MIAMI — Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins won the 2022 NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors.
Now, they will try to win the 2027 title with the Miami Heat.
After being bought out by the Dallas Mavericks, Thompson signed a two-year deal with the Heat, reuniting with Wiggins in beautiful Miami, Florida.
Wiggins, who was traded by the Warriors to the Heat during the 2024-25 season in the blockbuster Jimmy Butler trade, opened up about being teammates with Thompson again.
“Man, you’re talking about a four-time champion,” Wiggins said about Thompson, via the Heat’s official X account. “He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve played with. To have him on the squad is gonna be amazing. He’s gonna fill the locker room with joy. On the court, everyone knows what he brings to the table.
“But man, it’s a joy to have him on the team. Klay, he’s one of one. He brings that championship mentality to the team and this is a year that we can do something special and he’s someone that can be a big part of it.”
Thompson Is Excited To Play High-Level Basketball Again
Thompson was better suited to play for the Heat than the Mavericks because Miami is a title contender and Dallas is retooling.
The Heat acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks this summer, pairing the two-time MVP with All-Star big man Bam Adebayo.
Miami also has Wiggins, Bobby Portis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Davion Mitchell.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, missed the playoffs in 2025 and 2026. They have a young building block in Cooper Flagg, who won the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year award.
However, Dallas isn’t close to competing for a championship.
After spending the first 11 years of his career with the Warriors, Thompson signed with the Mavericks in the summer of 2024 to play with stars Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Thompson’s time with Dončić was short-lived, though, as Dallas traded Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025 in what is considered the worst trade in NBA history.
The Heat now have an elite shooter for Antetokounmpo and Adebayo to kick the ball out to when they drive to the basket and collapse the paint and Thompson is eager to show the NBA world he’s still a feared shooter.
“Just the opportunity to play high-level basketball throughout the season and the chance to make a deep postseason run,” Thompson said during his introductory press conference with the Heat. “Those things were so attractive to me. … I’ve tasted winning before and there’s really nothing like it. … The opportunity to win again at a very high level was so attractive to me.”
Klay Can’t Wait To Play With Giannis
Thompson played with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in Golden State and with Irving, Dončić and Anthony Davis in Dallas.
Now, the Washington State product gets to play with Antetokounmpo, the 2021 Finals MVP who is nearly impossible to guard.
“His interior scoring is one of the best ever and his jump shot is greatly improved,” Thompson said. “Now you can’t sag off him like you used to. He will punish you and he’s just an incredible talent who has a great will to win. And I love being around guys like that who leave it out on the floor and really care about their craft. And that’s what attracted me too was just like wow, I get to play with another MVP-caliber player.”
Thompson holds career averages of 18.6 points per game in the regular season and 19.2 points per game in the playoffs. He helped the Warriors win championships in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022.
A future Hall of Famer, Thompson enters next season with 2,899 made 3-pointers. He’s fourth in NBA history in made 3s, trailing only Curry, Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden and Hall of Famer and former Heat guard Ray Allen.
