{"id":174530,"date":"2026-01-26T12:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=174530"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:45:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:45:28","slug":"lakers-to-land-40-3pt-shooting-wing-in-shock-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/01\/26\/lakers-to-land-40-3pt-shooting-wing-in-shock-reunion\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers To Land 40% 3PT Shooting Wing In Shock Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> are trying to figure themselves out. They have title aspirations but lack the roster to support them. The Lakers could sign Klay Thompson<\/a> to bridge that gap.<\/p>\n

Lakers Poised To Land Klay Thompson In Shock Reunion<\/h2>\n
\"Dallas
Nov 22, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson (31) yells at Memphis Grizzlies guard Vince Williams Jr. (not pictured) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Los Angeles sits fifth in the West with a 27\u201317 record. They opened the season hot and stood 11 games over .500. The good vibes from their seven-game winning streak in November feel distant. It feels like a different season.<\/p>\n

A Team With Clear Flaws<\/h3>\n

The Lakers have several fatal flaws. The most obvious is their defense. They own a borderline bottom-five unit on that end, ranked 25th<\/a>. Another damaging flaw is their three-point shooting. Los Angeles make threes at the eighth-worst rate. They still rank eighth on offense. That is why the Lakers should look to Dallas for Klay Thompson.<\/p>\n

This season, Klay averages 12 points in 22 minutes while shooting 38 percent from the field and from three. For his career, he shoots the three-ball at a 40% clip. He remains one of the league\u2019s premier high-volume shooters. Los Angeles desperately needs that skill set.<\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 Draft Motivation<\/h3>\n

The Mavericks<\/a> sit outside the Play-In spots. They trail the Clippers<\/a> by two and a half games for the final spot. They are quietly tanking this season. Their first-rounder this year is the last they will control for the foreseeable future. This approach gives them a chance to land a top-five pick in a historic draft.<\/p>\n

Financial Pressure Creates Opportunity<\/h3>\n

That ideal scenario conflicts with Dallas\u2019 financial situation. The Mavs sit just one million dollars below the second apron. They are deep into the tax and face a repeater penalty. Trading Thompson\u2019s contract gives them needed flexibility this season and next.<\/p>\n

Klay Thompson on the Lakers would reunite him with Luka Don\u010di\u0107.<\/a> It is important to remember that Thompson joined the Mavs, at the Lakers\u2019 expense, to team up with Luka. It would be poetic for him to do so now in Los Angeles. Klay\u2019s contract expires in 2027. That timeline fits the Lakers\u2019 plans to build a contender around Luka that summer.<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to figure themselves out. They have title aspirations but lack the roster to support them. The Lakers could sign Klay Thompson to bridge that gap. Lakers Poised To Land Klay Thompson In Shock Reunion Los Angeles sits fifth in the West with a 27\u201317 record. They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":174561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,26,3,4721],"tags":[50244,70,1133],"class_list":["post-174530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-klay-thompson","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174562,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174530\/revisions\/174562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}