Luka, Kyrie & Klay: Dallas Mavs Best Trio Ever?
DALLAS - Welcome to the Dallas Mavericks’ most exciting trio since the 1990s’ “Three Js.”
But unlike Jason Kidd and Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn 30 years ago, this trio, I bet, will prove to be as much about substance as it it about style.
Klay Thompson will be 35 in next year’s NBA Playoffs and he will years removed from being one of the league’s elite perimeter defenders.
But what he’s still good at - the basketball talent least likely to fade, not counting "height'' - is what the Mavs are still desperate for: a consistent catch-and-shoot 3-point assassin.
Luka, Kyrie & Klay: Dallas Mavs Best Trio Ever?
Joining playmakers and facilitators Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, Thompson will be Dallas’ perfect missing link. He’s one of the NBA’s all-time best long-distance shooters.
Want historical proof?
In 2016, he scored a memorable 60 points in a game while taking only 11 dribbles.
In 33 NBA Finals games he’s shot 40 percent from beyond the arc.
When P.J. Washington (27 percent) and Derrick Jones Jr. (25) misfired in the Finals, Dallas was doomed. It wasn't really their fault; they aren't marksmen.
And they proved it - even as they'd experienced earlier success from outside in the playoffs - as they made only 48 3s in the five-game series.
Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics made 70.
Klay combats all of that.
The Three J's? That didn't quite work.
Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley? Relative to the times, pretty good.
Dirk, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry (if that's who counts as the "Big 3'' on the title team)? Hey, they won. That's the point ... as it is here.
Klay Thompson is not only an upgrade. He’s a perfect-fit, future Hall-of-Fame upgrade. ... making up a dazzling offensive Big 3 for Big D.