Klay Thompson arrived at Miami Heat camp with a crowded résumé and a simple motive: there is still work left. The 36-year-old guard took the floor for his first practice Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University after joining Miami following a summer buyout from the Dallas Mavericks, stepping into a reworked roster built around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.
Four titles with Golden State, five All-Star selections and a likely Hall of Fame future have not changed Thompson’s focus. He sees Miami as another real chance to chase a championship, rather than a final stop built on reputation.
“When I look back someday, I want to know I emptied the tank,” Thompson said. “This team gives me that chance. The Heat are all-in on winning, and winning means more to me than any individual night I’ve had. Being part of a season that is chasing that is special.”
Miami moved quickly because Thompson’s shooting remains a live weapon, even as his role has evolved. He hit 202 3-pointers for Dallas last season while logging a career-low 21.7 minutes per game, and he is the only NBA player to make at least 200 threes in each of the past four seasons without being locked into a full-time starting job.
That production gives coach Erik Spoelstra another spacing piece around Antetokounmpo and Adebayo. Thompson figures to occupy a role resembling the one Ray Allen held on Miami’s LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh teams: stay attached to him and create more room inside; leave him to help elsewhere and risk giving a historic shooter daylight.
“What Klay has accomplished in this league deserves recognition in our locker room, and it gets that,” Spoelstra said. “We can draw from what he has experienced. He also has an opportunity to create something meaningful in a new setting, with a different group and culture.”
Davion Mitchell said the Heat’s collection of players with championship experience matters. “We have guys who have won before,” the guard said. “They understand what winning requires.”
Another climb up the shooting list
Thompson enters what will be his 14th NBA season, excluding the two campaigns he lost to injury. His 2,899 career 3-pointers place him 74 behind Allen for third on the league’s all-time list, while 101 more would make him the third player to reach 3,000, joining Stephen Curry and James Harden.
He already trails only Curry in seasons with 200 made threes. Curry has done it 12 times; Thompson has reached that mark 11 times. Thompson also owns the NBA record for threes in a game and has connected on at least 10 in one game nine times. Across his career, he has shot 41% from beyond the arc.
His offseason shooting work offered another reminder of the touch that remains. A workout video with trainer Chris Brickley showed Thompson making 72 straight attempts from deep, though Thompson put the streak in the proper context.
“It feels good,” he said, “but I’d rather hit 10 straight in an NBA game.”
The Heat added more than Thompson during a busy summer, bringing in Antetokounmpo, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bobby Portis as well. The Eastern Conference remains deep, but Miami’s ceiling now looks far more substantial if its new pieces settle into a workable rotation.
For Thompson, the individual milestones are not an afterthought. Passing Allen while wearing a Heat uniform carries particular meaning because Allen, along with Reggie Miller, helped shape Thompson’s early obsession with perimeter shooting.
“I hope the Hall of Fame is in my future, but I feel I still have a lot to offer,” Thompson said. “The records matter to me, too. I’m a basketball junkie, and I watched Ray Allen and Reggie Miller growing up. They inspired me to shoot every day. Having a chance to move past Ray in a Heat uniform gives me even more reason to keep pushing.”
