No matter what happens between now and the end of his career, Klay Thompson will always be remembered as one of the greatest three-point shooters of all time. Next to Stephen Curry with the Golden State Warriors, Thompson achieved numerous accolades and records with his perimeter shot. Now, he is doing the same with the Dallas Mavericks.
Despite losing to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, Thompson made history on Halloween by making his 2,500th career three-point shot. Thompson is just the sixth player in NBA history to achieve this feat, and he became the second-fastest player in league history to reach this milestone in 798 total games. The only player to do it faster was Steph Curry in 702 games.
In a total of 30 minutes against the Rockets, Klay scored 12 points on 2-of-9 shooting from deep.
To get to this point in his career has been a huge achievement for Klay. After tearing his ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals when he was with the Warriors, it seemed like Thompson's career was coming to an end because he then tore his Achilles on the opposite leg while getting back into form from his knee injury.
Dark times clouded Thompson's future, yet he remained resilient and was able to get back on the floor and win his fourth championship with Golden State in 2022. Now that he is with the Mavericks, Klay is looking to to complete the set of championship rings on one hand with his fifth title.
Klay Thompson's impact with Mavericks
So far, Thompson's start with the Mavericks has been everything the organization has hoped for. Through five games, the five-time All-Star is averaging 15.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while shooting 38.8 percent from three-point range.
While these may not be the numbers we were always accustomed to seeing from Thompson during his Golden State days, he is a new type of player alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Klay no longer has to be his team's top option from the perimeter, which makes life a lot easier for him against other teams in the league since they aren't giving him the most attention.
Aside from making things a lot more simple for the Mavericks as a whole, having Luka and Kyrie by his side is making things more simple for Thompson.
“It was great to be out there with Luka,” Thompson said recently. “What incredible talent. It doesn't make any sense 'cause what we're taught growing up as far as being the best basketball players is you gotta jump the highest [and] run the fastest. But somehow, Luka defies that, plays at his own speed, and manipulates the game as good as I've ever seen anyone do it.”
As things stand early on, Thompson and the Mavs find themselves 3-2 on the season. Their next chance to pick up a victory and remain in the conversation for the top spot in the West will be on Sunday against the Orlando Magic.
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