The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly had interest in signing sharpshooter Klay Thompson recently if he were to have his contract bought out by the Dallas Mavericks. Some felt he had the ability to elevate the team's roster with his 3-point shooting, even though he has become something of a defensive liability at this point in his career.
Instead, Thompson elected to sign with the Miami Heat and play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. An argument could be made that Miami needs his outside marksmanship more than the Lakers do right now.
His father, Mychal, wanted him to join the Lakers, but to no avail. This wasn't the first time they pursued the four-time NBA champion, as they made a push to try to sign him two summers ago, only for him to say no, reportedly
because he was concerned about Anthony Davis' injury history.
The elder Thompson made an appearance on the "Locked on Heat" podcast and said that his attempts at steering the 36-year-old to the Lakers haven't worked (h/t Lakers Nation).
“What kind of influence do I have on [Klay’s] opinion? Isn’t it obvious? None,” he said. “I wanted him to be [on the] Lakers. I thought the Lakers would be perfect for him the last three years.”
He then explained why he thinks his son didn't join the Lakers and perhaps never will.
“The only thing I could figure out is, since I work for the Lakers, and I travel with the Lakers, I guess he just doesn’t want to be on the road with me, in the hotel,” he said. “He doesn’t want me knocking on his door to be checking on curfew, make sure he’s there. So I guess that’s why he figured, ‘I’m not going there to have my dad follow me on the road!’”
The elder Thompson played for the Lakers from 1987 to 1991. As a backup power forward and center, he helped them continue their Showtime dynasty until almost the end of the decade despite Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's decline, and he won back-to-back world titles with them in 1987 and 1988.
For the last two decades, he has been the team's color commentator for radio broadcasts.
The younger Thompson's 3-point shooting has slipped a bit since the ACL and Achilles injuries he suffered in 2019 and 2020, respectively. But he still made 38.3% of his 7.6 3-point tries a game last season, and he remains a very legitimate threat from beyond the arc whom opposing defenses have respect for.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Mychal Thompson on why Klay Thompson may never want to play for Lakers
