Klay Thompson has finally debuted with his new team, the <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/nba-dallas-mavericks-winning-streak-ends-abruptly/" title="NBA: Dallas Mavericks winning streak ends abruptly”>Dallas Mavericks. It will be difficult for us to get used to it after seeing him so many times in the Golden State Warriors.
However, this is a new beginning for him where he aims to win a new championship ring, and incidentally, or more importantly, enjoy basketball again. In the Warriors he seemed to have forgotten. But in the Mavs he has a nice challenge before him. Although his path will not be easy. But a path that, after all, has already begun, as so many Mavs fans were waiting for.
His debut finally came in the 107-102 defeat against the Utah Jazz where he started. Although losing was the least of it. Thompson had been nervous for several days now, and he was finally able to get rid of what was worrying him so much.
“I haven’t been this nervous, I think, since the Game 1 of the 2015 Finals,” Thompson told the outlet ESPN. «It just felt good to play and let go of all those nerves. It has been a new experience, and it is a normal feeling after spending so much time in one place and now I am in another. Finally putting on the Mavs uniform. “It has been a fantastic experience,” he highlighted.
In 18 minutes he scored 10 points and distributed 3 assists by going 3/5 in triples. His great specialty with a career average of 42% in almost 800 official matches played.
“I’m very excited to live this new chapter,” Klay admitted. «It’s going to be very special. “I’m sure,” he added.
The guard wore number 31 instead of his usual 11, since it is in the possession of his new teammate Kyrie Irving. He has precisely chosen this new number in honor of Reggie Miller, his favorite player from childhood.
And this new number has its own, since the last one to wear it was Jason Terry, who helped the Mavs to play in the Finals in 2006 and later to get the long-awaited ring in 2011.
“The fact that he also put a headband on his head fills me with joy,” admitted the aforementioned Jason Terry. «All I told him is that he just has to make his shots. That’s all. Do your numbers. That was it. And it will. I think he has a lot to prove here. He’s obviously accomplished some historic things in Golden State. But he has to turn the page and look for a new chapter, and leave another legacy in Dallas,” he explained.
Klay Thompson has spent the first 13 years of his NBA career in Golden State where he was a fundamental part of their four championship rings, forming the lethal “Splash Brothers” alongside Stephen Curry. But this summer he has chosen to join the Mavs, already a little tired of the Golden State project, signing for 3 years and 50 million dollars.
(Cover photo: Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
