The Los Angeles Lakers are seen as Hollywood’s team. Thus they have many fans among the rich and famous in the Southland.
One of them is Calvin Broadus Jr., known to the public as Snoop Dogg. He grew up watching the Showtime Lakers as a child and teenager in Long Beach, and he has been loyal to the Purple and Gold since.
Broadus told Stephen A. Smith during an appearance on the “Stephen A. Smith Show” that he’s hopeful the team will sign Klay Thompson, the five-time All-Star guard for the Golden State Warriors, this summer as a free agent (h/t Lakers Nation).
“I’m hopeful that we can get us a Klay Thompson. His dad is Mychal [Thompson], he works for the Lakers, it’s an easy transit down the road.”
The younger Thompson has been a major lynchpin of Golden State’s dynasty over the last decade or so. However, he clearly isn’t the same player he used to be after tearing his ACL and Achilles a few years ago.
He shot 45.9% from the field and 41.9% from 3-point range in eight seasons prior to those injuries, but in the last three seasons, he’s been at just 43.3% and 39.7%, respectively. In addition, his defense, which used to be considered excellent, has greatly declined.
The younger Thompson, who is 34 years of age, made over $43 million this season from the Warriors, and he won’t be cheap this offseason, even though he’s a shadow of his former self. The Lakers are over the salary cap and have very little wiggle room under the new collective bargaining agreement, which has made the cap’s constraints even more suffocating.
The team does likely need a third star or star-adjacent player. However, the younger Thompson likely isn’t the right choice for it, no matter how much the famous rapper hopes for a father-and-son reunion in Los Angeles.
