Dallas resolved a roster logjam by parting ways with the legendary sharpshooter. After trade talks stalled, the veteran marksman prepares to bring his championship pedigree to South Beach.
The Dallas Mavericks spent much of the offseason trying to avoid buying out Klay Thompson.
They explored his trade market. They waited. They preferred finding a trade rather than simply letting him walk for nothing.
In the end ... they bought him out anyway.
The Mavericks announced Friday that they have reached a buyout agreement with Thompson, ending the four-time NBA champion's two-season stay in Dallas and resolving one of the final roster questions of Masai Ujiri's first offseason running the organization.
"Klay is one of the great players and competitors of his generation, and we are grateful for everything he brought to the Mavericks organization," Ujiri said. "We have tremendous respect for Klay and all that he has accomplished throughout his career, and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward."
The move had been building for weeks.
Dallas found itself with 16 players on standard contracts, meaning someone had to go before the regular season, and Thompson emerged as a possible candidate.
We here at MavsRoundtable.com earlier this month reported that Dallas had explored Thompson's trade market but hadn't found a deal.
The Mavericks continued searching for one rather than immediately turning toward a buyout. No deal materialized.
Now Dallas has taken the alternative route and opened the roster spot it needed.
The financial terms of the buyout weren't disclosed in the Mavericks' announcement, making it impossible to say how much money Thompson surrendered as part of the agreement.
But his departure brings an end to a Dallas tenure that lasted two seasons.
Thompson appeared in 141 games with 80 starts for the Mavericks, averaging 12.9 points while shooting 40.3% from the field and 38.7% from beyond the arc.
He also continued climbing the NBA record books.
Thompson passed Damian Lillard for fourth on the league's all-time 3-pointers made list on Jan. 15 and leaves Dallas with 2,899 career makes. He made at least 200 threes in each of his two seasons with the Mavericks, giving him 11 such seasons for his career.
And Thompson won't have to spend much time looking for his next home.
There have been Lakers-related rumors but ... he intends to sign with the Miami Heat after clearing waivers, NBA insider Chris Haynes reported.
That destination shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
Miami had been connected to Thompson throughout the process, with previous reporting indicating the Heat were willing to wait for the possibility that Dallas eventually bought him out.
Well ... they waited long enough.
Dallas spent weeks searching for a trade that would solve its roster crunch while bringing something back for Thompson.
Instead, the Mavericks eventually had to solve it themselves.
And Miami appears ready to reap the reward.
