Through six regular-season games, Klay Thompson has had an extremely shaky start for the Dallas Mavericks this season. Despite starting in every contest, Thompson has only averaged 20.7 minutes per game, as he's been getting played off the court at times due to being a non-factor offensively.
Thompson had a shooting slump earlier in the season last year as well, but he eventually came into his own, though there's a lot of evidence to suggest he's best utilized with other shot creators in the lineup, which hasn't been the case as often throughout this season compared to last.
It's still very early in the season, but with the Mavericks off to a 2-4 start, some uncomfortable conversations may need to happen sooner rather than later, and one of these conversations could undoubtedly be about benching Thompson. At this stage in his career, Thompson can't afford to have a ton of off-nights from a shooting perspective like he did toward the end of his tenure with the Golden State Warriors, as his perimeter defense isn't at the same level it used to be.
Klay Thompson isn't playing well enough to keep starting
Thompson is shooting just 33.3 percent overall from the field, and only 29.4 percent from distance to start the year. It only makes sense that Thompson will get some positive variance percentage-wise here soon, but the eye test is backing up his rough start to the season shooting the ball, as he's taking a lot of ill-advised and contested long twos, while also not looking like he's always getting as good of lift on his shot.
Thompson's 4-9 line and 11 points against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday were easily his best performance of the season, as he got hot in the first half until his production halted. As things currently stand, it's going to be very hard for head coach Jason Kidd to continue to keep Thompson in the starting lineup in lieu of someone like Max Christie or D'Angelo Russell, as Christie has been Dallas' most dynamic 3-and-D guard to start the year, and Russell is a semi-consistent creator.
Thompson has to at least shoot above 35 percent from distance and adopt a slightly better shot diet, though, as he's far too integral to Dallas' offense given their lack of shooting, and they will struggle to survive offensively until Kyrie Irving returns if Thompson continues to be a blackhole offensively. It's definitely too early in the season to start shopping Thompson on the trade market, but it's time for Kidd to see how Thompson responds to a change in role, as it could potentially spur some extra motivation.
Thompson wasn't the happiest camper when Warriors head coach Steve Kerr brought him off the bench for 14 games in the 2023-24 season, and while Thompson has had a storied career, he's in a vastly different role than he expected when first coming into Dallas, and it may be in the Mavericks' best interest to bring him off the bench until he starts to shoot better or Dallas gets Irving back in the starting five.