The Dallas Mavericks are beginning to find their rhythm as a contender in the Western Conference even as Klay Thompson continues to struggle.
When the Dallas Mavericks won the Klay Thompson sweepstakes during the offseason, the best-case scenario was that he would emerge as a final piece of a championship puzzle for the team. Even though the team got off to a shaky start to the season, there was still hope the move for Klay could end up working out and helping push this team forward as a contender in the long run.
And perhaps that is exactly what we've seen from the team over the last few weeks of the season. After shaking off a relatively slow start to the year, in which the Mavs were 5-7 through the first 12 games of the season, Dallas has truly begun to hit their stride as a group. In the last 11 games, the Mavs have operated as an entirely different team. The Mavs are 10-1 in that stretch and are currently on a six-game winning streak. Their only loss in the last 11 games came via an overtime loss to the Miami Heat in which they were playing without Luka Doncic.
Interestingly enough, the Mavs have begun to hit their stride and get hot this season in spite of Klay continuing to struggle to find his comfort zone in Dallas. Even as the Mavs begin to play much better as a group, Klay is still looking to break out from his slow start to the season.
Klay Thompson's continued struggles
In 19 games played this season, Klay has truly struggled on most nights. On the season, he's averaging 13 points and three rebounds on 38 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from 3-point range. In his last seven games played, Klay has struggled even more, averaging just nine points on 31 percent shooting from the field overall. If there's any consolation, it's the fact that he's still slightly above average from 3-point range (which most of his field goal attempts come from). Still, it's pretty clear he's still finding his groove with the Mavs.
Over the course of his career, Klay has never shot below 39 percent from 3-point range or under 42 percent from the field overall. Right now, he's trending to fall short of both of those percentages. There's reason to believe there is some progression to the mean coming over the next few months in Dallas.
And assuming it is on the way, Klay's play into the second quarter of the season could help give the Mavs an even greater boost as a team. With their hot play recently, the Mavs have climbed all the way up to third in the Western Conference standings and are just 2.5 games back of the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. All of a sudden, the Mavs are looking more and more like the favorite in the West many believed they'd be entering this season after their NBA Finals run last year.