The Miami Heat plan to add some veteran shooting around Giannis Antetokounmpo, tentatively lining up a contract with former Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson after his buyout from the Dallas Mavericks.
Thompson is still a marquee name due to his past history with Golden State, and his 3-point shooting skill undoubtedly appeals to a Heat team begging for some depth. However, as his tenure since leaving Golden State has shown, Thompson's abilities have eroded to the point where he is not going to be the type of player who can move the needle.
As the Heat try to build a winner around Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thompson, who will sign a two-year, $13 million deal with Miami, is both a blessing and a curse. The Heat are now taking the plunge with a declining player who will be hunted by opposing teams, but where he shines can help a Miami team that needed some extra offensive juice.
Klay Thompson signing with the Miami Heat has major positives and negatives
On one hand, Thompson makes a ton of sense. He can still shoot it like nobody's business, and the Heat needed shooting after trading Tyler Herro and essentially he entire bench unit to Milwaukee to make the Giannis trade happen. However, contending teams get fooled by name-brand players who have lost a step every year, and Thompson is showing some worrying figures.
Thompson, who averaged a career-worst 11.7 points per game last season and was demoted to the Dallas bench, is a shell of what he once was as a defender. That's understandable, given that he will turn 37 in February and has such a serious injury history that he needed to miss two consecutive seasons.
Thompson getting playoff minutes could be a solid offensive boost, but will it be enough to overcome a deep Eastern Conference?
A player of Thompson's ilk likely didn't agree to join up with Miami to be Udonis Haslem and encourage the young guns. Thompson is going to be a rotation player, or he isn't going to be here. At this point, his value lies almost entirely in his shooting, and role players who are as specific as that can be victimized by deeper teams in the East like the Knicks, 76ers, and Cavaliers.
Miami is always going to be attractive to veterans who want to chase a title, but they need to balance their desire for glitz and glamour with practicality, and Thompson is going to stretch that to breaking point.
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