Bay Area Veteran Convinced Klay Thompson Will Leave Warriors After Bold Social Media Move: “GONE”

The Klay Thompson trade rumors are getting stronger each day. As if that wasn’t enough, the latest move by the 4x champion leaves little to the imagination of those convinced he is, indeed, leaving GSW! It could be nothing or it could mean everything. So what did he do? The Bay Area’s favorite radio station, 95.7 The Game Willard and Dibs, posted an image on X. It was a screenshot of Thompson’s Instagram ‘following’. As per the evidence provided, the 34-year-old unfollowed the official account of the Warriors and removed many photos in relation to the team.

A sign? Mark T. Willard certainly believes that to be the case. “Call me crazy. I think this means everything. I think [Klay] is GONE.” Interestingly, though, Klay did not unfollow the GSW’s G League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors. Scrolling through his account now would see very minimal posts relating to the Dubs. The deleted posts included the Golden State’s 2022 title run.

Suffice it to say that Klay isn’t feeling particularly generous to his home of 12 years. The 5x All-Star has had arguably the worst run of his career this season. It got to a point where Steve Kerr, who tried to put it off for as long as possible, ended up having to give Thompson a harsh reality check.

For the first time since his rookie years with the Dubs, Klay Thompson came off the bench. Kerr also proceeded to close games without the man in question, something he didn’t take very well to, at first. And how could he? “To go from one of the best players… It’s hard for anybody. I’ll be honest with you. It’s very hard,” he had said after Coach Kerr did not close with him on the February 5 109-98 win over the Nets.

So, what next?

What does the free agency look like for Klay Thompson?

The Splash Brother just finished the five-year $190 million contract he signed in July 2019, following a torn ACL in Game 6. He missed the next two seasons with subsequent injuries. Klay hasn’t been the same again after that. Of course, he returned to help the Warriors with their last title. But things weren’t going well for him.

As he finished the 2023-24 season, Thompson had 17.9 points, the fewest since his second season with the Dubs. With all signs pointing to the veteran guard entering free agency, Malika Andrews of ESPN had reported that he was eligible for a four-year $223 million contract extension in February. Granted, it was dubbed as unrealistic at best, given his, yes, performance. The free agency begins on June 30. Klay Thompson will have until July 6 to negotiate and land a team.

Then again, these recent social media moves aren’t exactly a guarantee that he is going to leave the Bay Area for good. After all, this isn’t the first athlete to have taken the unfollow route before working out a contract. Deebo Samuel of the 49ers, for example, had unfollowed his team ahead of the end of his rookie contract. Four months later, lo-and-behold! The San Francisco wide receiver signed a 3-year extension.

After all, Klay did say that he was willing to compromise if that meant he could stay with the team. Just how far the extent of this compromise goes, we’ll have to wait and see.

But before you go, be sure to check this video of Leonardo Armato’s take on Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese.

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