Klay Thompson’s final season with the Warriors was full of ups and downs. He showed flashes of the same old Klay and knocked down 38.7 percent of his 3s, but he also shot Golden State out of games.

At times, Steve Kerr had to bring Thompson off the bench or close with different units due to the star’s inconsistency. That scenario is starting to repeat in Dallas. 

The Mavericks hoped that a better fit with Luka Doncic could rejuvenate Thompson. What they’re finding instead is that, at 34 years old, last season’s version of Thompson is who he is. He’s still able to do a lot of great things on the court, but he may no longer be a starter on a championship team.

While Thompson is clinging onto that starting role for now, he may be better coming off the bench. 

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Klay Thompson stats

Thompson is still shooting 36.6 percent from 3 this season while averaging 13.0 points per game. Those aren’t bad numbers, but they’re not what we’re used to when it comes to him. That 3-point percentage is the worst of his career and his scoring is the lowest it’s been since his rookie year. 

Dive deeper into Thompson’s offense, and there are more worrying signs. His overall field goal percentage is just 38.9 percent, another career-low. He’s had no lift on his layups, hitting just 56 percent of those shots. That conversion rate ranks in the bottom eighth percentile of guards, per Cleaning the Glass.

Even in his diminished state, Thompson is still a good player worthy of getting minutes. He opens the floor up for teammates and is still guarded like he’s one of the best shooters in the league. But the Mavericks have better options that should be playing ahead of him.

Quentin Grimes and Naji Marshall have brought more consistent two-way play at Thompson’s position. At some point, they may take his starting spot and never relinquish it. 

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Why Klay Thompson is better off the bench

Grimes and Marshall may still not be better players in a vacuum than Thompson, but they do work better with the starters. 

“Klay has been an awkward fit so far,” an Eastern Conference executive told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “Derrick Jones [Jr.] shot the ball better and played better D for them last year.”

The hope was Thompson could come in and hit wide-open catch-and-shoot 3s while playing alongside Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Grimes has been a much better shooter, hitting 42.3 percent from deep. Marshall has been in a shooting slump but has contributed a little bit of everything else. 

Additionally, Grimes and Marshall have been better defenders. The Mavs are a good defense, ranked eighth overall. That is in spite of Thompson, who grades out as a below-average defender in advanced metrics like Estimated Plus-Minus and on-off stats. 

Thompson can still ramp up the intensity from time to time, particularly against forwards and bigger players. He had some impressive stints against Victor Wembanyama earlier in the season, for example, and his effort has been generally good. But he can’t hang with the speediest guards anymore.

Doncic is also a poor defender, and Irving usually waits until the playoffs before really ramping it up. That makes the three of them tough to play together. 

The Mavs have still won all of the minutes when Doncic, Irving and Thompson share the court, but they’ve been a lot better with just two out of the three, per PBP Stats.

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Thompson’s fit issues were evidenced during the four games in which he was out with plantar fasciitis. The Mavs went 4-0 during that stretch, outscoring opponents by 43 points. 

The Mavericks went 3-0 after Thompson returned from his injury, but those wins came less impressively against bottom-feeders in the Wizards and Raptors along with the Grizzlies. Thompson averaged 22 minutes in those contests, looking better in a more limited role.

More tellingly, Thompson was pulled for the last nine minutes of that 121-116 win over Memphis. That’s not the first time Jason Kidd has gone to a more defensive-oriented closing lineup in a tight game. 

Thompson has had several seasons where he’s started slowly, and his mediocre play will be totally forgotten if he turns it up during the playoffs. For now, though, it is looking more and more likely he will have to embrace a bench role sooner rather than later.

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