The Dallas Mavericks announced on Friday afternoon that they had bought out Klay Thompson's contract. He plans to sign with the Miami Heat once he clears waivers, on a two-year deal worth close to $13 million with a player option in the second year, sources told ESPN.

The distinction matters and is worth stating up front. The buyout is official and announced by the club. The Miami move is not: it is reported by sources as a plan, and it cannot become a signing until waivers have run.

What Dallas gave up and got back

Thompson had one year left, at $17.5 million. A buyout means the player and club agree he will be paid something less than that to leave, and Dallas has not said what the number was.

Masai Ujiri, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations, marked the departure warmly. "Klay is one of the great players and competitors of his generation, and we are grateful for everything he brought to the Mavericks organization," he said. "We have tremendous respect for Klay and all that he has accomplished throughout his career, and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward."

Thompson arrived in Dallas in the summer of 2024 through a sign-and-trade. Across two seasons there he averaged 12.9 points and shot 38.7 percent from three. The team went 26-56 last season.

Those two facts together explain the move without much need for interpretation. A 36-year-old shooting 38.7 percent from distance is still a useful NBA player; a 26-56 team is not where a player with four championships spends the last productive years of a career.

What Miami is buying

The Heat have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. That is a frontcourt that generates a great deal of attention inside the arc and consequently a great deal of space outside it, and the thing that pairing most obviously wants is someone who can punish a defense for collapsing.

Thompson is fourth on the all-time list for three-pointers made, with 2,899. He is a five-time All-Star and won four titles across 13 seasons with Golden State. At 36 he is no longer the two-way player who made those teams work, and Miami will not be signing him to be one.

The caveat

Nothing here is done. Thompson has to clear waivers, at which point any team could in principle claim the remaining contract, and the Miami agreement has been described by sources rather than announced by either club. Reported NBA moves of this kind usually complete. They do not always.