We know when Klay Thompson will be heading back to the Bay Area and face the Golden State Warriors as a member of the road team, the Dallas Mavericks. The first Warriors home game against the Mavs this season will come early on November 12, as announced by the NBA as part of the opening matchups for the Emirates NBA Cup.
The NBA today released its complete game schedule and national television schedule for Group Play of the Emirates NBA Cup 2024. These games will be played on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 12 – Dec. 3.
🏀 Schedule by day/team: https://t.co/yDYpnkpsSK
🏀 Press release:… pic.twitter.com/NuSvQpkurR
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) August 13, 2024
The NBA Cup this season is no longer going to be called the ‘In-Season Tournament’ but follows the same format we saw last year as the Lakers won the tournament. The full schedule was released by the NBA, with the Eastern Conference opener pitting the Knicks against the 76ers.
This will be an emotional trip for Thompson, who left the Warriors after 13 years to join the Mavericks as a free agent this summer. He averaged 17.9 points last season, shooting 38.7% from three on 9.0 attempts per game. Though this was one of Klay’s worst shooting years, those are great numbers for a volume three-point shooter in the NBA.
The Mavericks and Warriors are in the ‘Group of Death’, with five Playoff-caliber teams all competing against each other. The other three members of the ‘West C’ Group feature the New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies, and Denver Nuggets.
The Mavs and Warriors will need a win to get their NBA Cup off to a strong start, not even including the emotional weight of this matchup on the two franchises.
Klay Thompson Wasn’t Happy In Golden State Anymore
The Warriors will welcome a legend back to the Chase Center on November 12, with a pre-game tribute for the four-time champion expected by all. His jersey will hang from the rafters of that arena eventually as well, so the fans likely will treat him like a returning hero even with the bitterness of his departure for a rival contender.
Team ownership, Stephen Curry, and others from the organization have all wished Klay well. Draymond Green in particular made a revealing comment about the sadness that surrounded Klay over the final season, wishing his career-long teammate well as he hopes to find joy in basketball again.
“I’m happy he’s gone because he wasn’t happy anymore. As a brother, I only want what’s best for you, not what’s best for me, not what’s best for this team,” said Green on the Club 520 Podcast. “We spent so much time around each other and to see him unhappy the way I saw him unhappy last year… to see someone that does not have a single care in the world all of a sudden can’t shake nothing, that bothered me. It was time.”
The Mavericks played a joyous style of basketball last season, making it to the NBA Finals in the first full season of the Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving duo. Even with Doncic’s historic production and heavy on-ball usage, everyone on the roster was sharing shots and responsibilities within Jason Kidd’s system.
Klay’s versatility as a perimeter scorer was heavily needed for the Warriors after the team’s over-reliance on Doncic and Kyrie was exposed in the Finals.
Most of the shooters on the Mavs are pure catch-and-shoot specialists, with Klay still among the best in the NBA on C&S threes. But he will also add an element of movement shooting the Mavs don’t have outside their two stars, which will be crucial in their hopes to return to the Finals this season.
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