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Does Klay Thompson provide a boost for Dallas? | The Kevin O’Connor Show

Yahoo Sports NBA analyst Kevin O'Connor and NBA contributor Tom Haberstroh discuss the outlook for the Mavericks guard this season - his first with the team following 11 seasons in Golden State. Hear the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

I think the consensus overall has been that the Mavericks got better here this off season.

I don't think it's some guarantee Klay Thompson love him Hall of Famer, still a great shooter, but no longer an elite shooter.

At least, statistically, if you pull up Clay's numbers preinjury, he was 41.5% from three in the playoffs.

That's dropped to 37.8% in the playoffs since the injury, his percentages in the regular season have also dropped too.

So you Warriors fans became frustrated with his shot shot selection.

He became more erratic, more midrange jumpers, more me first shots.

The Warriors didn't want to overpay for good reason and Dallas got him on a fair contract, but it's not like the Mavericks are getting prime clay.

So there's a lot of talk about Klay Thompson as the Ray Allen for this team.

Ray Allen was 37 when he was with the Miami Heat.

37 Klay Thompson is over 40% from three.

His last couple of years with be with Boston and he was coming off the bench and so he was able to play 20 minutes and be really good in those 20 minutes and he closed games for them for sure.

But I don't think people realize like how good Ray Allen was like the idea of Ray Allen, I think they, they envision like late stage Boston Celtics, Miami Heat Ray Allen.

This dude could do so much more than just shoot.

And so Klay Thompson, I think he's gonna be able to get those corner threes from Luka Danic and the, and the Dallas Mavericks created more corner threes than any team in the NBA last year during the regular season.

But Klay Thompson is like mediocre ish from the corner.

He's not in that elite, elite category that he needs to be to make himself worth that contract.