The Miami Heat signed Klay Thompson because of his shooting. Despite some early-season bumps, he's lived up to expectations (41 percent from deep) on that end of the floor. However, it's another part of his game that could lead Erik Spoelstra to replace him in the starting lineup - the same reason that cost him his starting spot in Dallas.
It's his defense.
So far this season, Klay has statistically been the worst defensive player on the Heat. Klay has the worst defensive rating (130.4) of the starting lineup and a team-worst -17.8 net rating when he's on the floor. The eye test hasn't given Klay much grace either.
While all of that is certainly troubling, it's not exactly that shocking considering how bad the team is as a whole on that end of the floor. But if Spoelstra was looking for one way to help change the direction of the starting five defensively, it'd be difficult not to look at Klay.
Replacing Klay Thompson in the starting 5 comes with an added risk
But it wouldn't necessarily be that simple a move for Spoelstra, even if he did come to the realization that the Heat needed to change up the starting 5. In theory, if the Heat did swap out Klay, it'd probably be for Pelle Larsson.
There's no other realistic move that would make sense. Tim Hardaway Jr. has somehow been worse than Klay this season, and Ryan Conwell isn't ready. But inserting Larsson isn't the no-brainer fix that perhaps some within the fan base believe it to be.
Could it immediately give the starting five the spark it needs? Absolutely. Larsson is also objectively the better and more versatile defender than Klay is. But the Heat would lose the spacing that Klay brings with his shooting.
It could hurt their offense even more, considering how bad Andrew Wiggins has been on that end of the floor so far this season. But at this point, the Heat may be willing to make that swap. Miami just needs to decide what's the bigger worry: an offense that is still figuring things out or a defense that looks completely lost?
There's a chance that Spoelstra does believe that it would be better to try and fix the defense and let it roll offensively, hoping that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo figure it out eventually.
That's far from a guarantee, but it is feasible. Plus, bringing Klay off the bench as the microwave scorer that the Heat were hoping Hardaway Jr. could be is not the worst idea in the world.
The Heat are learning a harsh Klay reality that the Mavericks eventually fell into. The challenge for the Heat is whether they can try to work it to their advantage.
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