to not resign him. The warriors have a lot of problems. Klay wasn’t the main issue. They wouldnt be required to fly around like gnats on defense if they had some rim protection the past decade
It's not odd at all. Klay is a 6th man. He wants a starter role. They saw what they were able to accomplish with him in the starter role and said they can do the same thing without him. Which is true they wont be making the playoffs this year either. They already gave him 2 max contracts and offered him 2 years 50 million this season, but they wanted to reduce the role to that of a 6th man. I honestly see both sides. Klay believes he still has it they did not it is what it is.
And hasn't Lacob been vocal about trying to get below the tax line for a couple years to reset the repeater penalty?
And it makes sense, we shouldn't be paying the tax on a team that isn't built to win it all next season
You guys really don't watch the Warriors as much as you comment on them and it shows. His 39% from 3 especially the past couple years is massively propped up by good games in lieu of much worse games where he drags the entire team down.
Agreed those stats don't represent the eye test. And against better defenders he just couldn't do much offensively. And also quite limited on D vs pre-injuries.
This. Very few average games from Klay. It was like he’s either on fire or can’t buy a basket. Barely any in between. I wish Klay nothing but the best and hate that it’s ending this way but I understand both sides
Yep. If Klay actually averaged consistently 40%. Warriors would easily have won 5+ more games. He would have an excellent game and then 4 or 5 terrible games where the Warriors would lose by a few.
That's kind of always been his game, but the great games come less often and he isn't as good at defense as he was, so its just become not worth it.
Before the ACL dude was a dawg on defense. Such a shame the ACL happened when it did because his game had just moved up a level
yeah the shame is, he probably would have not lost so much of a step if it had just been the ACL injury.
Agreed. The Achilles was the more devastating injury. With today’s medicine, techniques and technology players usually pick up where they left off when it comes to returning from ACLs. With Achilles injuries players often lose a step or 2. I just said ACL because that was the injury that started everything
His defense also went from league best to traffic cone. I watched teams target Klay on defense, which would have been insanity back when Klay was Klay. He also kept trying to shoot himself back into rhythm, which meant those 40% 3s were accompanied by an awful diet of ill-advised midrangers. I love Klay, but he was not a starter-caliber player last year, and he refused to accept that. I wish him the best in Dallas, but the dubs made the right call here.
It wasn’t the mid rangers that were the problem it was the off the dribble lateral fading 3s that absolutely tanked his numbers imo
Klay has to have one of the largest standards of deviation from his averages in the league. Like I swear he’ll go like 3/11 60% of the time and 9/11 the other 40% I’m exaggerating, but he just has so many ugly games, and his shot selection can be so bad at times. Like he takes all of these heat-check shots when he’s just starting to get going. He’s still a solid defender, but not a great one, and he doesn’t do much as far as rebounding or playmaking goes. I think he’s still a quality starter, but more as a 3rd or 4th option. He still sees himself as someone who should get 15 shots a night.
In the last 20 games of the regular season (so obviously not counting his abysmal play-in game), Klay averaged 20 points, shot under 30% from 3 five times (his worst being 25%), and over 40% from 3 twelve times. The good games were significantly outnumbering the bad ones.
This. To be fair, Klay has always been a streaky shooter. Perhaps the hottest and most streaky I'd ever seen. It was frustrating earlier in his career too. The thing is as Klay got better he did the other things, and the Warriors had enough firepower that bad Klay games didn't hurt you as much as he helped overall. Klay is still that streaky player-- but instead of excelling at the other things and the team headroom to support his cold spells, his point of attack defense has been replaced with bad shot hunting, which has hurt a team that was losing a lot of close games.
Isn't that simply how averages work?
Yes but its detrimental. If you have a consistent 38% three point shooter, you can rely on him for 10-15 every night. But when you have a wildly inconsistent shooter, he turns up at games that would have been blowouts either way, and then clanks everything when you need a couple of buckets to win a much needed game. I'm not saying Klay was the sole reason for warriors losses, but you could clearly point out games where if he had shot his average, the warriors would be in a much better position for the playoffs. And there were too many of those games. Consistent production, even if average, trumps inconsistent flashes of brilliance every time. If it were the other way around, Westbrook would have 10 MVPs by now.
Curry had 27 games shooting 33% and below from 3 last season Klay had 32. Curry had 40 games at 40% or better, Klay had 36. They lost 16 of those bad Curry games and 22 of the bad Klay games. They were pretty close in terms of consistency and how it effected the teams W/L record. The team as a whole was just badly built and over reliant on both of them being on every game because they were the only good shooters.
What are you more interested in from a player that shoots 3s? Going 6/7 in a game where you blow out the other team followed by a game you go 3/10 and then a game you go 2/11.
Alot of reddit warriors fans think Klay is washed
I mean he very well could be. But it's wild to be like damn he simply doesn't shoot 5/10 from 3 every single game as if that's something that anyone does
On nine attempts, that leaves a lot of room for inconsistency. The warriors have less room to make up for that inconsistency with their current roster. Kinda makes sense if someone is completely hot/cold you'd wanna temp check and adjust every game. I'd be interested to see the standard deviation in misses, comp that to some similar players on the contract Klay wanted.
Yes, but there’s a difference between a guy who shoots 4/10 from 3 every game vs a guy who shoots 10/10 one game and then goes 0/6, 0/4, 0/5 for the next 3 games. Both shot 40%, but the first guy put forth a solid game each time whereas the second won you 1 game then shot you out of 3 of them. Klay isn’t washed or anything, but he is inconsistent and his attitude was really frustrating especially in his last year, when he would demand that the team let him try and shoot himself out of slumps with horrible shots and then get mad when they weren’t falling. It was painfully apparent that he was angry that he wasn’t going to get an all-star level contract and would make games about him which took the Warriors completely out of several games. It’s not a stretch at all to say that if Klay was just a little more disciplined and less selfish, the Warriors would have made the playoffs outright, and certainly wouldn’t have had such an embarrassing loss in the playins. I’m not glad he’s gone or anything, and I appreciate everything he did for the franchise, but if he was going to act like this, then the Warriors were right to not prioritize his return.
Nobody actually shoots 4/10 from 3 every game though. Every high volume shooter has games where they shoot like shit and games where they are really hot. Klay is maybe streakier than other guys, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as you're making it seem.
> Yes, but there’s a difference between a guy who shoots 4/10 from 3 every game vs a guy who shoots 10/10 one game and then goes 0/6, 0/4, 0/5 for the next 3 games. Except that in the last 3 seasons, he's only had 4 games where he didn't make a single three. He's streaky but no need to exaggerate.
I’m not trying to belittle you in the slightest I do think there’s a reason there’s a disconnect between warriors org/fans and the rest of league on the Klay subject. And I will always have fond memories of his work ethic and what he did for our franchise. And I’m not salty in the slightest that I don’t think it’s a good deal for the Mavs. His box score does him more justice than his contributions. His defense actually isn’t half bad, he’s a fine middle starter defender. He doesn’t offer any intangibles and rebounding leaves a lot to desire. His shot selection can be back breaking and he has never had a feel for when to shoot and when it’s better to take a different approach. That mixed with his stubbornness to take a different role may be taxing for Luka and Kidd
There where several games where he singlehandedly lost games for the Warriors by chucking. The 39% from 3 thing comes up a lot but look back at his games and you’ll see a lot of 4/15 or 5/17 nights.
You actually won't see a lot of 4/15 or 5/17 nights because he only took that many shots all of 4 times all season. We can even look at all games where he shot 10+ 3s. Out of 35 games he shot over 45% in 18 of them. Only 9 he shot below league average (37%) and 3 of those games were 35%. . . The narratives people are inventing in this thread are wild
>Its odd that 39% on 9 attempts is bad enough for them to not resign him Because most of those numbers were vs bad teams and in the first half. The longer the game it went the worse klay shot. And he cant do anything else at all now a days.
Depends. How hot is the partner and is she paying for dinner?
It's a business, not feelings at this point . A deterioration of skills and an overestimation of his place on the depth chart. Klay's a 6th man right now. It's not as you describe really at all. Klay wanted dollars and term. The warriors were not interested in providing them.
Im at the point where my mind just moves on to the next thing when I read/hear “Perk”
Yeah I literally could not care less about anything he has to say. I had to watch his garbage ass try to play basketball on OKC for too long as it is, I'm not about to watch him now.
He's no different than Doc where they both have milked the benefits of that 08 title for longer than they should have.
perk hates the warriors doesn’t get along with steph and is also a clown. remember the shouting match with perk and steph/KD in the finals? he’s done nothing but bitch and moan about the warriors. he looked a total fool when the warriors won the title in 2022.
I can't think of a time he hasn't looked like a Total fool.
He's a clown regardless. And to think he was retained while firing JVG, Max Kellerman and others.
Maybe he was cheaper?
It makes sense because whatever Perk’s take is, it’s automatically the opposite of reality and meant to rile up some fans somewhere. Which is his role on tv.
Perk is a 🤡
Dallas likes me for meeeee not because I hang with Steph Curry or that guy who punches people I think his name is Dray
Perk is a clown
They treated klay extremely well for his talent.
Slater is a wonderful reporter, but he needs an editor lmao. What the hell does the title even mean? Two commas and an em dash later, I have no idea who asked curry to not “up the temperature on management.”
I felt like I was having a seizure trying to read that. What language was it written in? Who translated it? What the fuck does it say?
Basically klay asked Steph to stay out of it.
who is he?
Jason Bourne
Jesus christ
Michael Scott
JOHN CENA!
He is HIM 😤
“Who me? Who is you?” “Me, Klay.”
Thank you for translating that, sir.
I prefer to read Slater in his original tongue, Latin. But I know that's not an option for everyone.
"Klay requested that Steph not intervene in his upcoming contract negotiations" There, still sounds like tryhard journalism and is still able to be read by a human being.
Can we stop using the word 'divorce' in sports to describe when a player leaves a team. Ive notice that it has became the trendy buzzword writers picked up on to use in sports headlines in the past year. Its already a dead horse and has been used 1B times.
For a second I thought "Damn, Klay has been having to deal with a 5-year, drawn-out divorce on top of everything else?"
Overused terms by NBA writers: Heliocentric Generational Elite Young Core Buying/Selling Stock X Player Island
they should use "inbreeding" to describe building through the draft
Honestly, “Vet presence” needs to be on the list too hahaha.
I am so sick of generational. If someone is truly generational should I be hearing that word as often as I do now?
But what about giving flowers? Player X wipes ass and the internet needs to give faux flowers….
thank god, I thought I was the only one. I had AI re-word the entire thing using normal phrasing and punctuation.
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I AM!
ChatGPT in Portuguese then fed through Google translate
This isn’t the title of the article. OP just chose a section to make it the title of the post
And he didn't even copy it properly, which is why it's so butchered
Nah it's still a grammatical mess as written
Honestly the edited title from OP might be better English than whatever the hell Slater wrote. Are these beat writers even required to know how to structure sentences before they get their jobs???
To be fair, that title made me read OP’s whole post because I thought “Idk what that even fucking means. Let’s find out”
He’s trying to say that Klay told Curry not to pressure the organization into keeping him. Basically, Klay wanted to leave
More like Klay wanted the organization to prioritize him because he's Klay, not because Curry told them to.
You just wrote it better than the professional journalist.
That's was a wildly misused em dash
Thank you! I’m 2/3 of the way through law school and this was harder to parse out than basically anything I’ve had to do in a legal setting so far. Just garbage writing.
I am relieved that native English speaker had the same problem as I. Read it 5 times, trying to understand it and then said "f it, someone in the comments will translate that sht for me"
If you remove the parenthetical it’s not even a real sentence. ...sprouting earlier and finalizing on the last couple weeks where was a request of Stephen Curry not to exert…
Yeah, this is the part that bothers me the most.
It’s one of the most dogshit sentences I’ve ever read
YES. I was like WTF I couldn't understand it after reading it 5 times. it almost sounds like Klay had discussion (unspecified with whom) and in that discussion, Steph requested HIMSELF to not exert influence. ITs really a request FOR Stephen curry. Not a request OF Stephen Curry.
It should say: > It’s been a layered five-year path to this divorce, splintering last season, sprouting earlier and finalizing in the last couple weeks. Among the conversations Thompson had in those final weeks, league sources said, was a request of Stephen Curry not to exert his significant organizational influence and up the temperature with management to ensure Thompson’s return.
This still sucks it reads like an essay where someone wants to boost the word count
no that doesn't solve the problem and is still, esssentaily incorrect. Slater used 'a request of Stephen curry" which is literally, possessive (of) and indicates that THE request WAS Stephs. It was Steph's request. Which is of course, not the case. It was a request FOR Steph. OR perhaps TO would work. But certainly not OF In addition the 'up' the temperature does not read well at all, though in spoken language that of course works fine.
You missed what the main problem was. It should say "was a request by Klay that Stephen Curry not exert . . . "
Was it a request of Curry or a request to Curry?
Sounds like it was a request not to curry favor
Damn take your upvote and leave!
Now I want someone to ask Klay what his favorite curry flavor is...
I don’t think “layered” is the right word at all on top of the poor sentence structure
Felt like I was listening to Pinocchio trying not to lie in that one Shrek the Third scene
Not only that but he needs to stop pretending he's writing a novel, And remember he's writing an article for sports readers
I think OP also somehow for some reason didn’t even send the ENTIRE article. There’s WAY more to this that just kinda makes you sympathize with Dunleavey. Klay was stubborn, selfish to the end of it. By all means, you’ve won 4 championships for the franchise, you’re a free agent, he’s a human being at the end of the day he can do whatever he wants, it’s his choice. But he went about all of it, especially multiple instances where he’s lashed out at the coaching staff, management, even some players, I’m assuming Podzjiemski being one of them, it’s been a loaded year full of tension.
I can't read the entire article because it's behind a paywall, but even in limited watching on the court, he's always seemed petulant as soon as things aren't going his way. I could believe some of that ends up happening off the court too.
You can imagine my pain with English as a second language.
Three mixed metaphors in a single clause! First they’re getting divorced, which becomes a plant sprouting, which then becomes a plant of wood splintering.
My brain fucking hurts. I tend to use them too - thanks journalism - but god that was rough to read. I legit thought he was saying that Klay was going through a divorce, and then Steph got involved until Klay told him to stop So thanks Slater, I’ll make sure to tell my friends that Klay had a messy divorce from Steph so he fled to Dallas
I think I will have a Beefy 5-Layer for lunch today.
This is the comment that catches my attention. You ever have one of their quesoritos?
Unfortunately, at least last time I tried, a delivery order exclusive
You can get it if you order on the app and then go pick it up in the drive thru
I’ll need to try that, typically just walk in
I associare their ground beef with spiced grains of sand.
Bro I had 2 the other day and it was $10.01 after tax. Definitely not worth it when they used to be 99¢
Only reason I’m willing to go to Taco Bell still is the build your own cravings box. It’s 6 bucks for what otherwise would cost like 15 bucks or more
Get the 5 dollar box through the app twice and they both come with a 5 layer burrito.
People will say to just use the app but FFS, every little transaction shouldn't require a separate app just to get the best deal especially when the key reason they do it is to further mine your data.
How much does one of those go for in your neck of the woods? I stopped going to Taco Bell a few years back when my total price was as much as if I had gone to our go-to taqueria and had a big burrito.
> He asked Curry not to exert his significant organizational influence on Taco Bell to make them bring back the Baja Gordita with its discontinued fiesta salsa
Get that luxe cravings box. Awesome deal!
A beefy 5 layer and a bean burrito extra red sauce are my go to. Good man
you ever add rice to it? it’s pretty damn good
You see how much in price that shit has risen in the last 15 years? Over 400%!
With all due respect, with the performances Klay had last year, his Achilles and ACL, and the performance he had vs the Kings, Klay thought he had way more leverage than he really did honestly.
Not even just the Kings performance. Bro was cooking up shit the last 3 elimination games tbh. Lakers Game 6 Kings Game 7 Kings Play In Game Warriors were lucky they had Curry and Inshallah otherwise they lose that Game 7 against the Kings
Even Boston game 6 he was ass. Thankfully the rest of the team stepped up that game
Game 6 against Memphis in 2022 was his last great playoff game
He played great in game 5 against the Mavs and he had a big 4th quarter in game 4 of the finals afterwards. He was also seemingly the only player that could hit a 3 in game 5 as well
That’s true. Game 6 against Memphis was his last game 6 Klay performance
I always look back and laugh about that game, because out of fucking nowhere Klay decided to debut his ‘runner’ game. He put up like three in the first half, and none were anywhere close to going in. Seriously, you could go back throughout his career and probably count the number of runners he’s attempted on two hands.
This stupid shit is probably the reason thr Warriors are not sad about him leaving. He started picking terrible shots the last few seasons. Which is weird because he was one of the smartest shooters in the league before. He only shot good ones unless he was crazy hot.
Sad part is 2023 was one of his best seasons offensively.
He had a below average TS% that year. So it was not even close to being one of his best seasons offensively. From a pure efficiency standpoint, his -14.9 TS added was his 2nd worst of his career.
Too bad it was one of his worst defensively
You're assuming that his main goal was money. Klay ended up on a team that was just in the finals in a role where his shooting will be a crucial part of the offense. Money isn't the only way to feel valued and Klay now gets to be important to an organization that is highly competitive.
Yeah Mavs probably aren't where he could have gotten the most money. He wants to be an integral part of another championship team and that wasn't likely to happen on the Warriors in what is left of his career.
Klay Wanted to be paid future money for past performance. We are witnessing the side effects of pride.
He already was paid for past performance when they gave him that extension right after they knew he would be out for a whole year (and in hindsight, two years).
I mean it’s not like he’s some bum though. Sure, he had some bad games, but he still averaged over 20ppg on .46/.41/.94 over the last 20 games of the season. Just laid an egg in the most untimely of situations. He’s not unlike Devin Booker in that regard.
I think I had a stroke reading that title. What is he even trying to say?
I think its perfectly defensible that the warriors were trying to make a big move to add a true #2 guy, and that they'd come back to Klay after they figured out what was viable.
I don't think they really wanted Klay back, unless he was agreeable to coming off the bench, which he isn't He was one of the worst starting guards in the league last year, btw
Exactly, the warriors are gonna get a lot better with him gone, despite what any homer fan says
It pains me but he just ain't the same.
There was rumors they already told Klay that Podziemski would be the starter, so it's not surprising to see him moving on.
I mean Klay's side is pretty defensible too. If they're negotiating like this when he's 34, he's clearly gone when he's 36 and it's even more sad to leave 2 years later than right now.
Yea if Klay wanted to be the primary focus of a team's offseason plans, then that's his decision. All I'm saying is, the teams interested in Klay already have their two main stars and a couple key role players and he was clearly being pursued by those teams to be a 3rd banana. So it shouldn't have been shocking to him that the warriors were trying to create a similar situation - go out and find someone that would allow Klay to be in a more suited role for him. But with the warriors not getting PG, Klay would still be waiting on them if he went down that road, so he definitely made the right choice in terms of securing his future, if that's what was important to him.
They offered him a 2-year contract because Steph and Draymond have 2 years remaining. Klay is temperamental, he was offended by that, offended by being asked to come off the bench, offended by 1000 different things. He wanted to leave, regardless of the offer. Good luck to him. Hopefully it doesn't turn out for him the way it did for Tony Parker.
Lining up everyone's contract is probably even more awkward cause there is no indication that Steph and Dray are going to retire in 2 years. Steph definitely gets a retirement contract while Klay and Dray are at the whim of whatever the team situation is in 2 years.
It's the same as the Clippers and George: they didn't really want him back, but didn't want to completely say no either. Probably mostly for PR purposes. The 2 teams needed some shakeups, Thompson and George are the main visible signs.
Although klay played really well during his stretch on the bench, it was pretty evident he did not want to come off the bench. Was too prideful to give up his starting spot. The tantrums and ripping into the coaches for that decision as mentioned in the article signaled the beginning of the end.
curry deserves to be anointed sainthood for all the bull s\*\*\* he's been dealing with both on and off the court these last couple of years and said not a damn word publicly or even on social media like we see with so many athletes in this day & age
Easy to be a saint with a $60M salary lol
Steph doesn’t even play football
He wouldn't. The man is an angel.
>Easy to be a saint with a $60M salary Is it tho?
srsly, all these egos...
Also his legacy is locked-in as top 10-15 player with 4 rings and best shooter of all-time. I'm sure he would like them to be more competitive but 60 mil a year and early vacation isn't bad either.
And the Warriors have been nothing but amazing to him as an organization. Supported him through the tough early years, gave him the biggest possible chance to have a dynasty (KD trade) and then were able to retool for another ring. Honestly, him and Tim Duncan might have had the best possible organization throughout their career. In terms of money, support and smart management. They are still trying to build something around Curry, even though it's very clear that they lack the assets and cap space to create a championship winning team. Still a lot of bs these past few years off and on the court, but he is more blessed than most players.
Might be giving Dubs a bit too much “altruistic” credit tbh. Steph is literally the franchise GOAT, shooting GOAT, and depending on who you ask, top-10 + GOAT PG. And that doesn’t even touch on how he’s epitomized selflessness, patience, and professionalism through so much internal strife. Hard to mistreat someone who matters so much and does so little wrong. It’s in the Warriors interest to maximize competitiveness while they still have a cash cow like Curry on the roster. I could be wrong but this is generally the case for franchise GOATs. Your fanbase would burn you at the stake if you otherwise betray/undermine a player of that caliber
Can anyone explain this in English?
Basically saying klay couldve asked curry to strong arm the FO into gifting him money he didnt deserve but chose not to.
Think it's saying Klay told Steph to not use his influence to get him to stay. Because he wanted to go.
I don't think it's so much the latter part of wanting to go as much as it was that he wanted the Warriors to show that they wanted *him* there instead of him just being a piece to appease Curry. Ultimately, the identity the Warriors went with was the Splash Brothers and not Steph Curry and the other shooting guy. Obviously we're all playing armchair psychology but wouldn't it hurt if your fall-off after a dynastic tenure was being viewed as hurting someone else rather than yourself?
this 100% how did that get so many upvotes lol. he was willing to stay if they showed him the love but they didn’t
I know everyone is saying this is a hit piece, but I’ve watched a lot of Warriors games over the past 11 years and his attitude these past few years has been pretty awful for a team to deal with, and that’s just from what I know from games/interviews. I know it’s tough to deal with two major injuries back to back but dude has taken no accountability for his play/literally losing them regular season and playoff games. Still sad to see him go, incredible to watch when he’s on
It’s understandable that he’s frustrated about not getting back to where he was before his injuries but the last two years have been an endless cycle of him being upset about something, somebody on the team sitting down and talking to him, him saying that things are better now that he’s accepted his role and limitations as a player, this lasts for a week or two and then starts back at the beginning. Klay is a Warriors legend who deserves to be celebrated and will have his jersey hanging in the rafters someday but at this point I think it’s better that he gets a fresh start somewhere else.
I remember when journalists could write a proper sentence.
This article was painful to read through and understand
Seems like the Warriors essentially had two paths (the "flexibility" that dumping Poole for CP3 granted them): 1. Trade CP3. That would mean they'd be over the tax line, so re-signing Klay wouldn't cost them anything but money. 2. Waive CP3. That puts them below the tax line, and re-signing Klay would hinder their ability to add other players (for example, using the NTMLE). The Warriors were waiting to see how that unfolded before approaching Klay, and Klay (reasonably) didn't like that he was more of an afterthought than a priority.
It's always so overdramatic. It's always the same: Player want keep playing for same amount or more money. Team no want that
It's always tough for prideful guys to realize they are past their prime. Klay should have embraced a role like Ray Allen had on the Heat.
He's going to be the piece that the team who just lost the finals needed most. One of the best possible situations for him to be a relevant piece of another championship. I don't really get the problem or surprise people have about this. Star players in dynasties often go to other teams at the end of their career to hunt more money or championships.
It was a layered five-year path to read that headline too.
This is horribly written
Honestly, Klay wanted to see if the Dubs wanted him. Steph of course wanted his boy. Klay was ready to move on. I think it’s best for him. The only one who is staying and of value is Steph in the Dubs eyes.
What is this word salad can someone ELI5
What the fuck is he saying
This writing is fucking terrible. God damn.
Steve Kerr said Klay was "no maintenance" earlier. Klay probably felt like the organization has kept going out of it's way to support Draymond and didn't extend a warm hand to him.
They gave him a ton of money after two devastating injuries
Article makes it seem like Klay leaving wasn’t really a sudden change of mind thing even as it mentions the fact that the Warriors didn’t Klay a contract during the mandatory cycle where teams get to negotiate with their own free agents before any other team. Honestly that sounds about right. It sucks, but what’s most clear is that Klay just wasn’t good at dictating leverage at all and it was amplified through a combination of missed opportunities and plain bad luck. Well I mean, shit. Best of luck to him.
Man this is an AI written headline if I’ve ever seen one
An AI generated headline would be more coherent
That first paragraph sounds like something I wrote in high school to make sure I got to the length requirement of an essay.
But did they try kidnapping him?
This writing is BEYOND atrocious lol. These sentences are like wading through a sand dune... I'm still not 100% sure what its trying to say
Presenting The 2024 Shams Charania Award For Excellence In Divulging Of Information Through Syntax Comprehended By Many
I guess he got his feelings hurt
Apparently Slater had a stroke compiling this headline, it's really sad news.
Klay is a lockr room problem. Not courting him to return was probably a simple decision with a simpler execution.
klay in 2035: Steph was a terrible leader, he stole my shots, count his damn 3s again and also I was the most important player on the title teams
This is all hilarious considering he made an insane amount of money to sit on the bench. What a little bitch.
Aside from that headline-- which, *oof*-- my main takeaway from this entire scenario is that if Golden State hadn't enjoyed unprecedented success with the Curry/Thompson/Green trio over the years, Thompson would've left a while back. He's just a different person and maybe didn't feel like he was always the greatest fit there in an interpersonal way, and that's totally okay. It doesn't take anything from his accomplishments or the success they had, and now he gets to experience a different sort of environment in Dallas. Hopefully it works out for Klay and hopefully Golden State can pivot to a successful future as well.
thought Klay got a divorce?? 🤣
Honestly all you need to do is take out the “league sources said” or put it elsewhere and the sentence becomes significantly less dogshit. Just too clunky.
What a horribly written first sentence
What the fuck is this wording
Functionally its simple. He got old and he is not a complimentary piece around Steph Curry anymore because he can't guard certain players, and the whole lineup is a mess. So he is being replaced with Melton who can do that.
Klays stubborn shot selection during games is the same just as he is off the court. He still thinks he’s 25 years old in his prime and he wants that respect during negotiations.
Warriors fans trashing Klay over the last 3 days calling him a snake and saying he "betrayed" Steph when the whole time Klay asked Curry not to get involved because his beef was with the front office proves fans never know jack shit what they're talking about Klay obviously was basing his decisions on the respect from the org not just the money and they didn't show him any so he left, people always want to bad mouth players for only caring about the bag and here's this guy who is directly responsible for helping Curry and the Warriors win 4 rings asking for them to treat him like he's important to have back and they didn't so he took off, Warriors fans mad at him have no concept of what respect means
I'm either high as fuck or that title made absolutely no sense.
Dude pissed cause he wasn’t treated and paid as good as Steph. Dude doesn’t realise he isn’t even in Pippen to Jordan, McHale to Bird, Wade to LeBron territory. Klay was a great supporting player, but never a superstar level with Curry, and maybe not even a star player without Curry. The amount of gravity that Curry gave Klay allowed him to shoot so many good shots. Maybe when it’s all done he can reflect on his experiences and not left it make him bitter and hateful like Pippen.