Mike Dunleavy Jr. ‘hopeful’ Warriors will keep Klay Thompson
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Dunleavy Jr.’s pre-draft press conference was never going to be about the upcoming draft.
Not on the day lead assistant Kenny Atkinson reportedly left for the Cavaliers. Not hours after the team guaranteed Kevon Looney’s contract or as Chris Paul’s contract guarantee deadline date looms.
Certainly not as Klay Thompson, one of the most beloved and important figures in franchise history, can leave in free agency any day now.
The Warriors don’t even have a first-round pick in this draft. The Wednesday draft instead served as an opportunity for Dunleavy to address all those much more pressing matters.
For queries on Thompson, the second-year general manager was particularly tight-lipped.
“Honestly all that stuff, I think it’s private,” Dunleavy said when asked to describe the state of negotiations. “We want him back. We’ve said that all along. Hopefully he’ll come back. But as far as the specifics and discussions and those types of things, I think it’s important to keep in-house. When we figure out a solution to all that, we’ll have news for you.”
Thus far, the only news has been discouraging. Thompson, 34, unfollowed the Warriors and removed some team-related posts on Instagram. The Athletic’s Anthony Slater reported that talks between the five-time All-Star and Golden State are stalled with nothing offered for Thompson to sign.
Dunleavy declined to get into specifics about the ongoing negotiations, but said that he doesn’t feel that there’s public negotiation — through the press or social media — going on.
What’s transpiring, or not transpiring, behind closed doors is then of interest. They’re also what Dunleavy wants to keep private.
The dynamics of the situation all around are tricky.
Thompson, a four-time champion with the Warriors, will one day have his No. 11 jersey retired in the Chase Center rafters. He has spent each of his 12 NBA seasons with the Warriors, the organization that took a chance on him as a rookie and stuck with him when he suffered back-to-back significant leg injuries.
He’s still a productive player, but his age and injury history make him more suited to come off the bench as a sharp-shooting sixth man than play 30-plus minutes per night. He reportedly turned down a two-year, $48 million contract extension with the Warriors, who are now tasked with simultaneously improving and shedding salary.
Thompson has seen the Warriors take care of his teammate, Draymond Green, with a long-term extension. He showed a willingness, albeit a reticent one, to come off the bench last year. For as many postseason gems he put together for Golden State, his season ended on an 0-for-11 dud in the play-in loss to Sacramento.
There’s a lot of history on both sides. Lots of legacy, feelings, memories and ego.
A lot for any general manager to sort through.
“I think, look, I think I’m reasonable, I’m rational,” Dunleavy said.”That’s how I’m always going to operate. But to say a guy like Klay Thompson who has meant so much to this franchise, to completely strip the emotion away from it, I think that’s almost impossible.
“But this is a business. We’ll talk through things and continue to talk through things. Like I said, we are hopeful but you know, we’ll see. We’ve got to figure things out.”