Klay Thompson’s future remains a hot topic, particularly after the way the Warriors’ season ended and the franchise’s former General Manager has shared his thoughts on it.
Myers spent 11 seasons at Golden State’s Front Office, so he is more than qualified to weigh in on Klay’s impending unrestricted free agency.
The GM-turned-ESPN-analyst cited Klay’s connection with his longtime teammates Steph Curry and Draymond Green as the biggest reason why Thompson would stay in The Bay.
“I will say this,” Myers explained on ESPN. “Great reverence for Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry and Draymond Green. I don’t know that people know or believe the competitiveness in those three. You don’t do what they’ve done for the amount of time they’ve done it without being special inside.
“Obviously we see what they do as far as shooting -Steph and Klay and what Draymond does defensively. But who they are as people is rare. So it’s hard for me to watch Klay almost even heading into free agency. I don’t think he even knew the free agency date. Most players go through free agency five or six times, he didn’t even know what day it was.
“What that tells me is he wants to be there. You heard Steve Kerr last night, you heard Steph Curry, Draymond Green. They all want him there.”
Myers went on to explain that Klay will want to be duly compensated for his contribution to the Warriors dynasty.
“Klay will stay if he feels like he’s been appreciated and paid what is appropriate,” Myers explained. “But if he’s not, that’s the question. It’s always kind of a pride component, because it’s not money. People will say, ‘Well Klay Thompson has made all this money.’ Fine. But you know what? There’s a pride component to it for any professional athlete. So it’s not just the money. He doesn’t need any more money for the rest of his life. That’s not the point though. If somebody comes along and doubles the Warriors’ offer, things might change.”
The tough part is, the Warriors spent an eye-watering half a billion on tax penalties for a team that couldn’t make it out of the Play-In.
“What do the Warriors do? It’s not just about Klay Thompson, that’s the hard question,” Myers said. We’re talking about Klay Thompson but there’s other things to be answered. Because you bring this team back, and Klay Thompson comes back, this is not an ending to what we saw was a healthy team that’s acceptable for Joe Lacob and that payroll.”
READ MORE: Klay Thompson Addresses Future With Warriors After Nightmare End to Season