Klay Thompson enjoyed a fine regular season in the 2022-23 campaign, but things went downhill for him in the playoffs.
Thompson struggled massively, as he averaged 18.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG while shooting 38.8% from the field and 36.8% from beyond the arc. His poor play was a big reason why the Golden State Warriors weren’t able to defend their title and Gilbert Arenas says the team shouldn’t give Klay an extension this summer.
“Klay, I’m not going to give him an extension,” Arenas said on the No Chill podcast. “I’m going to let him play the year out. It’s horrible, it is horrible… I want to see what his value is in the open market… It’s an a**hole move, but sometimes you just got to be the a**hole. Whatever he gets in the open market, I would be trying to match, but I want to see what the value is versus just automatically giving him an extension.”
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Arenas isn’t sure Thompson is worth a contract that pays him $40-50 million annually and says the Warriors should let him test the market and match whatever deal he is offered. It seems like a logical way to go about things but Thompson may not be too happy if they go that route.
Adrian Wojnarowski reported last month that Klay is expecting the max this offseason as he enters the final year of the five-year, $190 million deal he signed back in 2019. Not even being offered an extension certainly wouldn’t sit well with him.
The Warriors Reportedly Want Klay Thompson To Take A Pay Cut
The Warriors don’t seem to believe Klay is worth the max. A report surfaced right after they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers that they want him to take a pay cut if he is to sign an extension this summer. Thompson is 33 years old now and it makes little sense to give him a max deal.
Klay deserves a lot of credit for the way he has fought back from two major injuries but he is not a max contract player anymore. The Warriors did right by him when they gave him that big extension in 2019 after he tore his ACL and they would want him to return the favor a little bit by taking a pay cut. It remains to be seen if Thompson has any interest in doing that though.
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