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Dallas Mavericks considering trading Klay Thompson amid "disastrous" season start
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- Dallas Mavericks considering trading Klay Thompson amid "disastrous" season start
When Klay Thompson left the Golden State Warriors last year after 13 incredible seasons in which he won four titles as the team's second scoring option, many wondered what came next. The answer came quickly, as the 6-foot-7 guard chose to take his talents to the Dallas Mavericks , joining a team that had just reached the NBA Finals behind Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving .
After a mediocre season and the shocking trade that sent Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Anthony Davis , Thompson's numbers dropped sharply. Without a playmaker like Doncic finding him in rhythm, his production cratered, and this season culminated in a historically bad start that led to him being sent to the bench.
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" It is no secret that Harrison and the Mavericks' front office will explore what return exists for Klay Thompson before the trade deadline, and several teams are monitoring Daniel Gafford's status, sources said. The 27-year-old center recently signed a three-year, $60 million contract extension this offseason, but he remains trade eligible this season ." Brett Siegel of "ClutchPoints" reported .
Klay is having the worst season of his career
The five-time All-Star is currently having the worst season of his career, averaging just 7.6 points on 31.6 percent shooting from the field and 26.4 percent from three-point range, both career lows. While he is 35 and decline is natural, this is far below any reasonable expectation.
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The sample size is small, consisting of only nine games, but his usage is also low. Thompson still burns energy running through off-ball actions, but that is not the same as having a ball-dominant guard create shots for himself. The lack of a true point guard who can generate easy looks has hurt him significantly, as he is not a self-creating scorer.
The Mavs are rock bottom in the Western Conference standings
His struggles have affected the entire team. Jason Kidd's Mavericks currently sit last in the West at 2–7, leading to Dirk Nowitzki 's brutal assessment of the season so far .
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"I feel bad for my Mavs fans. This has been a disastrous start. There's a hole at the point guard and the playmaking position. We knew that hole wasn't filled this summer, so there's a hole in shot creation, there's a hole in shot making. We said coming into the season that health is big for them. Obviously, Kyrie's out for a couple more months," Nowitzki said on 'NBA on Prime.'
"You need AD healthy, you need Lively healthy, and both of those guys have already been out for a while. Gafford has missed some games, so it's been just a disaster start. They're actually on pace to have a record bad start on offense. They can't shoot. They can't make plays. It's all kind of going side to side, east and west handoffs. It's just… nobody can make shots. It's been tough to watch," the 2011 NBA champion added.
Harrison will trade him in a second if there is a chance
Many predicted that Dallas would remain a playoff contender, thanks to the youth of Cooper Flagg , despite the aging star trio, but reality has been very different. AD and Ky are out, and when a team loses two players who balance inside and outside play, the entire structure collapses, which is evident across the stat sheet.
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Given all this, it appears the 2014 Team USA trio reunion in Dallas may not end well. Knowing Nico Harrison's track record, sentimentality will not matter if the results are not there.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Nov 9, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
