Klay Thompson signed with the Miami Heat last week after he negotiated a buyout with the Dallas Mavericks. Thompson, 36, averaged 11.7 points in 21.7 minutes a game last season. It was considered to be a solid signing by the Heat as Thompson took a bit of a pay cut to play with Miami’s twin towers, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.
It was a move that reminded many people of the Heat signing Ray Allen to join the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh team back in 2012. The Heat had floated the idea of Thompson taking a “Ray Allen type of role” with the team.
After signing, Thompson was asked about the comparison during an interview with ESPN South Florida and was downright giddy to be compared to Allen, who was one of his biggest inspirations as a basketball player.
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With that in mind, Draymond Green went on a rant on his latest podcast episode complaining about the media for not covering Thompson’s signing exactly like they were.
Draymond Green on the media“I don’t like how everyone’s trying to act like oh man it’s Klay Thompson,” said Green. “Klay to the Heat, like this is Klay of 2018. The reason I don’t like it is I feel like everybody’s trying to set Klay up for failure. And so, I’m going to say it right here, right now. Let’s stop acting like 2017 Klay is going to Miami. I wish sports media would speak to it more like when Ray Allen went to Miami. That’s the role I’d expect of Klay. And that’s the And don’t try to set my brother up like you about to get the 2017 Klay so the moment you don’t, y’all can bash him. That’s bullsh–. He’s going into Year 16 of his career. We obviously know the injuries that he’s faced.”
Thompson has not averaged 20 points a game since the ’22-’23 season and he hasn’t been an All-Star since 2019. There is no one expecting him to be at that level this season. And absolutely no one bashed him during his two seasons in Dallas. People like Klay Thompson. No one is acting like this is the Klay Thompson from the Warriors earliest title runs. The odds barely moved when he signed in Miami.
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Despite all that, Green had his mind made up and continued to go after the media.
“Don’t try to build it up like oh man look what happened so that ya’ll can tear him down when he’s not averaging 20 points a game. That’s bullsh–,” Green continued. “That’s what media does and I don’t like that. And so I’m gonna say it right here. Let’s look at him more like you looked at Ray Allen when Ray Allen was going to Miami. Oh, by the way, when sports media was still kind of a good thing. You know, when you could appreciate Ray Allen going to Miami in a role that he was going to go play. When sports media wasn’t trying to build someone up just to slice them down.”
Allen signed with Miami in 2012. The same year that Green was drafted. One of the major driving changes in sports media since then has been athlete-driven podcasts. Like the podcast Green hosts. The podcast where Green accused Karl-Anthony Towns of “ducking” a game against the Warriors and Jimmy Butler when he was really at a funeral.
Someone should tell Green it sounds like the slicing and tearing down is coming from inside the studio.
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