The Miami Heat have completely changed their roster this summer. The team that was bounced in the Play-In Tournament last year is no longer there, replaced by a squad that has championship expectations. A summer highlighted by their Giannis Antetokounmpo trade has recently included the addition of Klay Thompson as well. And Antetokounmpo could help Thompson in a big way.
During his past couple of seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson wasn’t the same player he once was. The guy who became the second-greatest shooter of all-time while playing for the Golden State Warriors. But Antetokounmpo has a chance to help Thompson revert back to the player he once was, or at least, close to it.
Playing alongside Antetokounmpo, and, to a lesser extent, Bam Adebayo, will give Thompson some great spacing to work with. And the more space Thompson has to shoot, the more lethal he can be.
Giannis should be perfect gravity creator for Klay Thompson
Throughout his short tenure in Dallas, Thompson didn’t have a ton of talent to play alongside. Luka Doncic was there for half a season, but he was shipped off to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kyrie Irving was healthy for a bit, Anthony Davis was on and off the court, and Cooper Flagg had a nice rookie season. But none of those guys are elite at creating gravity. Not at Antetokounmpo’s level.
When Antetokounmpo is on the court, teams flock to him. He sees two, three, even four bodies at a time as opposing defenses try to do whatever they can to keep him out of the paint.
And when Antetokounmpo gets downhill and those players help on him, a bunch of people become open on the outside. Thompson now has the chance to be one of those guys.
Asking Thompson to be the player he was during his time in Golden State is unrealistic. He’s just not going to get back to that level, especially on the defensive end.
But offensively, with Antetokounmpo and Adebayo soaking up pressure from opposing defenses, Thompson should get more open threes than he has since his time in Golden State.
That will be great for Thompson’s career. If he can get in a flow with Antetokounmpo and Adebayo spacing the floor, he should be able to get back in a rhythm shooting the ball.
Having a superstar like Antetokounmpo creating open shots for him should be an absolute game-changer for Thompson. It should be everything a shooter could dream of.
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