MIAMI — After being bought out by the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, August 21, Klay Thompson quickly found his new home, agreeing to a two-year deal with the Miami Heat.
The contract, first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania, is for $13 million and includes a player option in the second season.
Thompson met with Heat reporters in Miami on Tuesday (8/25) and spoke about why he signed with the franchise. As expected, the four-time NBA champion is excited to be competing for a championship again.
“Just the opportunity to play high-level basketball throughout the season and the chance to make a deep postseason run,” Thompson said. “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.”
Thompson appeared in 69 games for the Mavericks last season. He averaged 11.7 points per contest while shooting 39.3% from the field, 38.3% from beyond the arc and 76.6% from the free-throw line.
Heat Are Contenders, Mavericks Are Retooling
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 Andrew Wiggins, Thompson’s old teammate on the Golden State Warriors, and veterans Bobby Portis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Davion Mitchell.
The Mavericks 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, 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.
“I still think I can do it at a high level,” Thompson said.
Klay Is Excited 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, James Harden and Ray Allen.
