The NBA season is well underway with about 15 games played for each team; this represents close to 20 percent of the schedule, actually, so that’s a sizable data set. With that, we want to check in on Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Klay Thompson, someone we’ve thrown under the bus recently. The Golden State Warriors blew it last year by catering to Thompson’s fragile ego, and it cost them a playoff berth.

The Northern California team decided to not offer Thompson the big contract he thought he deserved, and so the Dallas Mavericks swooped in to get him at way too high a price ($50M for three years). How’s that working out for the two respective franchises? Well, the Warriors are 12-4 atop the Western Conference, and the Mavericks are 9-7 and tied for ninth place in the same conference. It’s early, but the results are in.

And Thompson is worse than ever: his 11.2 PER is the lowest of his career, and his WS/48 mark (.054) is the second lowest. That PER mark ranks tenth on the Dallas roster, and it’s the same placing for the WS/48 number as well. And guess where Thompson’s usage rate ranks on the Mavericks? Well, at least it’s only sixth, so perhaps Dallas is already experiencing buyer’s remorse. His shooting percentages are also bad.

In Effective Field Goal percentage? He’s tenth on the team. Same for True Shooting Percentage. Thompson, at age 34, is a long time removed from his individual peak season in 2014-2015. The Warriors cost themselves a shot another title last year by thinking Thompson could “come back” to that level of play, and they sidelined all-time great Chris Paul in that belief—the same CP3 who is thriving this year elsewhere.

The Mavericks are coming off a trip the NBA Finals, and they’re actually worse with Thompson getting so many touches (8.2 three-point attempts per game, making just 35.9 percent of those). Six times in Dallas’ first 11 games, Thompson played over 30 minutes. In the last five games, however, he’s played less than 24 minutes per game on average. The coaching staff—and the front office, for sure—are now aware of danger.

Remember, Thompson was already well in decline before the leg injuries that cost him both the 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 seasons. He may be 34, but his legs are closer to 40 years old after all that wear and trauma. Considering he was always only effective because he played next to a transcendent force, he’s basically been Scottie Pippen, riding the coattails of a more-talented teammate to success. On his own?

He’s mediocre. It is sad when people ignore facts in favor of their feelings; in the sports world, it’s not our problem, really.