For the first time ever, Klay Thompson will suit up for a team that’s not the Warriors this upcoming season and Kyrie Irving is a big reason why.
When Thompson made the move from Golden State from Dallas in July, it was reported that Irving helped to sway Klay’s decision in signing with the Mavs.
Kidd recently spoke about how Kyrie was the main recruiter of Klay.
“When you talk about the recruitment, it was a lot of people that were involved in that. But one of the biggest players in that was Kai,” Kidd said on Dubs Talk. “Kai being able to, player to player, (detail) his experience of what Dallas has been like for him in two years and being able to tell Klay the honest truth of what he thinks can happen with Klay coming to Dallas.”
Although the head coach wanted to take the credit for luring one of the league’s best three-point shooters to Dallas, he spoke about the importance of player to player communication when deciding to join a new team.
“I would love to say it was all me,” Kidd said. “But it wasn’t. It was a team effort. But I think player-to-player – in this league, they all talk about their situations, and they all recruit one another – this was about Kai and Klay being able to talk.
“And I also believe Klay did his homework, just understanding the situation. It would have been an easy for him to stay [with the Warriors]. So, he had to put in some effort of doing some homework to see what Dallas was all about.”
Many are touting that Klay could be the missing piece for Dallas, who made it all the way to the NBA Finals in 2023-24, but went down to Boston in five games.
Luka Doncic was the Mavs’ main contributor, while Irving fell off for a couple of games. So having another offensive option in Klay this season may help ease the pressure on Luka.