Klay Thompson’s departure from Warriors was hiding in plain sight

The friction between Klay Thompson and the Warriors didn’t just start this summer when negotiations got tough. It couldn’t have.

While Thompson maintained close relationships with some of the most important figures in the organization — Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr — it’s clear that things were off all year. So much so that the four-time champion reportedly decided to join the Dallas Mavericks.

Thompson will still have his No. 11 jersey hung in the Chase Center rafters. He’ll still one day have a statue outside the arena alongside Curry and Green. He’ll always mean so much to the franchise; the clutch playoff performances, the fighting through injuries, the unique personality, and the embracing of the Bay Area won’t be forgotten.

Without him, there is no Game 6 Klay. No Splash Bros. No banners.

Yet after 13 years Thompson left for less money than the Warriors once offered him and for as uncertain a role in Dallas. For a fresh start.

All the history couldn’t mask what crystallized, bit by bit, as his Warriors tenure winded down: Thompson was no longer the hand-in-glove fit in the organization he was for more than a decade.

Only Thompson could know when the real issues started, and when they reached a breaking point. Since 2019, when he blew out his ACL — and tried to play through it — in the NBA Finals, he and the Warriors have been strapped next to each other in an emotional rollercoaster.

No one would be the same after recovering for a year from knee surgery only to suffer a torn Achilles, the most damaging injury a basketball player can go through. More than two-and-a-half years separated his last moments in the 2019 Finals from his return to the court in 2021, when he snarled after dunking over the Cavaliers.

In those 941 days, there were long days alone. Heat and ice and stretching and therapy. A mental hurdle of playing full five-on-five and self-doubt.

Thompson’s character and toughness were never in doubt. Golden State gave him a five-year, $190 million extension while he was sidelined. Thompson returned and played a key role in Golden State’s 2022 title, but at some point between then and now, things started to erode.

Thompson rejected the Warriors’ reported two-year, $48 million extension before this season. Although the average annual salary is at least market rate, the terms clearly weren’t palatable to the franchise icon. He’d just seen the team commit four years to Draymond Green (and Jordan Poole) the summer before.

Once an elite defender, Thompson’s injuries made him such a minus on that end that the team figured he’d be best suited guarding opposing team’s power forwards when possible. A slow start to the season bubbled frustrations. It’s easy to forget that Green’s infamous Rudy Gobert chokehold was precipitated by Thompson losing his cool at halfcourt with Jaden McDaniels.

Thompson first lost his automatic spot in the closing lineup, then lost his spot in the starting lineup. He grappled with his basketball mortality, as Steve Kerr said.

“To go from (being) one of the best players — it’s hard for anybody, I’ll be honest with you,” Thompson said after getting benched in the fourth quarter against the Nets on Feb. 5.

Even in a trying year, Thompson still rallied. He was still valuable. He made the fourth-most 3s in the league, at a 38.7% clip, and played 77 games. He still took his boat to work, even bringing teammates aboard. He still found time to spend a day on the beach in Miami, searching for the sense of peace, some zen state, that he had found over the years — only this time as his status quo around him was crumbling.

Curry, Kerr and Green each publicly vouched for Thompson, expressing the importance of keeping the dynastic core together, in Warriors jerseys for the rest of their careers.

But what is now the end of Thompson’s career in Golden State felt different.

The playoff hero’s last game in blue and gold was an 0-for-10 donut in the play-in game. He lingered on the Golden 1 Center court after the loss and spun around, soaking in possibly the most inglorious performance of his life. He left the arena before the locker room opened to reporters.

A day later, he began his end-of-season press conference by making a sharp, strange point when asked about what’s next.

“We don’t want to talk about the season first?” Thompson said. “Talk about the future? That’s a lot of games played, man. Pretty big accomplishment. What’s up with y’all not wanting to live in the present, man? It’s ridiculous.”

He may or may not have already known his future then. If not, the Warriors’ order of operations this offseason that prioritized trying to find a trade with Chris Paul’s guaranteed contract over Thompson probably didn’t help. But even if negotiations never got off the ground, the organization can’t shoulder the blame; the Warriors offered a quite fair contract before the season.

By leaving, Thompson did what he thinks is best for him. The way the last couple years played out, it was fairly clear that what was best for him wasn’t going to be with Golden State.