Having achieved a degree of stability after an abysmal beginning to their 2025-26 NBA campaign, the Dallas Mavericks are confronting several critical choices as the February trade deadline approaches. Among these is the alleged status of skilled perimeter player Klay Thompson, who has an additional guaranteed year remaining on the deal he inked with the Mavericks in the summer of 2024 — and whose preference is to complete the remainder of that agreement with a franchise dedicated to vying for league titles.
Information sourced from Tim MacMahon and Anthony Slater of ESPN indicates:
The Mavericks’ updated executive team is predicted to assess his trade value as the deadline approaches. Thompson’s wish is to compete for a championship-contending team, per league insiders, though the $17 million he is owed next season could present difficulties in finding him a new home.
“The circumstances have changed since I signed here — I mean, obviously the personnel,” Thompson said. “But we still have a very talented team, and at the end of the day, I’m playing to win and nothing’s changed. My goals remain the same.”
When Thompson utters “obviously the personnel,” his implicit reference is naturally to the situation where he consented to a three-year, $50 million agreement to depart from the Golden State Warriors after 13 campaigns and move to Dallas. He undertook this decision primarily with the objective of playing alongside Luka Dončić — an elite offensive dynamo who, when fit, virtually ensures a top-tier offense, a spot in the playoffs, a prospect for an extended postseason journey… and a consistent supply of the clearest shot opportunities a three-point specialist could possibly desire.
Thompson participated in a mere 21 contests with Dončić before Nico Harrison, then the general manager for the Mavericks, unexpectedly traded the five-time All-NBA First Team honoree to the Los Angeles Lakers — a franchise frequently cited as the alternative destination Thompson might have sought during free agency, choosing instead to join Dallas — in return for standout frontcourt player Anthony Davis. This transaction, as has likely been observed on multiple occasions, has not yielded favorable outcomes for Dallas.
Luka is performing at an MVP standard for a Lakers squad currently positioned third in the Western Conference. His former backcourt partner and presumed successor as Dallas’s principal playmaker, Kyrie Irving, suffered a torn left ACL a month following the exchange, was sidelined for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, and has still not appeared in a game for the 2025-26 campaign. (Additionally, promising young pivot Dereck Lively II has been absent for most of that period and will miss the remainder of the current season post-foot surgery.)
Davis, on his side, sustained a setback halfway through his initial match in Dallas, participated in only eight additional Mavericks contests last season, and endured a calf strain a week into the ’25-26 season which kept him out for close to a month. He has played in 22 of the 62 games for the Mavericks subsequent to the trade — a period during which the Mavs have accumulated a 24-38 record.
This situation, to state it gently, diverges significantly from Thompson’s expectations when he committed to dedicating his ages 34, 35, and 36 seasons to a Mavericks team that had recently concluded an NBA Finals run but has seen a sharp decline in performance over the last year and a half. (One might inquire with Nico.)
It would be comprehensible why an athlete of Thompson’s caliber — a five-time All-Star, four-time NBA title winner, two-time All-NBA honoree, Olympic gold medalist, and 15-year seasoned professional who was sidelined for two complete seasons during his peak due to severe leg ailments — would wish to focus on securing a position within a victorious setting during the concluding stages of what is destined to be a Hall of Fame career. Nevertheless, the extent of his potential return on the trade market is still ambiguous.
During the current season, Thompson is posting averages of 11.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists across 21.8 minutes per contest, converting only 39.7% of his two-point attempts and 36.1% from beyond the arc — figures that are all at or close to his personal career lowest. Following his commencement of the season as a starter, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd reassigned the underperforming Thompson to a reserve role; his performance has seen a slight improvement over the recent month as his previously cold shooting touch has warmed, with Klay successfully making 40.3% of his three-point shots over the past 15 matches, a period during which Dallas has exceeded their opponents’ scores by 1.9 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court.
(It merits mention that the Mavericks have achieved a 5-3 record subsequent to Davis’ rejoining the lineup, their offensive production has been akin to a top-10 unit over the preceding weeks, and Davis is tallying 20 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and three blocks/steals combined in merely 29.5 minutes per game this season. One might optimistically picture a Mavericks iteration featuring AD performing this effectively, Klay setting the nets ablaze, Cooper Flagg persisting in his transformation into a comprehensive disruptive force, and Irving rejoining the squad to become an exceptionally formidable opponent by spring. Alternatively, one could, naturally, foresee a single injury — or, more plausibly, a series of them — transforming such hopeful prospects into yet another bitter disappointment for Mavs supporters… which explains why ESPN’s Shams Charania’s report last week, stating that Dallas is “amenable to investigating potential trade opportunities” for Davis, Thompson, big man Daniel Gafford, and guard D’Angelo Russell, among other players, is readily comprehensible.)
Thompson scarcely drives to the basket presently and registers a career-low 40% success rate on such attempts; however, should his return to established form as one of the league’s most precise, high-volume marksmen persist — he retains the potential to offer supplementary outside scoring prowess for an organization aiming to enhance its offensive capabilities for an anticipated postseason advancement.
Perhaps … conceivably … for instance … the team he previously departed?
The Warriors currently hold a disappointing 13-14 standing, possessing the NBA’s 21st-ranked offense, even though Thompson’s long-standing “Splash Brother,” Stephen Curry, is maintaining an average of almost 30 points per game with shooting percentages as flawless as always. When questioned by ESPN concerning the possibility of a future rejoining, Thompson hesitated: “I don’t know. That’s a long ways away, man. That’s a lot of basketball to be had. I don’t know what the future holds.”
Curry, however, certainly appears amenable to such a notion.
“I wish he was still here,” Curry told ESPN. “… It would be unbelievable. If that time comes and that conversation is had, of course I’m calling him and saying, ‘We want you back.’ And hopefully that would be a welcome message to him. But as we stand right now, that does seem like a far distant reality. But so did him leaving.”
