Klay Thompson requested Stephen Curry not exert influence in free agent talks with Warriors

In the meantime, some 400 miles north, a major threat was looming. With the Warriors failing to even make the playoffs last season despite paying the most expensive roster in the league, and with veterans Klay Thompson and Chris Paul uncertain to return, Golden State turned to the biggest star on the market. The franchise engaged in a spirited effort to trade for George ahead of Saturday’s deadline for him to pick up or turn down his $48 million player option for next season. While the talks were ongoing, sources said George entertained the notion of joining Curry and the Warriors, so the Clippers had a chance to get some value in return for him. -via ESPN / July 2, 2024

Sirius XM NBA: “I’m not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood.” Mychal Thompson had hopes that his son, Klay Thompson, would join the Lakers. @champagnennuts | @TheFrankIsola | @Scalabrine pic.twitter.com/8TH9bV3Ktw -via Twitter @SiriusXMNBA / July 2, 2024

But it was now being given to Podziemski, who was 8 when Thompson hit the first of his 2,982 3s (playoffs included) for the franchise. That news didn’t land softly. Thompson ripped into Kerr and his staff, team sources said, and spent some of that day grumbling about his inevitable summer departure from the franchise. His impending free agency loomed in the background all season. -via New York Times / July 2, 2024

There was little communication between Thompson, the Warriors and Thompson’s agent, Greg Lawrence, and ultimately no offer in this cycle. Warriors sources maintained a plan to eventually make a competitive offer in relation to his market once other business was settled. But they never had the chance. Many league sources said Thompson’s decision to depart was unofficially made weeks ago. -via New York Times / July 2, 2024

It’s been a layered five-year path to this divorce, splintering last season, sprouting earlier and finalizing in the last couple weeks, where —among the conversations Thompson had, league sources said — was a request of Stephen Curry not to exert his significant organizational influence and up the temperature with management to ensure Thompson’s return. Curry’s measured voice, even if it altered the outcome, wouldn’t change the genuineness of Joe Lacob and the front office’s true desire to have Thompson back. -via New York Times / July 2, 2024

But the substantial relationship fracturing that led to this split points the microscope at upper management. Controlling owner Joe Lacob led a front-office effort to take a cold, mostly uncommunicative approach to Thompson’s next contract in his three summers of extension eligibility, team sources said, which isn’t separate from their norm. Lacob has done similar in the past with Curry, Kerr, Bob Myers, Andre Iguodala and Green, using dwindling time as a weapon but ultimately paying up (he put a substantial offer on the table for Myers) after a staring contest. -via New York Times / July 2, 2024