The Los Angeles Lakers were in the running for Klay Thompson in a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors, but they eventually lost out to the Dallas Mavericks, and his father, Mychal Thompson, was disappointed by his son's choice to not play for his former team.
“I'm not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood right now,” Mychal Thompson said on SiriusXM. “You know because, I mean 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 Scal, Frank and our father used to give us advice and you know we would go our, 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, hoping, as you can assess that he would be a Laker. And it was close. It came down to the Lakers and the Mavs, with the Mavs won out. But you know me, I was hoping and praying he'd finish his career with the Lakers.”
Mychal Thompson finished his career with the Lakers, and he was hoping is son, Klay, would do the same. Instead, Klay will join Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on the Lakers. It appears Mychal was doing a sales pitch on for Los Angeles, but ultimately it was not enough to convince his son in the end.
Mychal Thompson's role in Klay Thompson's decision
Mychal then went into the role he had in Thompson's process, explaining how he attempted to convince his son to go to the Lakers instead of the Mavericks.
“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 said on SiriusXM. “Obviously 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. He grew up a Laker fan, he grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant like most players his age, most kids his age, so I just thought it seemed like it would be 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, where else would he want to play? And of course being a fan of Kobe's, 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. And I'll live with it. I accept it, and I'm happy for him that he's happy with his decision, but yeah of course I tried to sell him on the Lakers.”
Ultimately, the Lakers missed out on Thompson and he felt like the Mavericks were a better fit. It would have been a good get for Los Angeles to have Thompson help out LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but now the Lakers will have to go up against him in the Western Conference.