Report: The Lakers Offered D’Angelo Russell In A Klay Thompson Sign-And-Trade But The Warriors Said No

Klay Thompson seems like he’s on his way to the Dallas Mavericks. According to multiple reports, Thompson agreed to a deal to join Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and co. with the defending Western Conference champions, and while the arrangement is currently contingent on the Mavs figuring out a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors and the Charlotte Hornets, it appears that Thompson will suit up for someone else for the first time in his NBA career.

In the days leading up to the start of free agency, there was plenty of smoke surrounding Thompson and the Los Angeles Lakers, with LeBron James apparently willing to take a pay cut if it got them the future Hall of Fame inductee. According to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, the Lakers offered Thompson a deal of either three or four years which would pay him around $20 million a year. And apparently, the return that the Warriors would get for Thompson from L.A. didn’t interest them all that much.

“It was gonna take, obviously, a sign-and-trade scenario, so that had nothing to do with LeBron James’ decision to take less,” Haynes said. “It was gonna take a sign-and-trade to get Klay, and it did not, it just did not happen. I was told that it would have likely involved D’Angelo Russell being a part of a deal to get Klay, and from what I was told, the Warriors were not interested in bringing back D’Angelo Russell — remember, D’Angelo had that one year stint with them a few years ago.”

Russell spent half of the 2019-20 season with the Warriors, as the team acquired him in the deal that sent Kevin Durant to Brooklyn. The marriage just never really worked as that Warriors team lost Steph Curry early in the year and treaded water for the rest of the season, and at the trade deadline, the team sent him to the Minnesota Timberwolves.