The 2024/25 NBA regular season is over. And it’s that odd in-between moment that players start reflecting. And some do it with honesty, some with optimism, and yet a few others—a bit of both. Take Klay Thompson, for instance. His self-review carried a mix of realism and quiet optimism. However, for his new teammate, Anthony Davis, it came in the form of a jarring reflection—served cold by a former NBA player who didn’t mince words.

Going back to Thompson, calling it a season filled with ups and downs feels like quite an understatement. The team itself gave up Luka, acquired AD, and nearly missed out on a postseason before finally clinching a Play-In spot. Amidst all this chaos, the fact that it’s Klay’s first season with the Mavs has kind of gone under the radar. But when Joey Mistretta of Clutch Points asked Klay to assess his first season in Dallas, he had quite a surprising take.

“My season individually? Yes. I give it a B. You know, I thought I shot the ball decent, you know, nearly four, even three. But, I’m really grateful to play in 72 games and the consistent presence in the lineup. That’s something I can really hit my head on,” said the former 4x NBA champion. But is this assessment really fair from the Dallas forward?

Well, he’s not wrong about his fitness. Klay Thompson played and started in 72 games this season (third-lowest of his career). But across those games, he only played 27.3 minutes (second-lowest in 12 seasons). That’s barely over two quarters of time spent on-court. And about his “decent” shooting…

Yes, going 39.1% from beyond the arc and 41.2% sounds decent. But for someone like Klay? Those numbers may be worrying. For starters, the league average this year for shooting is 41.7%, so Klay is actually a below-average shooter this season. Moreover, his volume has gone down significantly, having only taken 877 attempts at the basket this year. That’s 256 fewer than last year! And this has translated directly into his scoring output for dropping for the Mavs, as he averaged only 14 points per game this season.

Still, maybe numbers don’t tell the full story here. This was Klay’s first season in a new city, on a new team, after leaving the franchise where he thought he’d retire. He’s 35 now, no longer the same player who once dropped 37 in a quarter, but still someone who values consistency, professionalism, and doing his part. Maybe, in that context, a “B” grade isn’t that far off—especially if he’s measuring impact in terms of health and presence rather than points.

Either way, it’s clear that Klay still holds himself to high standards—and fans probably do too, because of what he’s built over a Hall of Fame career. Even so, the simple fact of the matter is that we’ve come to expect more from the one of the half of the Splash Brothers. And that, that is a by-product of his own greatness.

Someone who is going through something similar is his teammate, Anthony Davis. In that vein, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas tore him a new one for his performance against the Lakers. Let us give you the full picture.

Klay Thompson’s teammate, Anthony Davis, gets lambasted by Gilbert Arenas for poor performance against his former club

Anthony Davis had 13 points with 11 rebounds and 6 assists in the loss against the Lakers. Now, a double-double performance against a team with Luka Doncic and LeBron James is nothing to scoff at. However, like Klay Thompson, he’s set the bar higher for himself. And ever since he got traded for Luka, even that insanely high bar has ascended to new heights.

This is why NBA legend Gilbert Arenas went ballistic on AD. Arenas opined that ‘The Brow’ simply did not get the gravity of Luka Doncic’s return to Dallas. “Just as a basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks, I’m sorry to tell you you failed the assignment last night. They’re screaming another n—- name in here. They’ve got flags all through the m—–f—–. It wasn’t an American flag, it wasn’t a Dallas, Texas flag, it was his country flag. It was your chance, your spotlight to show the Dallas Mavericks fans you ain’t no bum. You’re going to bring them something, and nobody even noticed you,” Arenas said on his podcast, Gil’s Arena.

Now, Gil did clarify that he had nothing but respect for Anthony Davis as a champion. However, ‘Agent Zero’ was simply criticizing him as a player for the Dallas Mavericks. And considering the game his Lakers counterpart, Luka Doncic, had, perhaps Gil is right. Luka dropped over 3 times as many points as AD. He also had as many assists as Davis and only got 3 fewer rebounds.

With those stat lines, it’s clear—Luka rightly made a statement, while Anthony Davis didn’t. But both Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson have the chance to right all these wrongs in this postseason. Perhaps Klay’s B can become an A, and Davis can finally show the Mavs and their fans that he really is worthy of replacing Luka. But what do you think? Are Klay and Gilbert accurate in their assessments?