When Klay Thompson left Bay Area to join the Mavs, one of his key motivations was to share the court with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. “Playing with Luka and Kyrie, that’s what was attractive, especially watching their championship run. I was really shocked to see the chemistry with their teammates.” He told the media. But just when the superstar trio was beginning to find their groove, everything changed!

Luka got traded to the Lakers, and Kyrie suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Meanwhile, Klay watched his plan crumble right before his eyes. But the season was long and the Splash Brother had no option but to play through adversity. Last night, his tumultuous debut season with the Mavs finally came to an end with a brutal Play-In loss against the Grizzlies. While he was still processing the elimination, he was bombarded with some hard-hitting questions.

Would he have stuck to his decision of joining the Mavs last summer had he known what he knows now? He seemed hesitant to even think about it, “Don’t do this to me. Don’t do that to me. Don’t do that. That’s kind of a ridiculous question because I don’t own a time machine & I don’t believe in going back or looking back. If I did that my whole career, I would not be where I’m at & I wouldn’t have been able to persevere through two really hard injuries.” Yes, living in what ifs is not the ideal way to process such situations. What’s done cannot be undone and no one could have predicted the Mavs’ tragic fallout.

What Klay can do, however, is focus on what’s ahead. Addressing his future with the Mavs, he said, “I’m here in Dallas & I enjoyed my time & I’m looking forward to the future.” Despite the way the season turned out, the sharpshooter plans on finishing out his remaining two years with the team.

And he has kept the same mindset all season long. Last month, Klay said, “I still believe in this franchise. I’m here for two more seasons after this, so I’d love to help them return to glory that they were brought to in 2011.” So, you can expect him to return next season stronger than ever. Turns out, he has already begun visualizing it.

Klay Thompson looks forward to LA return as he reflects on his debut season with Mavs

Of course, Klay’s first year in Dallas did not go as planned. Getting eliminated in the Play-In tournament was not on his bingo card. But that’s the harsh reality and the former Warriors star is keeping an optimistic approach. Reflecting on his debut season, he said, “Wow. Tumultuous. I think we persevered. We were down to 8, 9 guys at one point. We held up the fort & got into the Play-In & gave ourselves a shot to get to the playoffs.” Yes, the team was so riddled with injuries that at one point, they only had seven players available for warmups. Despite that, they managed to stay in the playoff race, which is promising.

Sure enough, Klay is proud of his group, “It sucks. It really sucks, but I’m really proud of every man in this locker room. They show up to work every day.” And he is hoping for a return to LA this summer to strengthen team chemistry, “We try to do the right thing every day. We even started this past offseason in California with minicamps & we had a couple days of just bonding. I think we can do that this summer & get some really good momentum going into next season.”

Before the season began, the Mavs conducted training camp in California to give the roster a change of environment and hopefully build chemistry. Now that their squad has been revamped with the addition of Anthony Davis, the practice could prove useful yet again.

Also, it will give Klay a chance to return to his hometown and rejuvenate for next season. Once the team is fully healthy, they might even be able to contend for the title like everyone expected them to last summer. Seems like the perfect itinerary. Agree?