In nothing of a surprise, the Warriors will present Klay Thompson a max contract offer of $190 million when NBA free agency begins on Sunday, ESPN reported Friday afternoon.
Sources told Adrian Wojnarowski the Warriors are expected to quickly sign Thompson to a five-year deal right after 3 p.m. Sunday to finish the easy part of their two-part plan to retain their two All-Star free agents.
Both Thompson and the Warriors have long talked about their desire to reach a deal and both sides will stick to the plan, despite the five-time All-Star set to miss at least half of next season with a torn ACL suffered in the NBA Finals.
There were reports if Golden State offered anything less than a max deal to Thompson that he and his agent, Greg Lawrence, would have exploratory talks with perhaps both the Clippers and Lakers. But even other interested teams saw little chance of Thompson getting away from the Warriors. In fact, over the past few days several teams had given up hope of signing Thompson, Wojnarowski reported.
With Thompson reportedly all but signed, the Warriors will turn their focus to convincing Kevin Durant and, to a lesser extent, Kevon Looney, to stick around. The Warriors are expected to offer Durant a supermax contract of five years and $220 million on Sunday. His choices are reportedly re-signing with the Warriors or joining the Nets, Knicks or, perhaps the Clippers.
Looney, who was the Warriors' most consistent big man and an organization favorite, isn't expected to command huge money in free agency. However, the Warriors retain his Bird Rights and can offer him whatever amount they're comfortable spending with only luxury tax implications in their way.
