Klay Thompson's Dad Isn't Happy His Son Chose To Join The Mavericks, Voices His Frustration On Radio
After playing 11 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, Klay Thompson is leaving The Bay and taking his talents to Dallas after electing to sign with the Mavericks as a free agent. Mychal Thompson, Klay's father, isn't exactly happy about his son's decision.
Mychal, the first-overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, spent the final handful of years of his NBA career as a Los Angeles Laker and is currently a radio analyst for the team, so his desire for Klay to end up in LA makes sense.
Klay may be joining the reigning Western Conference champs and could be a fantastic complimentary piece to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, but his dad doesn't appear to see the big picture.
While Mychal expressing disappointment about his son's decision seems like something a father would maybe want to do in private, he elected to jump on Sirius XM radio to voice his frustrations.
"I'm not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood right now," the elder Thompson explained.
"I was hoping, hoping, as you can assess, that he would be a Laker. It was close, it came down to the Lakers and the Mavs, but the Mavs won out. But you know me, I was hoping and praying he would finish his career with the Lakers," he said.
"When he told me the Lakers were going to talk to him and the Mavs too, obviously, I tried to sell him to play for the Lakers. Obviously, that's the right thing for me to do and proper for me to do and the correct thing for me to do because I really believe in this franchise…"I just thought it seemed like the perfect fit for him to come back home because he always talked about playing for the Lakers if he was not a Golden State Warrior."
"He had a chance, and when the chance came, he chose the Mavericks instead. I'll live with it, I'll accept it, and I'm happy for him that he is happy with his decision."
Mychal showing more support for the Lakers instead of simply supporting his son's decision to join the Mavericks is a wild parenting move. It doesn't matter that Klay is a grown adult man, a dad "selling" his son to go play for the Lakers because he wanted to, and not necessarily thinking about what his son may want, is bizarre.
Klay joining a legitimate title contender at 34 instead of going to play under the shadow of LeBron James and for a first-year head coach in JJ Redick seems like a pretty smart move on paper, but don't tell his old man that.