Klay Thompson’s decision to leave the Warriors to agree to sign with the Dallas Mavericks stings deep for everyone invested.
In the minority, however, is Klay’s father Mychal. The older Thompson is emotional like Steph Curry, Dub Nation and NBA fans everywhere, but not because Klay left Golden State. Instead, Mychal is upset because Klay didn’t agree to join the Los Angeles Lakers for his next chapter.
Mychal, a former Laker, joined NBA Radio’s Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine Tuesday on “The Starting Lineup” and explained why he isn’t all too thrilled about Klay spurning Los Angeles to form a star-studded trio with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving in Dallas.
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"Hold your congratulations, Frank and Scal,” Mychal said. “I'm not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood right now. Obviously, it's Klay's decision, it's his life, he's a grown man at 34 years of age. We were 34 at one time and our fathers would give us advice and we would choose our own path. And that's fine, that's what life is supposed to be about, but I'm really disappointed.
“I was hoping, as you can assess, that he would be a Laker. It was close, it came down to the Lakers and the Mavs, but the Mavs won out. But you know me, I was hoping and praying he would finish his career with the Lakers.”
"I'm not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood."
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) July 2, 2024
Mychal Thompson had hopes that his son, Klay Thompson, would join the Lakers.@champagnennuts | @TheFrankIsola | @Scalabrine pic.twitter.com/8TH9bV3Ktw
Mychal’s “disappointment” comes from his rich ties to the Lakers franchise.
Golden State Warriors
He played with Los Angeles for the last five seasons of his 14-year NBA career and was a two-time NBA champion with the “Showtime” Lakers. Currently, he serves as a Lakers radio host.
Mychal has nothing but good things to say about the Lakers -- he is probably the minority about that, too -- and tried hard to convince Klay to dawn the Purple and Gold during the 2024-25 NBA season.
"When he told me that the Lakers were talking to him, or going to talk to him, and the Mavs too, obviously I tried to sell playing for the Lakers,” Mychal added. “That's the right thing for me to do and the proper thing for me to do.
“And I felt like it was the correct thing for me to do because I really believe in this franchise. The franchise has been so good to me and my family, including Klay.”
It is great that Mychal is proud to be associated with the Lakers. But as he mentioned, this entire decision-making process was Klay’s, and Klay’s only.
And when it came down to it, the legendary Golden State guard felt Dallas best suited his needs for the future over Los Angeles.
Mychal believes he’ll eventually get over his son’s free-agent decision. However, he couldn’t help but reminisce about Klay in his youth and when the Thompson family strictly was about the City of Angels.
"He grew up a Lakers fan, [and] he grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant like most kids his age, so I just thought it seemed to be the perfect fit for him to come back home,” Mychal said. “We had always talked about him playing for the Lakers if he was not a Golden State Warrior. Of course, being a fan of Kobe, he would have loved to have played for the Lakers.
"But he had a chance, and when the chance came, he chose the Mavericks instead. I'll live with it, I accept it and I'm happy for him that he's happy with his decision, but of course, I tried to sell him on the Lakers."
While evaluating Klay’s departure, Warriors fans likely are happy that he refused to be a Laker -- and that has to count for something.
Mychal, meanwhile, will be bummed out for quite a while that his son chose not to follow his father's footsteps to Hollywood.