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ESPN Staff Writer Tim MacMahon
DALLAS — Asked to sum up the Dallas Mavericks’ approach this season in one word, superstar Luka Doncic thought for a few seconds before coming up with an answer.
“It’s a championship,” Doncic said during Monday’s media day at the team’s practice facility before the Mavs depart for Las Vegas for training camp. “That’s the goal.”
There is hope that Klay Thompson, a four-time champion during his 13-year tenure with the Golden State Warriors, could be the final piece to the Mavs’ title puzzle after joining as a valuable free agent this summer.
“I think our dream could be possible because he’s here now,” said Mavs co-star Kyrie Irving, who was instrumental in the franchise’s acquisition of Thompson, his 2011 draft classmate and former All-American teammate. “He has added great value to our championship aspirations.”
Irving emphasized how Thompson’s title experience could benefit the Mavs, who advanced to the NBA Finals last season before losing to the Boston Celtics in five games. But even at age 34, with two major injuries in his relatively recent history, any discussion of Thompson’s value begins with his historically excellent 3-point shooting.
The Mavs prioritized adding a 3-point threat after struggling from long range in the finals, when Dallas had a 31.6% 3-point shooting percentage. Thompson’s career 3-point percentage of 41.3% (38.7% on 9.0 attempts per game last season) ranks sixth in NBA history (2,481 3-pointers made).
“You can’t help Klay when me and Kai have the ball,” Doncic said. “Because if you leave him wide open, he’s going to make it, so I think spacing is going to be important for us, but more important than that, I’ll tell you in a few games.”
With Irving owning Thompson’s familiar No. 11 in Dallas, Thompson decided to wear No. 31 as a way to honor Reggie Miller when he put him on the all-time 3-pointers list. This is also the number worn by Jason Terry, whom coach Jason Kidd referred to as the last best outside shooter the Mavs employed.
“We had shooters, but we didn’t have Jason Terry or Klay Thompson,” said Kidd, who played with Terry in Dallas, including on the Mavs’ 2010-11 title team. “This is rare air. If you talk about Klay, he’s going to go down as one of the best shooters of all time. So having him on our side makes the game easier offensively. Spacing is a big issue in our league.
“If you look at a team that can make the game easy, Boston, look at ourselves, we have a team that can win a championship.”
Thompson said he believes his game “complements the roster very well” and brings “a whole new dimension” to the Mavs’ offense. He acknowledged that he had to make significant adjustments to adapt to the Mavs’ style of play, which is completely different from Golden State’s system.
“From an X’s and O’s standpoint, we’re going to have to adapt to be able to deal with these great producers,” Thompson said. “It was a very motion-based offense at Golden State, but just being able to play with Luka over the last few days, his pick-and-roll ability is probably the best I’ve ever seen.” It’s going to be fun to play with him on those sets because he draws so much attention and gets so many open looks on the perimeter, so I’ll be there to knock them down.
“It’s going to take a few weeks to get used to this new system, but fortunately Opening Day isn’t until October 24th, so this is going to be the most important preseason I’ve had in the last few years. I’m going to go tomorrow and learn this system. I’d like to, but I know I’m a hooper, so I can adapt accordingly and I expect to do so.”
