The Athletic: As Klay Thompson climbs 3-point list, his love for the game keeps him going
What keeps the Mavericks' guard going in the later stages of his career? "I love shooting the basketball," Thompson said.
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DALLAS — Klay Thompson was in his fourth NBA season when the Golden State Warriors advanced to the 2015 NBA Finals. The Warriors, who won 67 regular-season games, knocked off the Cleveland Cavaliers in a six-game series to win the first of four titles they’d capture in an eight-year span.
At the start of their dynastic run, a grade-school kid in Newport, Maine, was watching. Cooper Flagg was drawn to the way the Warriors moved the ball and bombed away from 3 with abandon.
“He told me he was 9 years old when he watched me in the 2015 NBA Finals,” said Thompson, who became teammates with Flagg after the Mavericks improbably won the NBA Draft lottery in May. “That puts so much in perspective. I feel so honored to be out here still playing at a high level.”
Thompson is in a different stage of his career now. Since early November, he’s been coming off the bench for a Mavericks team that is likely headed toward the lottery for a second straight year. But the 35-year-old shooting guard is still capable of catching fire from behind the arc, and he’s still setting records.
On Thursday, in the Mavericks’ 144-122 win over the Utah Jazz, Thompson nailed six 3s, which allowed him to pass Damian Lillard for fourth place on the NBA’s all-time 3-pointers made list.
Thompson has 2,809 3-point makes in his career. Only his former teammate, Stephen Curry (4,201), LA Clippers guard James Harden (3,293) and Hall of Famer Ray Allen (2,973) are ahead of him.
“I wouldn’t be here without Reggie Miller and Ray Allen,” Thompson said. “I watched those two religiously as a teenager. Especially their ability to move off the ball and read and react to screens. And to take the clutch shots in the most pressurized moment. Those two guys were the standard for the shooting guard for me. Just to be on a list with them is surreal. I really, really loved their games growing up. They really inspired me to be the player I am today.”
Thompson passed Reggie Miller on the 3-pointers made list on Dec. 25, 2024. Coincidentally, that was the last time Thompson played alongside Luka Dončić, who exited that game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a left calf strain and was traded weeks later while he was still recovering.
The Dončić trade ruined any hopes Thompson had of competing for a fifth championship, which was his goal when he signed a three-year, $50 million deal in the 2024 offseason.
If one of the worst transactions in pro sports history soured Thompson’s attitude at all, he hasn’t shown it. He was one of the Mavericks’ most durable players last season, appearing in 72 games. That’s been the case again this season, when he’s played in 39 of 42 games.
Thompson said his child-like joy for the game is one of the fuel sources that keeps him going.
“I love shooting the basketball,” Thompson said. “I was very lucky to grow up with a hoop in my driveway. A really nice one. Breakaway rim. Big backboard. It was always my source of joy and form of escapism for me to get away from school work or whatever chores I had that day. It was like my favorite hobby to just go hear the net swish.
“The fact that it’s amounted to this is incredible and inspires me to keep going. I have many years left. But it’s truly just because I love shooting the basketball so much. It’s always been my favorite thing to do.”
Realistically, Thompson could climb as high as third on the all-time 3s made list. Allen is 164 3s ahead of him. Thompson said passing another one of his idols would be a major accomplishment.
“I watched him so much growing up,” Thompson said. “I was able to meet him my rookie year. That conversation we had inspired me to be the player I am today.”
Observing Allen in his prime years made a mark on Thompson, whose Warriors teams were also hugely influential.
“I was a Warriors fan,” Flagg said Monday. “It was just entertaining basketball. The one team was probably one of the greatest teams of all time, if not the greatest. Just entertaining basketball. Modernizing the game. Shooting the ball at such a high level. Those guys — Steph and Klay — it was just entertaining.”
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Christian Clark is an NBA reporter for The Athletic who is based in Dallas. Previously, he covered the New Orleans Pelicans for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Follow Christian on Twitter @christianpclark
