$48 Million Wouldn’t Keep Klay Thompson In Bay Area After Salvaging Tumultuous Warriors Season, per Dub Nation’s Go-to Radio Show

A few hours ago, the renowned radio show ‘95.7 The Game’ released an episode in the aftermath of the Golden State Warriors’ recent clash against the Utah Jazz. Despite Draymond Green getting benched because of his lower back injury, the Warriors were able to put up a great offensive front thanks to the valiant effort of star scorer Klay Thompson. Discussing the same during the episode, host Evan Giddings proceeded to highlight the player’s upward trajectory and how his value is only increasing the more time he spends on the court. This led him to believe that the 2-year, $48 million offer that the player declined over the summer wasn’t something that would have done him justice.

“He is going to get more than that per year from somebody,” said Giddings. “It might be from the Warriors, it might be from a team with ‘cap space’ this summer, but someone is going to look at Klay Thompson. He’s not the same player that he was before his injury”.

With Stephen Curry being absent from the Utah clash, Klay Thompson took the offensive charge. While going slow during the initial minutes of the first quarter, the player didn’t take too long to get into his groove and ended up scoring 11 of the Warriors’ first 23 points. As Jonathon Kuminga, Trayce-Jackson Davis and Brandon Podziemski provided assistance, the 5x NBA All-Star managed to drop 32 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists by the time his on-court minutes came to a close. His contribution led to the Jazz losing their 12 consecutive game by a score of 118-110.

Thompson’s recent performance, along with the 17.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists that he has been making per game during the ongoing season, makes a compelling argument towards the value he provides to the Golden State Warriors. Granted, the franchise may not be doing so well this year and is sure to head to the play-in tournament soon, but the blame for it cannot be placed upon the shooting guard’s head. Thompson knows his value, and he would probably make himself available if he feels that he wouldn’t get that value reflected in terms of monetary compensation from the Warriors.

Will Klay Thompson join the Orlando Magic?

After the news went viral that Klay Thompson has rejected the $48 million extension offered to him by the Warriors, speculations arose over whether a rival team will make an attempt to woo the player into joining their roster. One of the teams that has recently come out as the top contender for this is the Orlando Magic. NBA correspondent Marc Stein released an article back in February, stating that it seems unlikely that Thompson would choose to break away from his team. However, in case such a situation arises, the Magic are being “increasingly mentioned as a potential suitor”.

A part of this rumour may stem from the fact that the franchise reportedly still has $42 million left from their next year’s salary cap of $141 million. Furthermore, they can allegedly work out a trade in exchange for players Jonathan Isaac and Joe Ingles, whose worth has been placed at $17.4 million $11 million respectively.

Until Klay Thompson announces a decision from his side for signs a contract with the Warriors, everything is left to speculation. While it would hurt to see the golden trio of Curry/Thompson/Green break apart, the NBA fraternity also wishes for the 34-year-old to get what he deserves.

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