Could an Anthony Davis-Klay Thompson trade help both teams?
Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson both played sporadically throughout the course of the 2021-22 NBA season.
Davis' season was a topsy-turvy rollercoaster filled with injuries and trade speculation. He began the campaign on a tear, opening with a 33-point, 11-rebound affair and showing flashes of the dominant inside force he was during his time in New Orleans.
But Davis hit a roadblock early on, going down with an MCL sprain in a mid-December matchup with Minnesota, and subsequently missed the next month.
He returned in late January, injecting the Lakers' frontcourt with an immediate boost as he posted several commendable showings, but returned to the sidelines once again after just 10 games — this time with a right ankle sprain.
Thompson, on the other hand, missed well over half of the season — and the entire season before that one — while rehabbing an Achilles tear. The second half of the Warriors' famed "splash brothers" duo joined his fellow 3-point marksman Stephen Curry on the court in late January. And despite starting at a sluggish pace, Thompson appears to have found his groove in the nick of time for the postseason, having closed out the regular season with three consecutive outings of 30-plus points, including 41 in Golden State's finale.
Thompson has a chance to compete for a championship this season, while Davis' offseason vacation trips have already been reserved.
But though their immediate futures are much different, Colin Cowherd views both as shells of their former selves and believes each could positively impact the other's current team.
"In the NBA, you're in quicksand if you're bad," Cowherd said Monday on "The Herd."
"You don't have draft picks. That's where the Lakers are. You've got to take a big swing, so I'll throw this out there. You call up Golden State, and you say ‘Jordan Poole’s becoming a star. You know it, everyone knows it. We'll take Klay Thompson and James Wiseman, a big who can't stay healthy, we'll take him. We'll give you Anthony Davis.'
"[Thompson and Wiseman] are two headaches that you won't admit privately. The Lakers get maybe a draft pick, Thompson and Wiseman, and the Warriors cry at the press conference, but privately, Jordan Poole's becoming an All-Star, and you want him to play 40 minutes a night. He can't with Klay around."
Ric Bucher was shocked at the proposal, but didn't disagree with its merits.
"I'm not mad at that idea. I always appreciate your out-of-the-box thinking," he told Cowherd.
"Do I believe the Golden State Warriors would be able to emotionally detach themselves from Klay Thompson at this point? No, not without a full season of seeing if he can get back to any semblance of Klay. But from a simple basketball standpoint, it's not the worst idea. I'm in full agreement with you on James Wiseman. I don't know that Klay Thompson can get back to being Klay Thompson. And I voted for Jordan Poole as Most Improved Player. I don't see it happening, but it's not a crazy idea."
Would an Anthony Davis-Klay Thompson trade help both teams
As Cowherd stated, both players have certainly taken steps back in terms of production.
For Davis, he operated near the lower end of his career spectrum in a number of statistical categories this season.
Those include: The third-lowest free throw rate (35.1), second-lowest defensive rebound (22) and steal percentage (1.7), fourth-highest turnover percentage (9.3), and lowest usage rate (27.1) of his career. He also posted the lowest defensive win shares total (two) of his career as well. L.A. went 17-23 with Davis in the lineup and 16-26 without him.
For Thompson, his steal rate (.8) and corner 3 percentage (36.7) were both career-lows. In fact, Thompson shot below 41% on corner 3s for the first time this season, while shooting below 40% on all other 3-point attempts for the first time as well (38.5). His 42.9 FG% was the second-lowest of his NBA tenure, and G.S. had a better record without him (36-14; .720) than with him (17-15; .531).
A straight-up trade for the two appears unlikely, but according to Cowherd, it could be exactly what each team needs to flip the tide in the right direction.
