Klay Thompson Unfollows Warriors on Instagram Amid NBA Rumors Before Free Agency
June 14, 2024
Klay Thompson is appearing to distance himself from the Golden State Warriors before he officially enters NBA free agency.
Thompson unfollowed the Warriors and deleted almost all team-affiliated posts dating back to April 2022, as noticed by fans and reported by SFGate's Gabe Lehman.
The deleted posts included Thompson's post from the Warriors' 2022 title run.
The veteran guard just finished out the final season of the five-year, $190 million deal he signed with Golden State in 2019. He can begin speaking to other teams when NBA free agency begins on June 30.
He will then be able to sign with a new team as soon as July 6.
Thompson has spent all 11 of his NBA seasons playing for the Warriors. He averaged 17.9 points per game, his fewest since his second season in 2012-13, on a $43.2 million cap hit during the final year of his contract.
He is now eligible for four-year, $223 million maximum contract extension, which ESPN's Kendra Andrews reported in February was understood as "unrealistic" in negotiations that began last summer.
"A league source told ESPN that money and his lineup status are not driving forces for Thompson, and he remains open to a shorter-term deal," Andrews reported in February.
Andrews added that offering Thompson a two-year extension, which would keep him on the team alongside Steph Curry and head coach Steve Kerr through 2026, was considered a "viable option" by a team source.
The Athletic's Anthony Slater then reported on May 30 that there had been "no notable movement from either side toward a resolution" on the contract negotiations,
Thompson's social media movements aren't a guarantee that he's headed elsewhere in free agency. Other athletes like Deebo Samuel have made similar statements before working out their own contract disputes. The San Francisco 49ers wide receiver unfollowed his team ahead of the final year of his rookie contract, four months before signing a three-year extension in San Francisco.
But Thompson's Warriors-free Instagram profile could at least indicate that he has not yet finalized a contract with the team he has said he hopes to re-sign with this summer.
