Klay Thompson is starting over in South Beach. The 36-year-old sharpshooter officially signed with the Miami Heat on Sunday after clearing waivers, agreeing to a two-year contract worth roughly $11.5 million that includes a player option for the second season and a 15 percent trade kicker, according to the Heat's official announcement.

The move ends a turbulent 18 months in Dallas that began when the Mavericks stunned the NBA by trading Luka Dončić to the Lakers for Anthony Davis in February 2025 — a deal that landed just weeks after Thompson himself arrived via sign-and-trade from Golden State. Thompson played only 21 games alongside Dončić before that blockbuster blew up the roster he'd signed up for. Dallas then flipped Davis to Washington ahead of this year's deadline, watched co-star Kyrie Irving tear his ACL, and finished with a 65-99 combined record over two seasons before agreeing to a buyout with Thompson on Friday.

His numbers cratered along with the team: 11.7 points a game on 39.3 percent shooting and a career-low 38.3 percent from three last season, well off his career mark of 40.9 percent. But the résumé underneath that slump is still one of the best shooting careers in league history. Thompson is a five-time All-Star, four-time NBA champion, the holder of the single-game record for threes made (14), and sits fourth all-time with 2,899 career three-pointers — just 75 behind Ray Allen for third place.

A fit built around spacing

Miami wanted Thompson specifically to space the floor around Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom the Heat landed from Milwaukee in a blockbuster trade earlier this summer, and center Bam Adebayo. Team president Pat Riley made the pitch personal, calling Thompson "one of the most iconic players to ever suit up in the NBA" and saying he'd "fit perfectly into his role as an all-around player at both ends of the court."

"MIAMI IS WHERE I WANNA BE."

Thompson has talked openly this month about wanting one more real shot at a title. "I want to compete for a championship," he said earlier in August, framing the next stop of his career less around stats and more around finding a roster capable of a deep playoff run.

Miami's front office is betting Thompson's shooting gravity, even diminished, still bends a defense — and that the culture reset after acquiring Antetokounmpo gives him a legitimate contender to chase that ring with. For a player who spent two seasons watching a franchise dismantle itself around him in Dallas, it's a considerably calmer landing spot.

Training camp opens in a few weeks, and the early storyline is obvious: how quickly Erik Spoelstra can fold a 36-year-old, ball-watching movement shooter into an offense already built around Antetokounmpo's downhill game and Adebayo's playmaking from the elbow. Preseason action will offer the first real look.