What Does Klay Thompson Want? | Real Ones | Ringer NBA

What Does Klay Thompson Want? | Real Ones | Ringer NBA

[Music] I want I want to put this to to Raja we’ll we’ll all discuss obious but I’m going to put this to Raja first because this is one of those questions where it’s really easy for people in in my position or your position Logan to talk about what a player should do when they have to balance paycheck versus competitive considerations versus City versus all these things right I can sit here and look at and say what I think a player should do but like it’s their lives so I’m going put this to Raja first and it’s about Klay Thompson Klay Thompson is a warrior for life so far Klay Thompson clearly by the fact that there is an impass or or lack of of contract so far at a time when he you know the Warriors and Clay could come to terms any time now and they have not as of 12:34 eastern time on Monday June 24th um what’s what should be what he’s he’s 34 what should what should Klay Thompson want at this stage of his career he has four championships he has all the money you could ever ask for already he maybe could get a a a bigger paycheck in Orlando or Detroit I guess maybe I’m trying to think of the other cap team Philly’s got other priorities I know global warming is a thing but do you think he can like ride his have his boat in Lake Michigan in the winter time we probably should consider where like docking thieves are the most reasonable right like where where else can he commute to work over the water but I I mean listen it’s easy again easy for me to say I look at it and I think Klay Thompson should be a Laker or Laker a warrior for life and and just stay put stay with with your Splash brother Steph Curry and stay with Draymond and Steve Kerr right off into the sunset together but easy for me to say you should come to compromise on the salary level when some other team may be offering you 20 million more over the next couple years but I don’t know Raja am I am I wrong to think that like are things that are bigger than the paycheck here that being able to finish your career with the guys you started with in one championships with should outweigh whatever else it is that that that clay may be seeking is is that I don’t know I I sometimes feel bad for feeling that way because it’s not my money that’s being sacrif I probably haven’t talked to you about this but I i’ I’ve talked about it on the Pod before a lot it was the only the only thing I really have to compare it to and obviously I’m not nearly the player that clay was or you know been on teams like that but the last time I was a free agent um you know I knew it was kind of be my last deal and I was trying to sort through where I was going to go in Miami um you know Eric sper had hit me and he was like yo it’s finally time for you to come home this was the year that LeBron dwade this was this was that year so they had spent all of the money it was for the vet minimum the same with Kobe and the Lakers like it was going to be the vet minimum and I hadn’t made the0 and some million dollars Howard so my situation was different like I couldn’t afford to take the vet minimum when teams like Utah and Chicago were offering me like way more than that right so like my situation was different but those exist and and like I would walk around water parks in Miami and and or in West Palm and people would just Heckle me for like just Merc like mercilessly like they’d just be after me and I’d have to be like guys what what do you want me to do like I got you know what I mean I can’t come play for the minimum so like there there are times like that claz is interesting because I’ve also said that one of my biggest regrets was not being able and I didn’t control it was being able to be somewhere long enough to like ride off into the sunset as one of theirs right and just having that and I don’t think he’ll there won’t be a world where Clay is not known as a Golden State Warrior and he’s not welcomed back in the bay like you know he’s done too much but man that’s a pretty cool story when you never leave and you’re like from start to finish right um here’s the caveat Howard and I don’t know because I’m not there and I don’t know what he’s been offered there does come a point where you’re a man and you feel disrespected for all that you’ve accomplished now you you might not have to pay me like the Klay Thompson of four or five years ago but I also don’t want to be treated like I have no skin in this game like I’m not a part of the reason that we have this brand new you know Chase Center that I’m not a huge reason we have those recent banners hanging up like so it’s a balance right I personally would tell clay having done this hey man first of all like organizationally that’s all you know that’s a very well-run organization you don’t want to hop into a situation with not going to say any team names but places that historically if you ask around are not run well that is the most frustrating thing ever it’s not even just the winning and losing it’s going somewhere where you’re like this is how you guys do business here like this is my day-to-day like these are the things that aren’t in place where I’m used to them being in place like that that’s a very frustrating thing um the the the other part of it would be like you know you that that money you know while I’m sitting here telling you I don’t count anyone’s money like if we’re talking about 20 mil over the course of four years for clay like I don’t think that’s worth it for a player like him to leave Golden State unless he’s telling you hey Howard Raj Logan look at what they’re offering me would you not be disrespected by that and if he’s living in that world pack your because you done too much yeah it’s no that’s the thing like if this comes down to like happiness for lack of a better term where’s clay gonna be happy like you know he can be happy in the Bay Area um are you happier with more money on the Orlando Magic like is that I I like I don’t know I’m not I’m not sliding Orlando or the magic but like I I don’t like the places he could go they’re they’re I mean good decent teams but like is the extra five or 10 million or whatever it may be worth whatever that trade-off and like only clay can answer and only clay will answer that ultimately we’ll have an answer within the next you know couple of weeks at at the latest I think but I just think it’s interesting here’s the other part it is interesting Howard here’s the other part we talked last pod right about LeBron and where he was at in terms of his competitive fire right and so this is what I didn’t touch on we haven’t touched on about clay and I don’t know this to be the case but I I think it’s at least worth bringing up there could be a world where Clay is not even it’s not about the money or his happiness it’s about him saying hey man I still want an opportunity to try to compete at that level and that’s not here for me any longer right and and those those those are hard things within an athlete to quell like th those feelings of like I still think whether he’s right or wrong is besides the point but I still feel like I can do it at that level um and contribute to that level of success playing this role and that’s not going to be what I have here going forward you know that’s when that’s when the ego starts to get involved and look being a former player there’s a lot of that with us like I I don’t know this situation is about ego it’s about respect and it’s about economics uh clay wants respect that’s what this all boils down to he felt like the offer last year I think it was two years 48 million that wasn’t respect that wasn’t that that didn’t give enough respect in his mind to what he’s done for that organization um whether and so Raj is giving a lot of faces right now not for from doing my point I’m sorry I’m not judging I’m like Dam distracting from my point that’s disrespectful you so so that so on that end he believes that is disrespectful he turned that down to try to play his way into a bigger contract that was his prerogative and he’s still carrying that into these negotiations or lack thereof because there hasn’t the offer is what the offer is right and the Warriors thinking is well if you can go find a better off or somewhere else go right ahead be my guest and if you want to because here’s the thing and Raz you know this as as a just a former player the team that sees you every day knows you better than the team that is out of the way right they know you better than the Orlando Magic they know your Medicals they know your game they know everything and they are going to offer accordingly to that and that is what is happening on the Golden State Warriors side where they’re like okay we know what this is and we’re still going to you know the offer is what the offer is we still we still want to build a contender around this big three right but Clay is over here seeing like hey man y’all took care of Andrew Wiggins right y’all took care of Jordan P right you guys took care of Draymond Green after he punched Jordan p in the face for everyone to see and the Warriors are like well we gave you a Max or a near max deal when you weren’t even playing basketball we gave you almost $200 million when you after you tore your ACL what do you mean we don’t want it we don’t give you respect we’re still trying we’re still giving you a competitive offer so it’s going to go come down to it’s going to come down to feelings at the end of the day uh it’s going to come down it’s the clay the ball is all in Clay’s court if he wants to get some people will say very emotional some people might are does he want to get I don’t know does he want to prove a point that they can’t win without me that’s his prerogative but it’s the thing is and I can speak to this very clearly it is not going to be the same anywhere else because if he goes to the Orlando Magic a fan base that and they pay him all that money he is not going to be afforded all of the luxuries that he has in the Bay Area if there’s a two of 17 game and there’s going to be a lot of those it’s not gonna there not going to be a fan base that’s like oh it’s okay clay don’t worry about it it’s fine we love you so much it’s going to be like we paid this 20 something million dollars and he’s over here going two of 17 and he’s over here riding his boat every day and he’s kind of aloof and he’s not and he’s not the leader that he we thought he was going to be for this specific group and it’s not going to go good for him Clay is a very sensitive person hence why we are at this point of the negotiations right so it’s going to be a matter of ego that’s going up against economics and feelings and my Coach Carter Coach Carter Alonzo Carter he’s now with Arizona and this is a this is a bit of advice to everybody he was my high school coach and I always bring this up every once in a while on the real ones podcast he would always give me the this advice get your feel out the you got to do that if you’re going to be clay that would be my advice to Klay Thompson or should be rog’s advice to Klay Thompson because he’s going to he’s the thing is he is so slighted by what has been transpired over the last few years that he I don’t I don’t think and this is just my personal opinion I don’t think he he sees that everything he’ll say he wants on paper is already in Golden state right the love that he gets from the fan base right the acceptance he gets from the fan base and in the front office and in the locker room for just his clay isms and he’s going they’re going to try to compete for a title that’s the best you can ask for and he’s going to get the money requisite to what he would get in the marketplace and he gets to and he gets to ride his boat to work every day he gets everything that he wants in the Bay Area now the question will always be where does his feelings lie and that’s going to be interesting I don’t know what the answer only clay knows that answer but that’s pretty much what’s going on here is that Clay is in his feelings be in right in in some place you could say rightfully so based on what I just laid out but this is also a business and we’re going to see what happens between that because the Warriors want all three of those stars to to end their careers in a Warriors uniform and nowhere else that’s why they traded that’s why they never traded Draymond Green when they probably should have that’s why they never that’s why they traded away pool it’s why they’ve done all these things to ride off into the sunset with these three guys and celebrate them the way they should be celebrated we’ll see if that happens but uh it’s all in Clay’s Court yeah it’s I mean you had a lot of good points there Logan about about um you know just fans their expectation of you the grace that they’ll give you um the equity that you have with them because you’ve been there forever versus what another Market might be like um those are those are those are really good points d That’s it’s a tough one man cuz Klay sitting there you know like look I played 29 minutes a game last year averaged 18 points shot shot 39% from three like you know I mean while I don’t think he is the same player I don’t anyone would say he’s the same player like he’s still like I’m productive um so it’s it’s gonna be a tough one man and there’s no right answer to it to each their own you know respect is a big deal too I talked about the ego and that ties hand in hand with respect and feeling like you’ve you’ve you’ve been disrespect spectated so be intered to watch I I hope he stays and and I I think he ultimately will that’s my that’s my best guess and that’s just a hunch the other thing is the Joe lakeer part of it and I know Howard can speak to this the way Joe lakeer operates is he waits till the last minute to pay you a ton of money he did that with he he hesitated to to spend money on Jordan p and Andrew Wiggins he did it he ended up doing it even when didn’t have to for Jordan P he even hesitated to spend the full Max on Curry Once Upon a Time guess what even after he was in multiple time MVP guess what he still did it right like he ultimately tries to he ultimately takes care or makes the attempt to take care of guys at in the last minute it’s just a matter of if Klay accepts at the end of the day and I think he ultimately will I do think so um it’s kind of teetering right now I don’t know I don’t know we’ll see I hope so I I I think we all hope so for the game it should happen [Music]

Logan, Raja, and Howard take a hard look at Klay Thompson, who has yet to sign a new contract with the Golden State Warriors, and project where his career goes from here.

Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons

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