Klay Thompson's time as one of the best players in the NBA appears to be coming to an end, and at times, this precipitous decline has been painful to watch. The Golden State Warriors have even accepted this new reality, with head coach Steve Kerr opting to leave Thompson on the bench to close out their 109-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets in favor of rookie forward Gui Santos, who gave the team some much-needed help on the glass and on defense.

Thompson's decline has been a bit sad to witness for Warriors fans; he has been as big a part of their dynasty as anyone not named Stephen Curry, and the idea of the Splash Brothers' split won't exactly be a welcome one for longtime Dubs fans to embrace. Nevertheless, notorious pundit Kendrick Perkins believes that a change of scenery may be what's necessary as the two parties come to realize that going their separate ways may be what's for the best.

“I don't understand why the Warriors won't stop the bleeding. Trade Klay Thompson. I don't think that he's done, I think he's mentally not there. This is probably gonna be his last opportunity to get his big bag,” Perkins said on ESPN's First Take.

However, Kendrick Perkins, contrary to popular belief, doesn't think that Thompson is done impacting winning at the highest level. He believes that Thompson has merely ran out of steam with the Warriors, and that a new team could help bring out the remaining high-caliber of basketball in the 33-year old shooting guard.

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“In a world where people wanna call him washed and people wanna say he's done, he has nothing left in the tank. I honestly don't believe that,” Perkins added.

Still, it doesn't seem likely that the Warriors will trade Klay Thompson away anytime soon; it's not an easy thing to just give up on someone who's been with the team through the good and the bad (mostly good), and it's not like Thompson's value on the trade market would net them an impact player that would help turn around their season. But crazier things have happened in the NBA in the past.