Warriors Legend: West Saved Dynasty by Blocking Thompson-for-Love Trade

On June 15, Mitchell Thompson discussed Jerry West’s significant impact on the Golden State Warriors and his son Klay Thompson following the Hall of Famer’s passing on Wednesday.

In a recent episode of “The Murph & Markus Show,” Thompson Sr. recounted how West prevented the Warriors from trading Klay in the early stages of his NBA career.

“Essentially, he’s the one who saved the Warriors dynasty because without Jerry West, Klay would not be a Warrior,” Thompson Sr. said. “He and Harrison Barnes would have been playing for Minnesota a few years later.”

There were reports that the Warriors explored sending Thompson to the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star forward Kevin Love.

However, as former Warriors President and GM Bob Myers recently pointed out, Golden State never got close to the deal since they didn’t request Love’s medical records.

West was part of the Warriors’ executive team from 2011 to 2017, helping build the foundation of the championship dynasty.

Addressing rumors that West threatened to leave the Warriors if they traded Klay, Thompson Sr. detailed how West vetoed the potential Love trade.

“He was very much against that trade, even though Kevin Love was averaging like 27 points and 14 rebounds per game, an All-Star with the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Thompson Sr. explained. “He was a dominant frontcourt player, and the Warriors thought pairing him with Stephen Curry would take them to another level. Who knows, maybe it would’ve worked out, maybe they’d win championships together. But Jerry West saw the potential in the ‘Splash Brothers’ and said, ‘If you move one of them, I’m gone too.'”

Thompson Sr. also shared stories about West’s pre-draft workout with his son, describing how the then-Warriors executive quickly made up his mind.

“Klay and I worked out together in L.A., and Jerry West and Joe Lacob were there evaluating Klay,” Thompson Sr. recalled. “I remember Jerry coming over to me two or three minutes into the workout and saying, ‘We’re taking him. There’s no need to look further.’ That’s just Jerry; he could look at a kid once and immediately know, ‘Yeah, this kid has something.'”