ulations and welcome to Dallas thank you the adjustment is going well what are your new teammates like and how has the city welcomed you so far uh well as far as being welcome to the city it's been awesome started with uh Dirk nitz's uh Foundation charity tennis tournament and that was uh really cool to see the fandom out there and especially the love he generates in this city because of what he's done and the statue that's erected because of what he's done then second part the team has been amazing I've had a great time getting
to know each one of these guys and last week was great we got some great pickup games going and uh tomorrow will be so exciting as far as first day of camp that's awesome one of the first guys to reach out to you after the sign in trade was Kyrie Irving and you've obviously faced him on the most elite level of basketball competition you've had to hate him yeah a lot now you have to love him as your new teammate what has that relationship growth been like from the moment that you became a Dallas Maverick
to now uh it's really cool it's uh like full circle I mean we came in the lead together class 2011 uh could played USA teams together won gold medals played against each other in three straight finals so uh big lion roar back there at least someone's excited for me to yeah I can't generate that much energy prior to noon not a morning guy yeah so it's really cool to be teammates with Kai is the thought of making people punish or punishing people making people uh feel guilt for sending help to Luca and Kyrie excite you
the most when you think about like catch and shoot opportunities for two of the best ball handlers and scorers off the dribble in this league absolutely I mean that's what was so attractive as far as this being a destination to play was Kai lca's ability to uh cause gravity and on ball gravity that is and suck the defense in and I'll be on the perimeter willingly ready to shoot and just uh be a great teammate and you know help alleviate that pressure those two see on a nightly basis that's what I'm here for going from
coach Kerr to coach kid is so interesting coach ker one of the most respected coaches in the league and then Coach kid all the players talk about is how transparent he is and how honest he is and how he allows the players to really lead uh what what has your relationship been like with him so far and what do you look forward to with him being your new leader uh I look forward to learning from him I mean anybody who grew up watching the NBA knows how great and Jason kid was and what he's done
for basketball especially his mind for the game is second and none and then uh I look forward to yeah just our relationship growing and uh he's been able to help this team get to the championship and hopefully we can all collectively help each other hoist that Larry O'Brien Trophy and that's the why I came here was to have big goals and Big Dreams and Jak kid uh he encourages that so that's really exciting to be a part of honestly and I can't wait to learn from him he's such he's one of the greatest point guards
ever and he's got one of the greatest Minds in basketball history well clay we can't wait to watch us a map thanks for stopping by okay thank you I'm excited going all the way to the finals now you have the new addition in Klay Thompson how is this season starting to feel for you uh well it feel like we were just playing a few months ago which we were but it's gone by fast and uh I'd rather have it this way than any other any other way you know getting experience of playing in the finals
losing on the biggest stage coming up short then being able to have a great off season signing clay getting some great draft picks and and also building on the core group that we have here it felt good and I feel like everybody's ready to get started it's all the motivation you need right yeah how are you doing physically we saw a slew of small injuries last season than the broken hand in the offseason so it's it's like gosh you're just trying to catch your breath and get a break um there were reports that you'd be
ready by training camp so where are you right now yeah I'm ready I'm ready yeah I still have to uh get back into the swing of the rhythm of basketball especially with my teammates but other than that I feel like the adjustment won't be as hard and the summer was jam-packed uh a lot of traveling with my family learning how to Vacation again uh you know yeah learning how to do that thank you thank you um resting the mind is not always as easy as people think right yeah it was it was tough to transition
out um especially again losing the way we did but it was great motivation carrying on to the to this season and also being able to share that that same experience I wasn't alone in it so a lot of my teammates have uh that same Verve that same motivation that we want to carry into the season speaking of that same sort of vibe and mental pressure and being able to mentally release yourself from the game that was one thing that Luca really enjoyed that you brought to the table last year you allowed him to see that
life wasn't all just about basketball because it's all he ever knew so I know that you helped him a lot physically and emotionally you guys were the highest scoring duo in the league last season how has your relationship ship evolved even from just the end of last season and what are you looking forward to when it comes to playing with him again uh well when you go through some tough situations um you know we'll call them obstacles right of just you're trying to figure out how to get to know somebody that is super worldly talented
and has sacrificed a lot of their time in order to achieve greatness yes so we have a similar mentality a similar thought process when it comes to approaching the game but I think off the court I've been able to find balance with my family with my friends with my businesses um and ultimately just with God and peace and within my life what does that feel like and then also how do you share that with others um you know the this industry that we're in is is on the go all the time you know social media
never gives up either that never slows down so you feel like you're always you're always having to be on and my thing to Luca was just slowing down who you are as this all world uh person and then also getting to know the internal you which is who you're going to have to get to know for the rest of your life so I like having the balance and being able to explain that to him and um you know the language barrier could get in the way sometimes sure but uh LC is a quick learner he's
a great student in life and um his family's great too so I feel like we had a great merge of tribes and um that's what you're seeing here he said every once in a while some good wine would help uh merge the gap on the language barrier too every once in a while everybody loves some good Veno for sure exactly um lastly and more from a basketball perspective being one of the best Pastors in the league or the best pastors that the game has ever seen and playing off the ball a lot now you have
Clay Thompson just waiting to catch and shoot um what's that like for you to know that you're gonna have that addition of a great shooter but also somebody with championship experience as well uh I'm not going to take it for granted I'll tell you that uh last year we we were uh going through some of our first uh times you know going into the playoffs together this team uh being able to go to the finals and then go against a great Boston team you know you don't want to take your competitors for granted you know
they they really gave us a butt whooping that we're going to remember for the rest of our lives and that's the part of competition right but the other healthy side is adding New pieces with different experiences being able to have some more Poise set up ourselves throughout the chaos when the crowd gets loud or or you know it's emotions going into the game so we're going to figure it out as as human beings as brothers and everybody that's part of this staff and our organization uh we're thrilled about the opportunity to get started again we're
looking forward to it thanks so much for your time
