Examining Why Signing Klay Thompson to the Max Complete Makes Sense

By Dan Schultz @DSchultz89 on October 31, 2014

Per reports, the Golden State Warriors and Klay Thompson have agreed to a four-year, $70 million extension.

This comes on the heels of the extension deadline passing, where players on the last year of their rookie deals would not be able to sign extensions with the teams they are currently on until the following offseason when they entered free agency.

The Warriors appeared hesitant at first to offer Thompson the maximum, but ultimately, it was clear that he would receive this offer on the open market this coming offseason. In fact, the Warriors thought so highly of Thompson that they refused to make him a part of any trades for Kevin Love when he was seeking a move from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 24-year-old shooting guard averaged 18.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG and 2.2 APG during the 2013-14 season for the club. He also shot 44 percent from the field and 42 percent from the three-point line. In addition to his impressive offensive numbers, Thompson possesses great length and speed at his position which makes him a difficult matchup for many teams on both sides of the floor.

While some believe that Thompson may not be worth this much on stats alone, the market is also a huge factor in all of this, especially when players like Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons get max money. So looking through these lenses, the signing of Thompson to this extension makes a lot of sense. When you also throw in that the NBA salary cap ceiling is expected to rise from $63 million to $81 million at some point soon given the league’s recent deal with the TV networks, whatever the max is now might not look as much a couple years down the line.

I still want to see more rebounds per game from Thompson given his exceptional athleticism and length, but I do believe given the coming changes in the NBA market that this deal is a good one considering how great a player he is already. Thompson still has a lot of growing to do, and he now owes it to the Warriors to live up to the high standards they have for him moving forward.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.