Klay Thompson is off to a troubling start in pre-season and it might begin to sound the alarm for the Dallas Mavericks.
It's pretty clear that the Dallas Mavericks view Klay Thompson in high regard. How could you not? He's going to go down as one of the best 3-point shooters in NBA history and won four NBA Championships with the Golden State Warriors. It's no surprise that when he hit the free-agency market, the Mavs didn't hesitate to recruit and eventually sign him away from the Warriors.
However, you also can't deny that he's no longer a player in his prime. At 34 years old, with the injuries he's dealt with over the last few years of his career, the best days of Klay are behind him. Understanding that, the Mavs still believed he could play a vital role for the team this season. In fact, it's clear that Dallas views Klay as the potential missing piece to their championship puzzle. It explains why they went so hard after him during the offseason.
But Klay has not exactly looked like that level of player through two games in pre-season. In two games with the Mavs, Klay is averaging five points on 17 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent shooting from 3-point range. Of course, it's just two games and pre-season but it's also not the start you'd want to see from Klay.
It's too early for the Dallas Mavericks to panic
While it's certainly too early to panic, it's absolutely a trend to keep an eye on heading into the start of the regular season - especially considering how inconsistent Klay was last season with the Warriors.
But Klay doesn't have to be a primary player for the team. The good news in his situation with the Mavs is that he can play off of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. With the Warriors, he was too often asked to be the team's second-best offensive player on most nights. At this point in his career, he's simply not all that capable of doing that on a consistent basis.
There's reason to believe that Klay could bounce back this season with the Mavs but it may not always look clean or polished. Perhaps that's what we've seen from Klay as he continues to find his footing in pre-season.
Klay is too talented not to figure things out in Dallas. The question is, will he be consistent enough of a third option for Dallas once he does find comfort in his new role?