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Dieter Kurtenbach: Why I'm not worried about the Warriors losing Klay Thompson (and other Dubs thoughts)

Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News on

Published in Basketball

Warriors fans might be fretting, but Golden State shouldn’t fear Klay Thompson going onto the open market in free agency.

That’s because I don’t expect Thompson to find the kind of big-money, long-term deal he wants from the rest of the league.

There are only five teams with salary cap space of $30 million or more coming into the season — enough space to sign Thompson to that big-money deal he wants: Detroit, Philadelphia, Utah, Oklahoma City and Orlando.

Are any of those teams going to use that cap space on Thompson?

More importantly, are they keen to spend on him for three or four seasons?

I don’t see it.

 

Thompson would have zero interest in going to Detroit — no matter the number. I don’t think Detroit would be interested in him, either. The same is probably true in Utah.

Orlando is being held up as a possibility — the Magic need a 3-point shooter. But there’s no evidence of traction there.

It’s also hard to see Oklahoma City viewing Thompson as a game-changing piece, particularly after trading for Alex Caruso. Plus, you know Thompson would be a bench player for the Thunder.

The team that should elicit some concern from Dubs fans is Philadelphia. But Thompson isn’t even close to the Sixers’ first choice in a use-it-or-lose-it offseason. They have the cap space and the draft picks to go big-game hunting — Thompson is no longer big game.

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