BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Klay Thompson's legacy was secured long ago. He was part of four championship teams with Golden State, is one of the best shooters the NBA has ever seen, holds the league's single-game record for 3-pointers made and is surely headed to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
He wants more.
And that's why the Miami Heat pounced quickly when the 36-year-old Thompson was bought out by the Dallas Mavericks over the summer. They're convinced
that Thompson still has much to offer and will flourish on a new-look Heat with Giannis Antetokounmpo teaming up with Bam Adebayo.
“I want to be able to look back one day and say I gave it everything I had,” Thompson said Tuesday after his first training camp practice with the Heat, held at Florida Atlantic University. “And I think being with the Heat, it gives me that opportunity. They’re wholly committed to winning. And I've said this before: winning trumps any individual performance I’ve ever had. To be a part of a season of chasing that goal is special.”
Thompson's resume is almost beyond compare.
He's made at least 200 3-pointers in a season 11 times; that's second-most in NBA history behind his former Golden State teammate and “Splash Brother” Stephen Curry, who has 12 such seasons. With 2,899 career 3s, he's only 74 behind former Heat guard Ray Allen for No. 3 on the all-time list — and 101 away from the 3,000-made milestone, something only Curry and James Harden have surpassed.
And here's one that not everyone might expect: Thompson — even without being a full-time starter — is also the only player in the NBA with at least 200 made 3s in each of the last four seasons. He made 202 last season in Dallas, despite playing a career-low 21.7 minutes per game.
“What Klay’s done in this league, I think should be celebrated and respected in our locker room — which it is," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We can take from those experiences. And I think also he can be excited about this possibility of a new experience to be able to create hopefully something similar, but in a different way and a different locker room and different culture.”
The general perception is that Thompson will play a role similar to what Allen played in the Heat era that featured LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. If defenders help off Thompson, it's likely that they'll pay by leaving one of the best shooters in the world — someone who doesn't need much time to get a shot off — open. And if they don't help off him, that's just going to make life easier for Adebayo, Antetokounmpo and everyone else in Heat colors.
“We've got former champions,” Heat guard Davion Mitchell said. “They know what it takes to win.”
Thompson is about to enter his 14th season, not counting two missed because of injury. He’s a career 41% shooter from beyond the arc, is a five-time All-Star and has made at least 10 3s in a game on nine different occasions.
And this summer, in a workout that led to a viral video from famed shooting coach Chris Brickley, Thompson made 72 consecutive shots from beyond the arc.
“It’s a good feeling,” Thompson said, “but I would rather make 10 in a row in an NBA game.”
The Heat would like to see that as well. They always have championship aspirations, but the changes to the roster this summer — adding Antetokounmpo, another knockdown shooter in Tim Hardaway Jr., Bobby Portis and Thompson, among others — make those hopes quite legitimate, even with Miami competing against a loaded Eastern Conference.
“I hopefully one day get the chance to be in the Hall, but before that I still feel like I have so much left to give this game,” Thompson said. “The records even matter to me. I want to still climb up the record books because I’m such a basketball junkie. I grew up watching Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, and those guys inspire me to shoot the ball every single day. And the fact that I have a chance to pass Ray in a Heat uniform, that gives me so much motivation to keep going.”
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