Klay Thompson is done playing for the Golden State Warriors, but he’s not done as an NBA player and he sounds like he can’t wait to get to work for the Dallas Mavericks. As this new and perhaps final chapter of Thompson’s Hall-of-Fame career begins on a three-year, $50 million contract in Dallas, he told reporters on Tuesday that he’s “not mad at the change” of playing for a team other than the Warriors for the first time in his professional life, and that he’s “actually excited for it.”
One of these changes for Thompson will be the number on his back. For 13 years Thompson wore No. 11, which the Warriors have already said will be retired, but in Dallas that number is occupied by Kyrie Irving. Thompson will be wearing No. 31 for the Mavericks, and he didn’t choose that number at random.
He chose it to honor Reggie Miller, another all-time great shooter who wore No. 31 for the Pacers and after whom Thompson has modeled his game dating back to his teenage years.
“I watched so much footage of Reggie coming off screens as a teenager. Especially his ability to make game-winning shots. That is the most inspiring thing to see as a shooter because he had no fear whether he made or missed the shot, he was going to live or die by it,” Thompson said. “I still have that image of him in the East finals pushing off [Michael Jordan], curling off the right wing and cashing that 3 [pointer].”
“That’s how I modeled my game, just being able to space the floor, and you can’t leave me open like you [couldn’t] leave Reggie open. That was an inspiration for me. I thought I have a chance to pass [Miller] in [career] made 3s, and I thought that would be a cool way to honor someone who paved the way for a shooter like me.”
At present, Thompson ranks sixth all-time with 2,481 career 3-pointers. Miller is fifth with 2,560. Do the math, and Thompson needs to make just 80 3-pointers this season to pass Miller. Barring some kind of extended injury, he’s virtually guaranteed to do that.
