Jason Kidd Reveals New Details on Mavs’ Klay Thompson Free Agency Recruitment

When the Dallas Mavericks acquired Klay Thompson in a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors in July, it instantly became Dallas' most significant free agency move in franchise history. Despite Thompson being 34 years old, he's still one of the greatest NBA 3-point shooters of all time, and his arrival in Dallas signaled the end of more than a decade of disappointing results in free agency.

So, how did the Mavs flip the script on their free agency history and convince Thompson to leave The Bay for Big D? According to Mavs head coach Jason Kidd, a "team effort" recruitment was key, but star point guard Kyrie Irving had the biggest influence.

“When you talk about the recruitment, it was a lot of people that were involved in that. But one of the biggest players in that was Kai,” Kidd said on the debut episode of NBC Sports Bay Area's Dubs Talk .

“Kai being able to, player to player, (detail) his experience of what Dallas has been like for him in two years and being able to tell Klay the honest truth of what he thinks can happen with Klay coming to Dallas.”

Due to some off-court issues that were compounded by the media coverage he received while being a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Irving’s reputation took a hit before he landed in Dallas. However, during his two seasons with the Mavs, Irving has proven to be a delight both on and off the court. Not only is Irving close with co-star Luka Doncic and coach Kidd, but he’s also been a mentor and role model for the younger players on the roster.

Like Irving, Thompson is entering a new environment after his relationship with his former team’s front office soured. The Mavs made it to the NBA Finals last season without Thompson, but lost to the Boston Celtics in five games. Now, the hope is that a rejuvenated Thompson can be the missing piece.

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“We truly believe that he gives us something that we haven't had, a guy who's not afraid to take the shot,” Kidd said.

“He's been in championship situations. He understands what it means. We believe that we're building a championship team. And his being a veteran, his experience being in big games and then being able to play both ends, we truly believe that he's going to make a lot of open shots for us and have fun.”

Historically, recruiting in free agency has always been the hardest part of team-building for the Mavs. Now that they’ve gotten the hard part out of the way, all that’s left to do is play some ball and let the chips fall where they may.