He says it “isn’t a permanent thing,” but Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd moved struggling wing Klay Thompson to the bench ahead of Wednesday’s game against New Orleans, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.
“I don’t mind,” Thompson said of not starting. “I’m going to play. I’m gonna do great things. That’s coming. I know it is.”
As Townsend observes, Thompson had started every game with Dallas prior to Wednesday. However, he’s off to a very slow start to the season, and Kidd decided to shake things up with the team’s offense struggling to manufacture points.
Thompson, 35, is confident he’ll turn things around soon — he finished with 11 points (on 4-of-7 shooting), four rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes in the two-point loss to the Pelicans.
“I’m feeling like those first five games were hard for me to get my wind and get my legs under me,” he said, per Townsend. “Now I’m finally feeling like myself again. And you just know as a shooter, when that ball is just effortlessly flicking off your wrist. You know big things are coming.”
Here’s more on the Mavs, who are now 2-6:
- No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg was announced as a forward for the first time on Wednesday with D’Angelo Russell replacing Thompson in the starting lineup, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Flagg finished with 20 points (on 8-of-19 shooting), nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 35 minutes, but missed a potential game-tying shot in the closing seconds, Koreen notes. “For me it’s the most I’ve lost since, I think, ever,” The 18-year-old said after the game.
- Kidd provided updates on injured big men Anthony Davis (left calf strain) and Dereck Lively (right knee sprain) on Wednesday, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal relays (Twitter video link). According to Kidd, Davis is “feeling better” and is considered day-to-day, while the team is hopeful that Lively, who is doing on-court work, might be able to return next week. Davis has missed three straight games; Lively has missed five.
- Center Daniel Gafford had a solid outing on Wednesday, recording 15 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks. However, Kidd indicated before the game (Twitter link via Afseth) that the former second-round pick is still on a minutes restriction — Gafford wound up playing just under 25 minutes.
Sadly, Klay has been instantly washed since his first injury. Poole carried him in 2022. He is cooked in this league. 35 + massive, major injuries = the production falls off a cliff. Keep waiting Klay, your days of being a rotation regular are over.
Also hilarious how Flagg instantly played better after being used correctly. He still is a shot for ROY, let him cook…
Coming from the guy who said Westbrook’s best fit is in China lmao. How’d you like that game last night Davey? Empty stats right?
Klay shot 39.1% from three for the Mavs last season, that’s not washed.
@NBA is OK
Do you think 39.1% from 3 with no other tools is a viable NBA player? It’s not. My point is Klay is washed because he went from 3 and D to 3 and no D.
He’s not cooked but he will never mentally accept he’s a 15 minute off the bench guy now
As much as Thompson says it doesn’t bother it does bother him not starting.
JaVale McGee put the NBL to sleep last night: 37pts 14rb
Klay has been saying this since 2021 when he came back from the achilles tear. The truth is he is not a serviceable player anymore unless on a very small role
At least half the Warriors fan base wanted Klay back.
The other half saw Klay go 2-13 and 0-7 way too many times to give him the money he wanted.
@washington_bonercats
Do you have the same smoke for @Brabo here as you do for me? It’s the same take. Just wondering why you are so obsessed with harassing me personally when I post a commonly-known fact about players?
Davey, you are a very polarizing figure. Half of us love you and half of us find fault in every single thing you write.
You just have to roll with the punches and not worry about it. I think you already do a pretty good job at that so it’s all good.
Gary, respect to you, but the fact here is almost ALL of these drama-farming losers who reply to me and move the goalposts to criticize me could be fixed if this site made the “mute” function work 2-ways, not 1. If I mute someone, they still can reply to me and talk smack even though I cannot see it when logged in. I would rather these bad faith actors couldn’t see my posts at all if they are logged in. No idea why this “mute” function exists if it still allows for targeted harassment. I love muting people so I dont have to read their crud, but I dont understand the type of mind goes “I would rather read this crap and get mad about it”.
We are Dub Nation Gary, everyone is gunna hate us, so that doesn’t bother me. Its the “whatever you say, I am going to argue the opposite even though I don’t care, I just love conflict” that I do not care about at all and do not want to see. I love seeing the analysis posts on here and love respectfully chatting hoops with yall, but the fact is, I unmuted everyone and then the people I had muted immediately went back to mud slinging. Its fine to talk smack on players if you have good reasoning and logic behind it. I don’t like it when people don’t do that either. But muting posters should force the site to block that poster from seeing your posts too.
Lets talk about that Warriors/Kings game though!
If you actually watched that game, Russ played EXACTLY like how I said he plays, and it’s not winning basketball, its pure stat padding “me first” style. He stunk it up all game while being the sole focus every single play. The only team he can beat is Kerr being a moron and playing his worst players over his best ones. Russ’s best option is China. Beating a “Dubs missing their big 3 and Kerr openly trying to sabotage the team” means nothing here.
Lets talk Dubs player takes over the first 6 games:
1. Pat Spencer is the worst 2way player in the league. He got 17 minutes for a -19. Why god, why? Give Richard at least 5 of those minutes and they win.
2. GP2 is the worst full-contracted player in the league. He got 11 minutes for a -12. He is cooked defensively, he is too small, he cant score consistently. Bad player.
3. Buddy Hield is maybe the worst player in the league at his pay scale. He got 14 minutes for a -13. He already was massively bad last year and now he is doing the same crud again. Get rid of this undersized clown and get someone who can make a bucket.
3. Richard, Kuminga and Moody all played under 40 minutes. All should have played 40-45 minutes in a game with so many players missing.
4. The Post/Kuminga/Moody/Richard/Podz rotation absolutely destroyed the Kings….so Kerr started them and then NEVER PLAYED THEM TOGETHER AGAIN!! Why????? Why WHY WHY??????
Why? I will tell you, as it’s blatantly obvious by now: Kerr MUST be corrupt. He is losing these games on purpose by playing scrubs like Spencer and Payton over his quality players like Richard and Moody. Gambling is destroying the league. Absolutely no reason to lose last night, Kerr just (as usual) played too much small ball and too many bad players too long. Richard especially should have played 45 mins in a game with so many players out. All these games mean something…but not to Kerr, who comes up with the most BAFFLING rotation choices when the Warriors get out to a huge lead. Almost like the mob is making him do this. Its incomprehensible. Russ was terrible. The Kings are terrible. The Kings beat the Warriors because of Kerr and no other reason. I despise Kerr’s absolute idiocy at making rotations, its infuriating to watch, he cannot be THIS clueless about basketball. Richard had the Kings wrapped around his finger. But he needs a long in-game break even though he’s a rookie? That’s making players soft. Kerr is doing nothing but making the Warriors, and therefore the league, worse-off.
My moves:
-Remove Pat Spencer from his 2way deal for a PG who actually knows how to play NBA basketball. Spencer is 30 years old. This is who he is.
-Trade or release GP2 because father time has caught up with him and his defense is extraordinarily bad now.
-Bench Podz and give him under 10 mins per game until he proves he can score.
-Do not sign Seth Curry.
-Do sign Bol Bol.
Take these undersized scrubs away from Kerr, he cannot stop playing them. Pat Spencer is insultingly bad out there, no size, no handle, horrible playmaker, zero defense, cant shoot the 3, one or two good offensive plays a game…anyone can do better. When Melton comes back this will hopefully solve things, but we cannot trust Kerr to do the right thing anymore, so GSW is kinda lost at sea until he is removed.
No Curry Friday so you’ll see the bench again. Let’s hope they perform a lot better than Wednesday.
Kuminga, Richard and Moody all MUST be 30+ MPG from here on out. No more Podz – Podz is literally a wannabe Russ, his energy is not focused and he cannot score.
Gary, what do you think about Austin Reaves as an early Richard comp? He is so polished and ready for the big moment. Podz wilts every time. He needs to be sent to the G league or traded to a team without Steph/Jim/Dray on it.
Calling me obsessed and then going on this tirade is about as on brand for you as possible.
“Russ’ stats don’t contribute to winning until they do”
What an absolute clown.