Klay Thompson has been one of the prominent stars of the NBA so far. Unfortunately, the previous season did not go well for the 34-year-old. Featuring in 77 games in the 2023-24 season, Thompson averaged a meagre 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. Such a poor showing drew a lot of criticism from the fans, who considered him an athlete who was well past his prime.
Surprisingly, Thompson’s turnaround has been quite impressive. Donning the Dallas Mavericks colors, Thompson has so far averaged 15.6 points from 5 games. On top of that he also scored 38.8 percent of the points from three-pointers. Thus, it is safe to say that the ‘Splash Brother’ is once again looking quite daunting.
But despite his strong showing this year, his monetary earnings look quite below the line if compared with the NBA top draws. And this is where former NBA star Gilbert Arenas has a problem. Speaking about Thompson on his ‘GilsArenaShow’ podcast, the former point guard stressed that Thompson could do better than a $50 million contract.
Arenas said, “I feel bad for Klay… If you take his name off of his stats, everybody, lining up, ‘Give me him.’ How much would you pay?… $30-40 million per year. Buddy Hield is playing very well. If he had Klay’s stats coming in, ya’ll would’ve gave that man $120 million. When you really don’t like somebody… when you really want to make someone look irrelevant, you look at what you wanna look at.” However, such an analysis did not sit well with fans, and they immediately started to lash out at Arenas.
NBA Fans Feel Gilbert Arenas Is Overhyping Klay Thompson
No sooner did Arenas’ opinions about Thompson gain traction than the fans jumped in to give their two cents.
One fan said, “This show Makes Skip Bayless look like Einstein.”
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Another fan said, “Can we stop giving this guy a platform.”
A third fan analyzed, “Does he not know that his age and injuries caused him to not get that money.”
This fan stated that a poor set of skills was what caused Thompson to get a lower contract. The comment read, “No one is lining up a max contract for a guy who cant defend, can’t finish at the rim, cant create their own shot, cant handle the ball, and is pushing 40 years of age.”
A fan called Gilbert Arenas ‘dumb’ saying, “Each day I read a new Gilbert Arenas headline I can’t believe he can get dumber and dumber… yet here we are.”
This fan stressed that Thompson was aging. The comment wrote, “Disregard age? Wtf is this take? GMs won’t pay players just for their stats, especially if they’re in the twilight of their careers.”
Another fan wrote, “This does not make sense at all? He didn’t get that money because he’s washed.”
Lastly, a fan stated, “If he wasnt named Klay? If he didnt have a father who played in the NBA? I don’t understand.”
Thus, getting quite a bit of flak from the fans, Gilbert Arenas would surely want Klay Thompson to continue his impressive run and prove his haters wrong.
