Klay Thompson’s debut was fun!
The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Utah Jazz 107-102 Thursday night in Dallas, dropping the Mavericks to 0-2 in the preseason. It wasn’t the cleanest of games, with the Mavericks having 17 turnovers with Luka Doncic still on the shelf, but some stuff happened!
Daniel Gafford dunked a lot in the third quarter, and ended up leading the Mavericks in scoring with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Gafford and Dereck Lively combined for five blocks, while Kyrie Irving made his preseason debut and looked as smooth as ever.
But really, the highlight of the night was Klay Thompson playing basketball in a Dallas uniform. He scored 10 points in 18 minutes, and moved around and defended well. However, there was one stat that stood out the most.
3: Klay Thompson’s assists
Klay Thompson is one of the greatest shooters of all time, and has had some prolific scoring moments, like that one time he scored 37 points in a single quarter back in 2015.
Thompson isn’t known much for his passing, averaging 2.3 assists per game so far in his 11-year career. He’s much more known for putting the ball through the hoop, although don’t discount his passing chops. Thompson uses his shooting gravity in interesting ways to open up avenues for his teammates to score, and he showed that off in his Dallas debut.
In 18 minutes, Thompson racked up three assists, including this beauty to Dereck Lively after setting a screen for Kyrie Irving.
Klay as a screener. You will see a lot of this. pic.twitter.com/synrZn3X9Q
— Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) October 11, 2024
Thompson also had another nice pass off a pindown screen in the first half, although it didn’t result in a basket. This is a dynamic of the Mavericks offense that has never really existed because the Mavericks only other true movement shooter before this, Tim Hardaway Jr., wasn’t much of a passer.
No one will confuse Thompson for Chris Paul, but this will be a weapon the Mavericks can utilize. As Dallas figures out ways to lessen the load on Luka Doncic, plays like the ones Thompson made will be crucial in diversifying the Mavericks offense. It was only one half of one preseason game, but it was still encouraging to see.