NBA Rumors: Klay Thompson Max Contract Dream Could Be In Hollywood

NBA free agency is upon us, and all eyes will be on top players like Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard. There are more on the list of course, one of which is Klay Thompson. The 29-year-old son of former Los Angeles Laker Mychal Thompson is reportedly bent on landing a max contract, and several teams other than the Golden State Warriors could hand him that.

According to Brad Turner, it looks like the only way that the 11th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft will be staying in the Bay Area is if he is handed a five-year $190 million deal. And in the event that the Dubs are unable to do so, the three-time NBA champion will reportedly meet with several teams -- one of which is the Los Angeles Lakers.

So the next order of business is figuring if the Lakers have the budget to accommodate one-half of the Splash Brothers. Following the series of moves that the Lakers made recently, they do have $32 million in cap space. This came into the picture after Anthony Davis waived his $4 million trade kicker and traded Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to the Washington Wizards. The latter deal was part of the Lakers deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, Adrian Wojnarowski reported.

Despite the moves, NBC Sports pointed out that the Lakers remain a bit shy of offering any NBA player a max contract at this point. Los Angeles would need to offer Thompson about $141 million over four seasons to lure the five-time NBA All-Star. Only the Warriors can offer Klay a five-year deal and of course more money.

As things stand now, all these are mere speculations and Thompson's next stop will entirely depend on him. A move to other teams had been suggested as early as last NBA season and the 29-year-old shooter had avoided talking about his plans this coming summer. But obviously, a lot has changed since then - including the fact that concern could be mounting on the Warriors' end since Klay tore his ACL in game 6 of the 2018-19 NBA Finals. Thompson is likely to miss out the early part of the coming season, depending on his rehab.

The same scenario holds true for the Lakers even if they sit down and talk. All Thompson can do right now is listen and sign with the team he feels gives him the brightest outlook. The Warriors are reportedly bent on keeping him but that may only happen if the Dubs give Klay the best offer compared to what other teams will place on the table.