Warriors' Joe Lacob Reveals Negotiations With Klay Thompson Before Mavericks Signing

The future Hall of Famer believed the terms offered were "not acceptable"

Nov 6, 2023; San Francisco, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob speaks during a press conference to announce the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Bay Area selection to host the 2025 NBA All-Star Game at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

The Dallas Mavericks made shockwaves this offseason by signing Klay Thompson away from the Golden State Warriors to a 3-year, $50 deal. Many people were surprised to see Thompson depart from the only NBA team he's played for but he felt it was time for a fresh start with a new organization.

Warriors' CEO Joe Lacob recently did a podcast with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic and discussed multiple things, including some negotiations between Thompson and the Warriors.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks Sign Former Second-Round Pick To Two-Way Contract

“We made an offer to him, it’s well chronicled, in the fall, substantially higher than what he ultimately did end up signing for. So I thought it was very fair,” Lacob said of the reported two-year, $48 million offer before last season. “Very fair, if not more than fair at the time. We’re trying to anticipate what the market is for him. We’re trying to be really fair to him and recognize him for who he is. And so we did that and that was not acceptable to them. That’s their choice. At that point, you know, we sort of have to go to free agency, we told them. Get closer to that day and see how the team is forming, so how we do this year, and see how the team-forming process was going. And we were doing that.

“But you know, to be frank and honest, Klay made the decision prior to the beginning of free agency and he informed us of it that his intention was to not come back. … He called me and said the same things you heard (at Klay’s Dallas news conference). Klay is an open book. He felt he needed for a variety of reasons to have a fresh start.

“I would love if Klay had been a Warrior for life. And under a fair and equitable basis, we wanted to try to achieve that very badly. We did achieve it with Draymond (last summer), a different situation. Steph’s under the contract. So we felt we on a path to do that. It just didn’t work out. … And we had to move on and accept that.”

Lacob would also confirm later that the Warriors pulled the offer off the table once Thompson declined the contract. That offer was just $2 million less than what he would receive from Dallas, but the Warriors were willing to pay that over two years while the Dallas contract is three.

A few reasons have surfaced for why Thompson chose the Mavs: a clearer path to starting, the Mavs are closer to winning a championship, and he felt wanted. One that would also make sense, but hasn't been reported, is he wants to prove to himself he can still do it outside of the shadow of Stephen Curry.

Thompson had two major surgeries on his ACL and Achilles tendon and there were talks that he was carried in the 2022 championship. Even if he's not the player he used to be, he can still help a team win a championship, and leaving Golden State for a better chance to win in Dallas can help prove that to himself.

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