Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban recently spoke with Shannon Sharpe on his Club Shay Shay podcast (Twitter link) about a variety of topics, including Klay Thompson‘s to depart the Warriors for Dallas in free agency.
“Klay Thompson’s got a lot to prove,” Cuban said. “Klay was ready for a move. All the grief he got last year – particularly the way it ended. So the timing was right.”
Thompson agreed to a three-year, $50MM deal with Dallas as part of a six-team sign-and-trade.
There’s more out of the Lone Star State:
- Five-time All-NBA Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has had a busier-than-normal offseason in 2024. Since guiding Dallas to its first NBA Finals appearance in 13 years, Doncic suited up for the Slovenian national team for the 2024 Olympic qualifiers, but was eliminated by Greece before making the cut. Doncic subsequently remained in his homeland to prep prior to the Mavericks’ own training camp, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal details at his Substack (subscription required).
- Veteran Rockets center Steven Adams didn’t suit up for Houston last season while recovering from a right knee surgery he underwent while he was a member of the Grizzlies. Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle explores how the 31-year-old will be deployed in Ime Udoka‘s system in 2024/25. As Feigen writes, Alperen Sengun enjoyed a breakout run last year and seems likely to preserve his starting spot, and he and Adams likely won’t play together often. Still, Adams – who is on an expiring $12.6MM salary – could earn increased playing time in certain matchups.
- The Rockets finished with a solid 41-41 record, but in a talented Western Conference it wasn’t enough to even make the play-in tournament. Instead, Houston finished with the West’s No. 11 seed. As Feigen writes in another story for The Chronicle, team owner Tilman Fertitta hasn’t clearly expressed what would constitute a successful season for the club in 2024/25, declaring that he has “high expectations” but not explicitly stating that he expects a playoff berth.
??? What grief did Thompson get last year? He actually wasn’t called out by the press like many other players would have.
His assistant coach he was close with died while sitting across the table from him. Come on man.
Cuban has been repeating the narrative is that the Warriors were telling Klay that they’d give him another offer before the deadline, but didn’t.
Thompson turned off his phone to the warriors so they knew he wanted out. Thompson choose to leave. Cuban has always hated the warriors.
Steven Adams might be a decent Warriors trade target. The Kerr era has rarely had a reliable big guy who can go big mins like the Lopez bros, Zubac, Ibaka or Adams, but they win titles when they do (JaVale, Zaza, Bogut).
He would fit good but Rockets like him and would want Moody in a trade.
Hey Nikola Vucevic is an iron man, and available. Just sayin’.
I want to see Jalen Green as a top 10 scorer.