Before leaving the Golden State Warriors to join the Dallas Mavericks in free agency this past summer, veteran shooting guard Klay Thompson told his longtime teammates Stephen Curry and Draymond Green not to fight on his behalf for Warriors’ management to bring him back.

While Green honored Thompson’s request, Curry told ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk that it wasn’t easy for him to let his Splash Brother go so easily.

“Put it this way,” Curry said. “He can ask. But I don’t got to listen.”

Thompson, Curry and Green won four NBA championships during their time together in Golden State, tying them with Hall of Famers Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker for the most title wins by an All-NBA trio over the past 50 years.

Unfortunately, Thompson had a frustrating end to his tenure with the Warriors after falling out of the team’s rotation late in the 2023-24 season. He opted to chase another NBA title with the Mavs, who were coming off a surprising run to the 2024 NBA Finals where they lost to the Boston Celtics in five games.

Curry said it finally hit him that he and Thompson wouldn’t be teammates anymore after he arrived for training camp last week.

“[Klay] would usually enter the practice facility coming off of his boat,” Curry said. “With his Dockers on, whatever outfit he had on. He just had a presence about him, a lightness when he came in the room. And his one-liners were always great. … [I’m] talking about him like he died, [which is] super weird. … Life throws a lot of curve balls in sports. You’re used to seeing people change places and teams. [However] up until but a week before he decided to sign Dallas, we never really thought it was going to end.”