Klay Thompson Added to the Trading Block in an Effort to Land Kevin Love
By Jason Burke
Klay Thompson,
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
It has been widely speculated that trading guard Klay Thompson could land Timberwolves’ star Kevin Love. According to Marc Stein of ESPN, “ESPN sources say that Golden State has indeed made Klay Thompson available to Wolves, greatly increasing Warriors’ hopes of getting Kevin Love.”
One trade possibility that has been tossed around has been a deal involving Kevin Love and Kevin Martin for Klay Thompson, David Lee and a future #1 pick. Let’s analyze that trade as if it is fact.
First off, Kevin Love is superior to David Lee when healthy. The stats that stand out are his rebounds per game average over Lee last season at 12.5 to 9.32. That is 3 possessions over the course of a game. Love is also a superb setup man by comparison, with 341 assists to Lee’s 147. The last stat that could have huge impact in Golden State is Love’s FT%. He shot 82.1% last season, compared to 78.0% from Lee. That’s 4 points right there.
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Now let’s look at Klay Thompson for Kevin Martin. Thompson is known for his shooting touch, especially from 3-point distance. By comparison, Klay shot 41.7%, but Martin wasn’t too far behind at 38.7%. Martin’s FT% makes up the difference in points the Warriors would miss from Thompson’s 3 pointers. Martin shot 89.1% from the line last season, while Klay was at 79.5%.
According to win shares per 48 minutes (WS/48), Martin was actually more valuable last season. While both are better than league average, Martin comes in slightly ahead at 11.7%, with Thompson at 11.2%. That difference may seem minuscule, but in the playoffs, a team counts on efficiency.
In all honesty, Klay Thompson is a player that can carry a team to a win with a lights-out shooting performance. This type of player also goes through cold spells. The Warriors seem to be searching for more consistency.
I know you’re still wondering about the #1 pick that was mentioned and how that gets incorporated into all of this. My reasoning on that is simple: if the Warriors improve like they expect to, the pick will be a late-round one and the loss of said pick will not be felt as much. The Warriors already have a good young core with Barnes, Green, Ezeli and Curry all being 26 or younger. The Warriors can miss out on one year’s first round pick if it means landing Kevin Love.