Klay Thompson, five-time NBA All-Star and Dallas Mavericks guard, ranks fourth on the league’s all-time three-point list, just 74 shots behind Ray Allen. At 36, his next move could shape the championship window of Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry.

That possibility gained fresh traction this week. According to Brett Siegel, an NBA insider for ClutchPoints, Warriors sources indicated Thompson would be welcomed back “with open arms” should he secure a buyout from the Mavericks and land in free agency.

That sentiment dates back to Thompson’s 13 seasons with Golden State, when he and Curry formed the Splash Brothers and won four titles together. They had a great connection during the 2022 Finals, when they defeated the Celtics, and Curry became a Finals MVP for the first time.

This can be understood from the words that were spoken. Thompson has explained the need for the move on his Twitch livestream.

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“I want to compete for a championship. Not necessarily win another one, but have the chance to go and try and get another one,” he said.

This sense of urgency is evident from the numbers. Dallas can no longer accommodate him within their timeframe, as they have begun building their team around Cooper Flagg, whom the Mavericks selected in 2025 under new coach Dusty May. With an average score of 11.7 points and a 38.3 shooting percentage last year, Thompson desires a specific role.

However, the connection to Curry goes beyond speculation about a potential trade during this season.

Which brings everything back to Curry, and a ticking clock that Golden State can no longer pretend isn’t there.

Curry is in the final year of his current $62.6 million deal, with the option to sign a two-year extension on August 29. Signing immediately would give the Warriors long-term security- holding off would leave the organization facing uncomfortable questions about the future of the most important player in franchise history.

Reports suggest Curry may not be in a rush to commit, a signal, whether intentional or not, that he expects the front office to do more. The Warriors had a quiet offseason by any measure.

They missed out on LeBron James. The roster that ended last season is largely the same one entering this one. Nearly the entire supporting cast- Green, Butler, Podziemski is in the last guaranteed year of their contracts, leaving Golden State in an uncomfortable limbo between contention and reset.

The pressure is real and mounting.

For all of Curry’s well-documented patience and loyalty, there is a growing argument that those same qualities have allowed the front office to move too slowly, leaving him perpetually one move away from a genuine title run that never quite materializes.

Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry built a legacy in Golden State

There is a particular kind of basketball partnership that transcends statistics, one built in practice gyms and playoff trenches until two players move less like teammates and more like a shared instinct. That is what Steph Curry and Klay Thompson built over more than a decade in Golden State, six Finals runs woven together into something the league had never quite seen, a shooting backcourt so in sync they earned their own mythology.

Their last act together came in June 2022, when Curry, carrying the weight of the one individual honor that had eluded him, dismantled Boston across six games and finally claimed a Finals MVP. Thompson, who had dragged himself back from a torn ACL and a ruptured Achilles just to be there, understood the gravity of that championship in a way few could.

It felt, for a moment, like a perfect ending.

Then came the fracture. The relationship between Klay and the Warriors broke down during the 2024 offseason over money, and he signed with the Dallas Mavericks, officially ending an era in the Bay. The plan was to chase titles alongside Luka Doncic.

Dallas trading Doncic effectively ended those hopes and left Thompson as a secondary figure on a losing team.

Now, two years on, the door has crept back open. Thompson himself has said as much: “I got one year on my deal – it’d be nice to end it in Golden State.”

Buy-out rumors have made the possibility more prominent this offseason, with Golden State seen as the natural landing spot if he walks away from Dallas.

What that reunion would actually mean is the harder question. Curry, at 38, remains the Warriors’ heartbeat and an extension worth north of $136 million becomes available to him at the end of this month. His loyalty to the Bay has never seriously wavered.

But the franchise is quietly caught between two futures- squeeze out one more genuine title run with Curry at the center, or begin the delicate work of building past him.

Thompson coming back would feed the first impulse without necessarily resolving the second. It would be a homecoming, and a beautiful one. Whether it would be enough is something else entirely.