The Dallas Mavericks desperately need to play Klay Thompson to make their jumbo, spacing-challenged lineups work. Unfortunately, the time may have come where their need not to play Klay Thompson grows even larger.
This year’s version of the Mavericks is built as if playmaking, shot creation and floor-spacing are not important to the modern NBA. The players on the roster are undeniably talented, from Anthony Davis to No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg. The problem is that all of them are 4s and 5s, and creating a successful team in the NBA involves a balanced lineup where all of the pieces fit together.
The Mavericks’ most talented lineup may be the one they used to start the season, with Flagg at point guard, Davis at power forward and both P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II on the court. The issue is that those lineups are extremely short on shooting, even while they are massive defensively and in the paint.
The idea was that Klay Thompson, one of the greatest shooters of all time, could help solve the issue. That his ability to shoot lights out from the perimeter would keep defenses honest and help crack open room on the interior for Davis and Flagg and Washington to score.
Klay Thompson has been terrible this season
The theory would perhaps make more sense if Thompson was playing up to that level, but he is no longer the same player that he was playing alongside Stephen Curry for all of those years. In fact, this year he is a much worse player, stuck in a prolonged slump that may signal a new normal for Thompson at this point in his career.
Thompson is averaging just 8.7 points per game, the fewest of his career by far. He is ahooting 29.4 percent from deep, has hit even three triples only one time and is even shooting just 39.1 percent from 2-point range. In six games he has made only 10 3-pointers; he has made at least 10 3-pointers in a single game 10 times in his career.
When you add in that the once impactful defender from the Warriors’ dynasty days has been long gone, you get a player who is hurting the Mavericks on both offense and defense. Hurting them so much, in fact, that the team is better off without him this season.
When Klay Thompson is on the court, the Mavericks are being outscored by 2.2 points per 100 possessions. When he is off, they outscore opponents by 1.6 points per 100 possessions. Out of 196 qualifying players, Thompson is 12th-worst, 185th, in Box Plus-Minus. Dallas would have been better off with a street free agent than the version of Thompson they have had thus far.
The problem is that they don’t have much they can do about it. There is no player on the roster who replicates what Klay Thompson brings to the table in terms of shooting. Head coach Jason Kidd has already marginalized his minutes thus far, but he doesn’t have enough options on the wing to bench him entirely.
Playing a more balanced lineup will help; Klay is at his best when he is set up with accurate passes. He will also probably get into more of a rhythm as a shooter – eventually. For now, however, they have one of the worst players in the league (by performance, not true level of play) and he is killing them.
The Mavericks have to decide if there is anything that they can do about it.
