3 reasons the Warriors look better without Klay Thompson

It’s never easy to say goodbye to a franchise legend. But this is the situation after 13 years Golden State Warriors They actually had to do this last offseason because they signed Klay Thompson. Dallas Mavericks as part of a six-team trade.

Naturally, some were skeptical of this move, given everything Thompson has accomplished alongside fellow cornerstones Steph Curry and Draymond Green. But Klay felt it was time to move on, and Golden State granted that request.

And overall Steve Kerr’s squad is better in this regard.

However, the same cannot be said for Thompson in the first weeks of the 2024-25 season. NBA season. In his first 10 games for Dallas, the five-time All-Star averaged just 13.8 points; It was his lowest total since his rookie season, and he is shooting a career-worst 41.8% from the field and a career-low 35.4%. from the three-point line. This certainly hasn’t helped the Mavericks overall, who are just 5-5 so far.

Meanwhile, the Warriors also found great success, winning eight of their first 10 games. It’s almost fitting that Game 11 is against Thompson because he and the Mavs will visit Chase Center for the NBA Cup opener on Tuesday night. both teams.

But while there are some fun festivities planned to be celebrated Thompson’s time in the Bay also gives Golden State a chance to prove the team is better without him. So how can the Dubs get better without a No.11 on the field? Let’s take a look.

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Even without Thompson, the Warriors have the deepest roster they’ve had in years. The fact that his salary of more than $40 million was written off the books certainly helped.

As part of the six-team trade that sent Klay to Dallas, Golden State added Buddy Hield from the Philadelphia 76ers and Kyle Anderson from the Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia 76ers. by making a separate agreement with Oklahoma City ThunderThey got more shooting depth with Lindy Waters III and also added former Sixer De’Anthony Melton in free agency.

Hield, of course, got off to a historic start and was the team’s second-leading scorer through 10 games, averaging 18 points per game; That’s about the same as Thompson’s average from a season ago. And Melton, Anderson and Waters came off the bench; This was a bench that easily led the league in goalscoring.

A large part of this unit has recently been Jonathan KumingaHe was left out of the starting eleven after three matches but thrived in his new role. Moses Moody, who led Golden State in scoring during the perfect preseason series, also showed improvement.

Brandin Podziemski has yet to reach his potential, but he has shown flashes and Kevon Looney remains a solid backup option in the frontcourt.

And we haven’t even mentioned most of the starters yet. Steph Curry will do Steph Curry’s work, and the same can be said for Draymond Green. Andrew Wiggins is already putting up better numbers than he was a year ago, and Trayce Jackson-Davis has been a consistent performer as well.

The Warriors are not only deeper, but also a much younger team overall. Naturally, this means lots of fresh legs. Instead of putting Thompson on the court for 30 minutes per game, Kerr distributes the minutes to players on this deep roster, giving Golden State much more energy throughout the game.

Depth is the biggest advantage the Warriors have right now, which is why we spent so much time on it. But this depth feeds directly into this entry.

Before the season, Golden State general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. was asked about the challenges the offense might face without Thompson. But he never saw this as a problem. Instead, he was excited about the possibility that the Warriors could distribute three-point shots better across the team, which is exactly what happened.

The only Warriors who made more than four 3-pointers per game a season ago were Curry (11.8) and Thompson (9.0). Six Golden State players have accomplished that in 10 games this season; these are Curry (8.9), Hield (8.2), Melton (5.8), Wiggins (4.9), Podziemski (4.4) and Moody (4.1).

So far, it’s working, as the Warriors as a whole are shooting more from beyond the arc and have a better efficiency rate from deep than last year.

He was a solid enough defender before the knee and Achilles issues that sidelined Thompson for more than two seasons. He even finished 11th in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2017-18 and was an All-Defensive Second Team selection in 2018-19.

Due to the aforementioned injuries, it was difficult to expect Thompson to be the same player he was before, especially on the defensive end. Simply put, it wasn’t, and Golden State suffered for it.

But once again, this is where available depth comes into play. With a deeper, younger roster, the Warriors are much better defensively than they were with Thompson last year. They managed to score 109.4 points per game through 10 games, which is about eight fewer points than they gave up in 2023-24, which ranks seventh-fewest and 18th in the league.

Last season, Golden State’s defensive efficiency ranked 16th in the NBA with 1,116. This year it’s 1,045, good for fourth.

Overall, the Warriors have much better balance and much more energy without Klay Thompson on both ends of the floor. And it’s clearly paying off.