Trade countdown! Thompson has declined seriously, the next stop is the Lakers?

Thompson's Lone Ranger career may be about to enter a countdown.

The latest report from the famous reporter Brett Siegel said that the Mavericks will evaluate Thompson's value in the trade market. He wrote: "Harrison and the Mavericks management will explore Thompson's potential returns before the trade deadline. This is an open secret."

Unlike the sudden Doncic trade last season, it is completely understandable that the Mavericks want to send Thompson away. The reason is simple. Thompson this season is really bad.

Take the just-concluded NBA Cup as an example. The Mavericks suffered a disastrous away defeat against the Grizzlies. Thompson came on as a substitute for 17 minutes and made 0 of 6 shots and 0 of 5 three-pointers. He did not score a single point and only handed over 0 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists.

Losing is definitely not a personal problem, but Thompson's status this season is not online at all. He has played a total of 9 games so far, averaging only 20 minutes per game. He only scored 7.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists. His shooting percentage was only 31.6%, his three-point shooting percentage was as low as 26.4%, and his true shooting percentage was only 42.1%. The above numbers are all the lowest or second lowest in Thompson's career.

For comparison, Thompson last season: averaged 27.3 minutes per game, 14.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists, shooting 41.2% from the field, 39.1% from three-point range, and 55.2% true shooting.

Three-pointers should have been Thompson's strongest weapon, but so far this season, he has only made 14 of 53 three-pointers. What's strange is that the vast majority of Thompson's missed three-pointers are wide-open three-pointers. Currently, his wide-open three-pointers (the nearest defender is 6+ feet) are only 2-of-18 in total. This is purely a matter of personal touch.

Thompson himself is also very upset about his personal state. In the previous game against the Pistons, Thompson slapped away the water bottle next to him when he returned to the tunnel after the game.

Due to his poor performance, Thompson came on as a substitute in the 8th game after starting the first 7 games. However, the situation did not improve much, and his poor state has also affected the team. Before this game:

- When Thompson was on the court, the Mavericks could only score 89.8 points per 100 possessions, losing to their opponents by 20.6 points on a net basis.

- Tang Without Posen on the court, the Mavericks could score 109.6 points per 100 possessions, outscoring their opponents by 1.6 points

You read that right, the Mavericks couldn't even score 90 points in 100 possessions when Thompson was on the court, and his of/off value was as low as -22.2. It's really crazy that this happened to a four-time champion and one of the best three-pointers in history.

One more thing, this season the Mavericks started at the bottom of the Western Conference with 2 wins and 7 losses. A large part of the reason is due to poor offense. One statistic is that the Mavericks' relative offensive efficiency (team offensive efficiency - league average efficiency) this season is only -11.8. This number is not only the worst this season, but even the worst in history. At this point, you can probably understand why the Mavericks are thinking of trading Thompson less than 10 games into the season.

Back to Thompson, many people may think that Thompson's slow start is normal. Indeed, from the perspective of Thompson's career, he has always had the habit of slow start, but no matter how slow he started in the past, it was not as outrageous as this season.

I won’t mention it for a long time. In the past four years, Thompson’s worst start was in the 2022-23 season (every other season he averaged 15+ points per game and shot more than 36% from three-point range), but even in that season, Thompson averaged 15 points per game after playing the first 8 games, and his three-point shooting percentage reached 32.9%.

Regarding Thompson's status, I personally feel that he is in urgent need of an explosive game. Taking the 2022-23 season as an example, Thompson finally averaged 21.9 points per game and made 301 three-pointers. At that time, he really regained his touch in the 14th game, facing the Rockets in a single game, 10 of 13 three-pointers, and scored 41 points.

But, Thompson was with the Warriors that year. Cole gave Thompson plenty of time and patience to find his touch, but now Thompson is with the Mavericks. Judging from the past few games, is Kidd willing to give Thompson such an opportunity? I'm afraid it's really hard to say.

Last question, if Thompson is really traded, who will be the most suitable next destination?

Don’t tell me, the Lakers are really a very good choice. Here’s the data before Doncic’s trade last season:

——When Doncic was on the court, Thompson averaged 8.3 three-pointers per game and hit 40.6% from the field

—When Doncic was not on the court, Thompson averaged 40.6% from the field. He took 6.9 three-pointers and shot 34.2%

Speaking of which, one of the reasons why Thompson left the Warriors and chose to join the Mavericks was Doncic. As a result, Doncic left later, and the Mavericks also changed from the finals team before joining to the bottom of the Western Conference.

The Lakers are still the team that Thompson's father played for. As early as when he was still with the Warriors, there were many "scandals" between the two sides. A trade may change Thompson's current situation. Of course, before that, Thompson himself needs to adjust his condition. The current situation is very unlike Thompson.