Klay Thompson wants to spend rest of career with Warriors
There’s no question how important Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has been to their four-title-in-eight-year run. The 33-year-old will be entering the final year of his five-year, $190 million max contract extension this season, but Thompson’s expressed desire to stay with the organization that’s been home to him for the last decade-plus.
“I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else,” Thompson said, according to Warriors beat reporter Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “To play for one franchise, man? That’s so rare. In any sport. Football. Baseball. Basketball. Australian Rules Football. To play for one club is insane. It’s some real legendary stuff. Even what Udonis Haslem did. He’s revered in Miami. Locally. That’s what I cherish.
“Going around the country, going around the world and people from Northern California or Warriors fans in general are just so prideful about the Warriors. And I was here before banners were hung up. So in a way, it’s our baby. You want to ride it out. I’ve just been so lucky to be a part of this franchise. It’d be so hard to envision myself in another uniform.”
Thompson is set to make $43.2 million this season with Golden State possessing a luxury tax bill of nearly $200 million, according to Spotrac. It’s worth mentioning that Stephen Curry, Draymond Green–who signed a four-year, $100 million deal this offseason–and Andrew Wiggins will be on the books for a combined $220 million through 2025-26.
In the scenario that Thompson was offered a max contract, his starting salary would be ~$52.4 million, assuming the cap raises a full 10 percent. It’s more realistic that Thompson won’t demand every last dollar from Golden State–similar to Wiggins and Green–but it will still be interesting what it’s willing to offer with the second tax apron penalties becoming more punitive after this season.
“I know if I just do my job and I’m in shape and I compete at my highest level, I’m going to make money in this league for a long time,” Thompson said. “So I don’t worry about it. I’m blessed beyond measure. Obviously you want to make the most in the window you have as an athlete. But I’m not going to let that get in the way of winning a championship. When you win, everything else will be taken care of.”
Not including Chris Paul‘s non-guaranteed and Kevon Looney‘s partially guaranteed salaries, the Warriors only have six players on contract in 2024-25: Curry, Green, Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and now-rookie Brandin Podziemski. Their tax bill hasn’t mattered to the organization in the past for obvious reasons, but Golden State is in danger of being a repeater tax team yet again–even before factoring in Thompson’s possible salary.
It would be objectively cool to see Curry, Green and Thompson all remain in the blue-and-gold for the rest of their respective careers. But there will be obvious hurdles to climb to keep them other while trying to field a contender, which isn’t really anything the organization hasn’t encountered over the last several years.
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