FIRST TAKE | Stephen A [BREAKING] Klay Thompson to sign Los Angeles Lakers
Y and the role they’ve got young players who play his position Brandon pky Moses Moody clay got benched at the end of some games last year what’s his role going to be all of those things come into play and what role is he comfortable playing right now in his career absolutely absolutely so what I would say is just because he did this doesn’t mean that he’s leaving but it does mean that we’re on brass taxs and it’s going to get a little bit Rocky I think I just feel like this has been brewing for a while now um I always go back to this point uh watching the guys on countdown there’s a reason why Bob Myers is sitting next to Stephen A and Mike wilbon uh I think Bob Myers is super smart I think he sees things uh before they actually happen and uh I I I always feel for my former teammate and Mike dun now the general manager about some of these decisions that he is faced with I.E Draymond Green uh Klay Thompson how do you build around Steph Curry considering he’s still playing at a elite elite elite level are you surrounding him with enough youthful talent in order to help him get there I love Klay Thompson I think Klay Thompson will get the money he wants but just not from Golden State uh you talk about respect I think that’s a predicament that the Golden State Warriors are in out of respect are you willing to give him the money or the timeline that he feels like he deserves at 34 years old coming off the knee injury coming off the Achilles injury I give clay all the credit in the world for coming back to the level like Wendy he said averaging 18 points on 39% shooting like from the three-point line I think that’s incredible it’s going to come down to what the value is that clay has for himself when you have teams out there like Orlando teams like others that I think will be willing to throw him the money in the years and the opportunity that I don’t I’m not sure Golden State will acques I I think that we’re at that that um that crossroads right now between the Golden State Warriors and Klay Thompson and I do not believe that Klay Thompson will be a Golden State Warrior next year I do not I agree with you um I’m there Wendy I agree with Jay on that um but we we you know we gonna be fair to everybody here let’s be fair to Klay Thompson first Klay Thompson is a future Hall of Fame four time NBA champion he’s one of the greatest Shooters of the game has ever seen yes and his definition of a Down year 39% shooting from three-point range uh 90 plus per of the league would pray to be able to do that this man spent nine of his first first 10 years in the NBA shooting better than 40% from three-point range so understand that the price of greatness is what we’re witnessing right now because when you’re that great of a shooter as he was the slightest dissipation is noticeable because you simply aren’t what you used to be even though you’re still better than most instead of people embracing the concept that you’re better than most instead they’re saying you’re not what you used to be so that’s the frustration that clay has dealt with let’s not also forget that even though Golden State paid him when he was injured if you recall years ago we cost him a super max deal not me because I voted for him but Kimbell Walker got third Team all NBA and he was kept off of the third of the all NBA team that cost Klay Thompson over $30 million I don’t blame Klay Thompson he never spoke to the media again after that they cost him $30 million they the media cost him $30 million because they didn’t vote him onto an all NBA team so he got to remember that now we got to also be fair when we’re looking at him now 34 years of age came off the bench for the first time in his career averag 19.8 points on 42.8% shooting on three-pointers in his 14 games as a reserve let’s not forget that also ranked second on the team in points per game after the All-Star break shooting 45% from the field 41.2% on three-pointers so his numbers while it’s under 40 it wasn’t under 40 the second half of the season after Allstar break so let’s remember that these are all arguments that favor Klay Thompson here’s the problem the way he and Steph used to flow off of one another with a me a measure of unparalleled consistency was not what occurred last year it was up one game down another up one game down another and if you’re the Golden State Warriors and you’re Joe Lake up and you’re in pursuit of championships because you got a superstar on Steph Curry who still looks like a superstar and you want to maximize everything that he brings to the table you’re you’re looking at a kaminga and how he’s elevated you’re looking at a moody who we’ve been waiting to give that shine to but jimsky comes in as a rookie highly intelligent player really smart really Savvy real productive are you going to cost them minutes the answer is yes you’re going to cost them minutes so if I’m Klay Thompson and he’s watching I’m thinking about New York because you need to shoot I’m thinking about Philly because you got embiid and Maxi and imagine what you would do there those are two teams that really really really come to my mind there could be others but definitely those you think New York or Philly would want him well I think New York should make no mistake about it I think Philly should want him if embiid is healthy if embiid is not healthy and it’s him and Maxi that’s a different argument but the New York Knicks with the way they play defense and with the way that Tom thibo coaches them I think to have a sniper a sharp shooter out there that can shoot like that oh you got I mean that’s a huge huge plus but this is the other point that I wanted to make about Golden State because I’m gonna come to Joe lobs defense here I’m looking at these numbers guys him and his ownership group have spent $677 million in penalties and have been in the tax four out of the past six seasons the man has spent the money he’s made the investment and it’s been in those players so let me be very clear to everybody out there the Golden State Warriors ownership doesn’t owe Clay on anybody else anything you appreciate what they’ve done done but they didn’t play for free and the two years basically that clay was out they paid him those years too and so we have to remember that and understand that moving forward I hope it works out but I don’t see it because Klay Thompson is work five of the NBA Finals uh so what can you tell us Wendy about the latest as far as LeBron James coaching situation and JJ reck’s candidacy Well w told us what was going to happen he went to LA over the weekend and you know the finals are still going on and but the other important thing is the Lakers have let it be known that they are want to have their coach in place by the draft the draft is a week from Wednesday so you can just using the calendar start to figure out where this is going and so it’s about really sort of making the deal JJ has had a significant amount of contact with the Lakers at this point I don’t think there’s any more Discovery I think each side understands where they’re at the question is how does his fit fit with what they have and what their plans are going forward well part of that contact of course has been what you keep seeing here all of this with the podcast that he does with LeBron James which is an extraord arily good insightful interesting podcast if you are a basketball fan but at least in the mind of our Ste Stephen A Smith it is also somewhat problematic here’s what Stephen A said the other day damn it LeBron James is his own man you’re wearing a Lakers uniform you are a player you know your coach is on the hot seat and deciding to do a podcast about games about basketball with specifics in mind schemes and and and how you coach and how you draw plays up and you knew the Lakers would all more than likely be looking for a coach next season is one of the most egregious things we have seen a basketball player do to a coach very strong comments from Stephen A Jay will your reaction I I I just wanted to State for the record this has been something that you know Maverick Carter LeBron James Spring Hill a couple companies M included we’ve been discussing this for four to five years so this just didn’t rear his ugly head all of a sudden when Darin ham was specifically doing a basketball show where you’re discussing ingame schemes you’re discussing Personnel like trying to almost like reverse like recalibrate the way we talk about basketball from a media perspective about the nuances of the game so it it this wasn’t just put in place to undermine Darin ham LeBron James when you talk basketball to him it it sounds very different when you have those Barber Shop conversations and there’s a reason why the podcast is doing well there’s also a reason why red bir Capital has de a lot of money into Spring Hill and that they’re trying to deploy it into JJ reck’s platform because they believe it can go extremely well I don’t think anybody expected JJ to be a candidate it may have evolved into that but that was not going into it the reason why born from it was exactly that is them being together meeting of the minds and maybe LeBron realizing like I really like the way this guy thinks and maybe that’s what came from it but you’re not hiring a coach to coach LeBron he might as well be the coach you just need somebody to coach everybody else he meaning LeBron James yeah see the thing is we’ve had these before right Kobe did it before he tragically died his and pton Manning and some others who but they’ve all been former players it is very different when an active current player is sitting there analyzing everything as insightful and Brilliant and fun to watch as it is and as exactly the right person as LeBron is to do it but it is going to be very different when he’s analyzing the things that are currently happening it has to be different for his teammates and it has to be different for his coach one way or the other I’m not suggesting it’s the wrong thing but I think you do have to acknowledge when an active player is sitting there giving you that level of insight into what we’re doing on a day-to-day game- to game play-by-play basis that’s not something we’ve ever seen an active player do before well I I haven’t listened to every single podcast I’ve listened to a lot I don’t see him breaking down plays that he’s had in the Lakers I think they’re just talking openly about scenarios right I hav I haven’t heard him like let’s go back and revisit game three of the playoffs like I haven’t heard him revisit things of that sort he’s just talk how should we have guarded joic in the finals last year I didn’t mean it that way but it there’s there’s almost no way that it does
FIRST TAKE | Stephen A [BREAKING] Klay Thompson to sign Los Angeles Lakers
