The Dallas Mavericks made a big addition on Monday by agreeing to a 3-year, $50 million deal with future Hall of Famer Klay Thompson, who chose less money and fewer years to come to the Mavericks over the Los Angeles Lakers. Thompson grew up in L.A. as his father Mychal won two championships with the Lakers in the late 1980s. The elder Thompson isn’t pleased with his son’s choice of going to the Mavs over the Lakers.
On Tuesday, Mychal Thompson appeared on “The Starting Lineup,” a radio show on the Sirius XM NBA network, and was asked about his initial thoughts on Klay’s signing with the Mavs and had some surprising comments about the decision.
“I’m not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood right now,” Mychal Thompson would start. “Obviously, it’s Klay’s decision, it’s his life, he’s a grown man, 34 years of age just like we were 34 at one time… and our fathers used to give us advice and we would go 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’d finish his career with the Lakers.”
READ MORE: Warriors’ Klay Thompson Chooses Dallas Mavericks Over Los Angeles Lakers
Mychal would later be asked how close the decision was and if he was involved in the decision-making process for Klay at all, to which he responded “When he told me that the Lakers were going to talk to him, and the Mavs too, obviously I tried to sell playing for the Lakers. That’s the right thing for me to do and the proper thing for me to do… I really believe in this franchise and this franchise has been so good to me and my family, including Klay. He grew up a Lakers fan. He grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant, like most players his age… So I just thought it seemed like the perfect fit for him to finally come back home, because we always talked about him playing for the Lakers if he was not a Golden State Warrior… When the chance came, he chose the Mavericks instead and I’ll live with it.”
Mychal Thompson calls games for the LA Lakers on the radio and it likely would’ve been a dream come true for him to see his son play for the franchise he had so much success with. Klay believed he had a better chance of winning with the Mavericks and that’s mainly what his decision came down to. It had to be hard for Klay to turn down the chance to play for the team he grew up cheering for.
READ MORE: Warriors’ Stephen Curry Comments on Klay Thompson Leaving For Dallas Mavericks
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