Grading the signing: Heat add Klay Thompson on two-year deal - Hot Hot Hoops - Florida News Beep

Klay Thompson (Mandatory Credit: Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

After weeks of speculation, the Miami Heat finally acquired sharpshooter Klay Thompson, who was bought out by the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. The deal can’t be made official until Sunday, when the 13-year veteran clears waivers. But Thompson is expected to sign with the Heat for two years, $13 million, eating the majority of what’s left of the Heat’s mid-level exception.

Let’s grade the signing!

Grading the Klay Thompson addition for the Miami Heat:

Entering the summer, retaining both Tyler Herro and Norman Powell was untenable. Their on-court fit was disastrous; both needed the ball in their hands to be worthwhile offensive players, and both were turnstiles defensively.

Well, the Heat retained neither.

Miami and Herro both needed to go their separate ways, and they pulled that off in the Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster. Powell eventually signed a two-year deal with the Chicago Bulls, and we’ve since learned that the Heat never formally came to the table with an offer despite speculation of mutual interest.

Powell and Herro were two of the Heat’s four players last year who attempted at least 6.0 3PA per 75 possessions (min. 100 total 3PA). Those four — the two aforementioned names plus Simone Fontecchio and Nikola Jovic, who canned a dastardly 26.9 percent of his threes — marked the second-fewest in the NBA, only above the Denver Nuggets.

Miami successfully poached former Nugget guard Tim Hardaway Jr. from Denver. It also drafted Ryan Conwell, a high-octane marksman, with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Yet, volume shooting to provide spacing around their new-look frontcourt remained a priority. You can never have enough shooting around Antetekounmpo.

Now, evidently, they have one of the greatest shooters ever who still buries open shots at a high level.

Thompson, 36, shot 38.3 percent on 7.6 triple tries per game with the Mavericks last season. In his four previous seasons after tearing his ACL and achilles, Thompson shot 39.1 percent from beyond the arc. He’s still a deadeye sharpshooter capable of drawing legitimate gravity, an honor that can only be awarded to very few players on this team.

The Heat weren’t going to capture as good of a shooter as Thompson this late into the summer. Acquiring him without having to fork over any of their remaining assets — *cough* Nikola Jovic *cough* — was the best-case scenario, even though offloading the 23-year-old Serbian would ease the Heat’s books in future seasons.

To me, this is a clear win, essentially capping off a successful Heat summer to begin this new build.

Grading the signing: Heat add Klay Thompson on two-year deal – Hot Hot Hoops

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