Dallas Mavericks veteran Klay Thompson is widely considered one of the greatest 3-point shooters in NBA history. Larry Bird is arguably the greatest 3-point shooter of his era. The three-time league MVP averaged 24.3 points per game over his 13-year NBA career and won three consecutive 3-Point Contest titles from 1986-88.
Klay Thompson Makes His Opinion of Larry Bird Extremely Clear originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Dallas Mavericks veteran Klay Thompson is widely considered one of the greatest 3-point shooters in NBA history. But before he made his name as one half of the Golden State Warriors' iconic "splash brothers" duo, some great NBA shooters came before him.
Larry Bird is arguably the greatest 3-point shooter of his era. The three-time league MVP averaged 24.3 points per game over his 13-year NBA career and won three consecutive 3-Point Contest titles from 1986-88.
In a recent social media post, Thompson shared some high praise for the NBA Hall of Famer.
"I can watch Larry's highlights all day long [goat emoji]," Thompson wrote on his Instagram story Tuesday night.
This respect is clearly mutual. During an interview last year, Bird identified Thompson as one of his favorite NBA players.
"Klay Thompson's always been one of my favorite players," Bird said. "What an incredible shooter... Scoring 60 points in what I think was 30 minutes — unbelievable. Took eight dribbles. How do you do that? ... He also scored like 39 points in a quarter. How do you do that?"
Thompson, 35, is heading into his 13th NBA season and second campaign with the Mavericks. He averaged 14.0 points on 41.2% shooting through 72 games in 2024-25.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Basketball
