Having made a habit out of extraordinary shooting performances during his career with the Golden State Warriors, Klay Thompson has delivered his biggest scoring quarter since arriving at the Dallas Mavericks during the offseason.

Coming up against former Warrior championship teammate Jordan Poole and the lowly Washington Wizards, Thompson put on a shooting masterclass in the opening period on Monday at American Airlines Center.

Former Warriors guard Klay Thompson has dropped a statement performance

Thompson drilled six threes within the opening seven minutes of Monday’s game, and by 10 minutes into the ball game had a seventh 3-pointer and 21 points to lead his team to a 42-16 opening period.

To put Thompson’s explosive first-quarter into context, the 34-year-old had made seven threes in an entire game just once in his first 39 appearances with the Mavericks. That came in fact against the Warriors where Thompson had a season-high 29 points on 9-of-14 shooting in his team’s high-scoring 143-133 victory at Chase Center.

Despite the huge opening period, Thompson’s season-high remains at 29 after cooling off over the remainder of Monday’s game. He added just two points and finished with 23 for the game, having shot 8-of-15 from the floor and 7-of-12 from 3-point range in 24 minutes of action.

KLAY CAN'T BE STOPPED 🔥 pic.twitter.com/68E7gUWpPT

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) January 28, 2025

It was nonetheless a statement performance from Thompson who had been struggling over recent games. The veteran guard entered having averaged just 7.8 points across his last five appearances, including shooting just 38.9% from the floor and 36% from 3-point range.

Unsurprisingly the Mavericks kicked on from their strong start, recording a 130-108 victory thanks to six players in double figure scoring. After going for 38 points, five rebounds and five assists against the Warriors earlier in the month, Jordan Poole was less dynamic against Thompson and the Mavericks, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists on 6-of-15 shooting in 29 minutes.

Still playing without injured superstar guard Luka Doncic, Dallas have moved to 25-22 on the season and back up to eighth in the Western Conference standings. The Warriors remain planted in 11th at a 22-23 record after Saturday’s disappointing home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thompson is averaging less than 14 points per game with the Mavericks — the lowest since his rookie year with Golden State. He’s also averaging a career-low in minutes and is shooting 39.1% from beyond the arc on over seven attempts per game.