NBA rumors: Klay Thompson to consider Lakers if Warriors don’t offer max

Klay Thompson wants that five-year, $190 million max contract offer from the Warriors.

As Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Wednesday, the five-time All-Star will meet with the Dubs in LA "at the outset of free agency" (which officially opens at 3 p.m. PT on Sunday).

If Golden State doesn't present that max contract when the sides sit down face to face, Klay reportedly will take a meeting with another team in addition to the Clippers.

Sources: If the Warriors don’t offer guard Klay Thompson a max $190 million deal on Sunday when free agency opens, he will listen to both LA teams, the Lakers and Clippers. Lakers back in the runnings because they now have max slot of $32 million after today’s trade.
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 28, 2019

The Lakers now have $32 million in salary-cap space because of the following two events from earlier Thursday:

Anthony Davis is waiving his $4M trade kicker, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2019

The Lakers are trading Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones to Wizards as part of the Anthony Davis deal with New Orleans, league sources tell @ZachLowe_NBA and me. Deal clears contracts and creates more cap space for free agency.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 27, 2019

At this point, the Lakers technically are a little shy of being able to offer Klay a max contract:

The cap space for Lakers before the Davis trade is at $32M-based on a $109M cap. The cap hit for no. 4 and room is fluid based on the final cap numbers not finalized. Would not think $700K short for a max player would be a deal breaker.

Max slot
0-6- $27.3
7-9 $32.7
0+: $38.2
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 27, 2019

Also, a max for Klay in LA would be for about $141 million over four seasons, as the Warriors are the only team who can give him a five-year contract.