Klay Thompson’s first night back in Golden State as a member of the Heat didn’t come close to matching the kind of burst he showed just 24 hours earlier.
After going off for his first 30-point game since leaving the Bay Area and drilling a buzzer-beating three to sink the Clippers on Wednesday, Thompson was held to 11 points in 23 minutes Thursday in a 20-point loss to his old team. He shot 3-of-10 from the field and couldn’t recreate the late-game magic that had defined the previous night.
Even so, Thompson sounded upbeat after the game, and he said he feels better now than he did during his two seasons in Dallas.
“Yes, most definitely,” Thompson replied. “I get to play in a place I really enjoy living, and I’m near family (in the Bahamas).
This organization has got me in a great spot, and I’m very happy. I’m mentally in a really much better place.”
That’s a notable shift for Thompson, who left the Warriors in 2024 and joined the Mavericks after deciding to break up the dynasty core with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr still in place. Dallas had just been to the NBA Finals, and Thompson hoped to keep that momentum going alongside Luka Doncic.
Instead, Doncic was hurt early and then traded to the Lakers in February. Thompson spent two seasons with a Mavericks team that slid out of contention and drew the ire of its own fan base before he reached a buyout agreement and landed with Miami this summer.
Curry said seeing Thompson in another uniform still feels strange.
“It’s always great to see him having fun,” Curry said. “But then we obviously wanted to come in and shut off his water tonight. It’s still surreal playing against him, and it’s going to be that way because we’ve gone through so many battles together.”
Miami’s rotation picture also keeps shifting around Thompson. Andrew Wiggins was back in the starting lineup Thursday after being benched for the final 5:04 and all of overtime on Wednesday, but he was again outplayed by reserve wing Pelle Larsson. Wiggins is averaging a career-low 8.6 points per game, and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald noted that Larsson has been far more effective than Wiggins alongside the other four starters.
Another change appears to be coming in the second unit. Veteran guard Tim Hardaway Jr., one of Miami’s offseason additions, seems to have been bumped by rookie Ryan Conwell. Hardaway played just seven minutes Wednesday and four Thursday, while Conwell was one of the first players off the bench in the latest game and finished with 13 points and two assists in 29 minutes.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said the move is being driven by matchups and the kind of pressure certain opponents put on the ball.
“I feel for Tim right now because it’s not really about him,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not necessarily anybody in that second unit right now.
We’re just facing some teams that have multiple ball handlers and point of attack guys. That was a good lineup for us yesterday when we had (Davion Mitchell) and Ryan out there together.
It wasn’t really moving the needle for us tonight, so that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
And in another Heat-related note, Doc Rivers discussed Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Bill Simmons podcast, calling the Milwaukee star difficult to coach because of the way he plays.
“He’s not easy. He plays at this crazy downhill pace,” Rivers said, who spent two-and-a-half seasons with Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.
“He’s really a difficult guy. He has this great passing ability, but he doesn’t have a super-high IQ at the same time.
He really has only one way of playing. Every play, he wants to force it.
I wish he’d learned how to execute better.”
In Other News...
Klay Thompson Just Gave Warriors Fans A First They Never Saw
Klay Thompson keeps finding new ways to add to a career that already had a long list of big moments, and this one came in a uniform Warriors fans never expected to see him wear. Playing for the Miami Heat, Thompson delivered his first career game-winning three-pointer in the final five seconds, lifting Miami to a 117-116 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and adding another late-game chapter to a rsum that was already packed with clutch shots and playoff memories from Golden State.
For Warriors fans, the odd part is how long they watched Thompson thrive in the biggest moments without ever getting this exact finish. He scored 30 points in the game and helped carry the Heat alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, but the lasting image was the shot at the buzzer-window, the kind of moment that somehow had never happened before for one of the leagues most familiar sharpshooters. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Rumor Could Reshape Steph Currys Final Title Chase
The Warriors are already being linked to one of the biggest names in the league, and the idea says plenty about how they view the next phase of Stephen Currys run. With injuries again testing the roster and the front office looking for ways to keep the team in the title mix, Golden State is reportedly keeping an eye on Nikola Jokic as a possible target next summer.
It is the kind of speculation that instantly changes the conversation around Currys final championship chase, because a player of Jokics caliber would reshape the ceiling of the roster in a major way. The uncertainty around Jokics long-term future in Denver, including delayed extension talks and the possibility of free agency, is what makes the rumor worth watching, even if the path to getting him is anything but simple. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Still Have One Big Center Question As Graham Ike Waits
The Warriors are still sorting through their center options, and the picture remains unsettled even as the season moves along. Draymond Green, Al Horford, Charles Bassey and Graham Ike all sit in the mix, giving Golden State a few different looks but no clear long-term answer in the middle. Bassey helped himself with a promising recent showing, which at least gave the staff something tangible to weigh as it keeps evaluating the rotation.
Ike, meanwhile, remains the name to watch because he has not had enough floor time to really establish whether he can be part of the solution. The Warriors would still like to reshape the position before the trade deadline, with the goal of moving Kristaps Porzingis contract and turning that into a more dependable center option. For now, though, the search continues, and the uncertainty at the spot is still one of the more important roster issues hanging over the team. [Read more 🡒]