The Golden State Warriors have opened contract extension talks with Klay Thompson, according to NBA insider Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
Thompson has one year left on his contract. He’ll make $43.2 million next season. The All-Star shooting guard signed a five-year, $189.9 million contract with the Warriors in the summer of 2019.
“My understanding is that they have opened contract extension talks with Klay Thompson,” Shelburne said on the Lowe Post. “This is a slow process. … They’ve started talking. They’ve exchanged proposals. There’s no hurry to these discussions. The optionality goes both ways. Not necessarily he’s trying to leave, but just the optionality that he didn’t have a great year last year. It behooves him to have a great year this year and he becomes more valuable if he does.”
Thompson appeared in 69 games for the Warriors last season. The four-time champion averaged 21.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 43.6% from the field, 41.2% from beyond the arc and 87.9% from the free-throw line. The Warriors won 44 games and were the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors Updates
Golden State beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2023 playoffs in seven games but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round in six games. Thompson finished the 2023 postseason with averages of 18.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He shot only 38.8% overall and 36.8% from 3 in 13 games versus the Kings and Lakers.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob talked about Thompson’s future with the franchise with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Lacob said he expects Thompson, whose current contract expires next July, to be with the team past next season.
“I do,” Lacob said. “We’ve had some very brief discussions at this point with his agent. But they’re very, very early. … I fully expect that we’ll have some substantial discussions soon sometime and we’ll see if we can’t put something together that allows Klay to be here for a long time, which we clearly would like him to be.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors Updates
Thompson has career averages of 19.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists with the Warriors. The Washington State product has made five All-Star teams, two All-NBA teams and one All-Defensive team with the Warriors.
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