Warriors exercise third-year option on Thompson

Of course, it was a formality. But it still had to bedone.The Warriors exercised their third-year team option onshooting guard Klay Thompson on Thursday. Thompson will earn 2.3 million in2013-14.The Warriors clearly believe Thompson is the shooting guardof the future, and that was hammered home last March when the team traded MontaEllis to the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal for Andrew Bogut.That opened the door for Thompson to become the Warriorsstarter, and he handled that role quite well.In 29 starts, Thompson averaged 18.1 points and 3.0 assistsper game last season. He played in all 66 games in 2011-12.Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the Warriorshold Thompsons rights for four seasons. As a first-round pick Thompsonreceived two guaranteed years, and the Warriors have the option of picking upYear No. 3 and Year No. 4.The Warriors had until Oct. 31 to exercise their option onThompson.