It was a bittersweet night for the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. On one hand, they beat the Portland Trail Blazers in a 117-111 rout to move up to 22-16 on the season. On the other hand, the poor play of Klay Thompson became a topic of conversation after the game, when Jason Kidd had to make a statement after he logged just 21 minutes.
Reporter: “21 minutes tonight for Klay, quiet night. Was it just one of those nights for him? Is everything okay there?”
Jason Kidd: “Yeah he’s fine, just understanding we’re a team. His teammates picked him up tonight and he’ll be ready to go on Sunday.”
Klay’s limited minutes sparked some major questions among Mavericks fans but the fact that the team managed to win despite his struggles says a lot about their depth and their resolve as a unit.
“It’s big, it just shows the character of the team. It shows the depth of the team,” Kidd said via Joey Mistretta. “This group is going to have some time together and get a rhythm, put their best foot forward. Their energy and effort are high… We found a way to win tonight.”
The Mavericks didn’t need to play a perfect game to beat one of the worst teams in the West but without Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, they were looking for Klay to step up and lead them to victory. Instead, he had arguably his worst games of the season tonight with 3 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds on 1-6 shooting (0-4 from three).
Thompson just didn’t have it tonight and with a potential win on the line, Kidd pulled him out instead of letting him shoot them out of the game. In the end, it proved to be the right decision as the Mavericks just barely managed to close out the Trail Blazers thanks to P.J. Washington (23 points, 14 rebounds) and Dereck Lively II (21 points, 16 rebounds).
Thompson, 34, is undoubtedly one of the greatest three-point shooters ever. In 11 years with the Warriors, as the partner to Stephen Curry, Thompson helped lead the team to four NBA championships with averages of 19.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game on 45.3% shooting.
Klay Thompson was a hero for the Warriors and his legacy is forever immortalized for his role in their run as a dynasty. But after a series of injuries derailed his career in 2019, Thompson’s play took a noticeable dip and his value was never the same.
Following a miserable season with the Warriors, Klay opted out as a free agent and signed with the Mavericks in hopes of a brighter future. So far, Klay is being given a lot of patience and freedom to find his place and deliver some value to the Mavericks on the court.
But his limited minutes tonight are a sign that Klay may be phased out of the rotation if he isn’t more effective with his shooting. As the Mavericks’ big acquisition this summer, he’s not someone they expected to come off the bench for them and any change in his role could cause some issues in the locker room.
For now, there are no signs of serious issues for the Mavericks and Jason Kidd is going to do everything he can to keep his team together and on the same page. But it’ll get harder and harder to make room for Klay if he doesn’t contribute on a more consistent basis.
After the win against Portland, the Mavericks play the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, January 12th, at 3:00 PM EST at American Airlines Center. They play the Nuggets again at home two days later before heading to New Orleans for a game against the Pelicans at Smoothie King Center at 8:00 PM EST.
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