The Miami Heat have already made one headline-grabbing move this offseason by trading for former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and they’re not done shopping. After also missing out on LeBron James, Miami has shifted its focus toward veteran help, with Klay Thompson now firmly on the radar.
Thompson has become a name to watch in league circles, and Miami is one of the teams that keeps coming up. As The Athletic’s Christian Clark wrote, “My understanding is that Thompson would welcome a return to Los Angeles, where he spent part of his childhood and still owns a home. The Miami Heat are another team frequently mentioned in NBA circles as a potential landing spot for the future Hall of Famer.”
For now, a trade looks more realistic than a buyout. The Dallas Mavericks have not been eager to go down that road, according to The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer.
“To this point Dallas has not been looking to find a buyout agreement with Klay Thompson…the Mavericks have been very hesitant, to my understanding, of actually moving forward and agreeing to a buyout with Klay Thompson," Fischer said. "This market that is shaping up for him, the fact that there is some L.A. interest, the fact that there is Miami interest, there's probably other teams that have interest in Klay Thompson as well.”
That’s where a three-team deal enters the picture. Heavy.com’s Alder Almo laid out a possible blockbuster in which Miami lands Thompson, Dallas gets Bennedict Mathurin on a four-year, $90 million sign-and-trade contract, and the Clippers receive Nikola Jovic, Miami’s 2027 second-round pick and Dallas’ 2032 second-round pick.
For Miami, the appeal is obvious. The Heat need shooting, and Thompson still brings the kind of perimeter threat that can change how defenses have to play. He’s a four-time NBA champion, one of the best shooters the league has ever seen, and a player who could wind up in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Thompson has made $298 million in contracts over his career, and a move to Miami would give the Heat another proven offensive weapon as they try to build around Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.
In Other News...
Mavericks Face An Early Dusty May Test They Cannot Afford To Fail
The Mavericks are heading into the 2026-27 season with little room for a slow start, and the early schedule will say plenty about how ready they are to move past a rough year. Dallas opens with five of its first eight games against playoff teams from the previous season, a stiff opening stretch for a club trying to reset under new head coach Dusty May after a 56-loss campaign that left plenty to clean up.
The context around that early test only adds to the pressure. Kyrie Irvings ACL injury and the trade of Anthony Davis helped define a difficult 2025-26 season, and the Mavericks now have to prove that the new direction can produce something sturdier than last years instability. May does not need October to decide the season, but he does need the team to show signs quickly that another down year is not already taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Face A Real Brandon Williams Problem If He Walks
Dallas has spent the summer trying to make sure its backcourt does not get too thin, and the work has already included bringing in Sergio De Larrea and Marcus Sasser. Those additions give the Mavericks some structure behind the starting group, but they are more about adding options than solving everything at once, especially with Brandon Williams still sitting in unrestricted free agency.
Williams remains the tricky part of the equation because his production from last season is not something Dallas can simply assume will be replaced by committee. The front office is preparing for that possibility, and the concern is not just depth for depths sake, but whether the roster can absorb another loss in a spot where the market has already begun to stir. [Read more 🡒]
Dereck Livelys Return Has Created A Mavericks Problem They Didnt Expect
Dereck Lively IIs road back is already looking more complicated than the Mavericks probably hoped when the offseason began. The young center is recovering from a right foot injury that required two major surgeries, and even with training camp approaching, he is not expected to be fully healthy right away. For Dallas, that creates an unusual holdover from the last roster build: the team has a promising big man working his way back, but not necessarily back into the same role he left.
The wrinkle is that the job may not be waiting for him. Daniel Gafford is still on Dallas roster, which means Livelys return could come with a backup assignment rather than a straightforward slide back into the starting lineup. How quickly he gets there, and whether roster moves change the equation, remains unsettled, leaving the Mavericks to manage both his recovery and the shape of the frontcourt at the same time. [Read more 🡒]