MIAMI (AP) — Klay Thompson is going back to California. His shooting groove evidently is making the trip.
Thompson's slow start to the season seems to be over, after he made seven 3-pointers — five of them coming in a seven-minute barrage of the third quarter that blew the game open — and helped the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers 145-125 on Friday night.
He was shooting 32% from beyond the arc in his first five games with the Heat. A 7-for-12 night later, he's up to 39%.
“It wasn’t the best start to the season,” Thompson said after the 54th instance of him making at least seven 3-pointers in a regular-season game. “But to come out here and play with poise and confidence, I knew I was due for a night like this.”
It's early in the season and stats get skewed with small sample sizes, but that run in the third quarter was something Miami had been waiting to see.
“He has an exponential possibility factor for this team and you can see why,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He always will provide the gravity, but he is the definition of ignitable. When he gets on a roll like that, he is really tough to stop. We’ve all seen it or been on the other end of it. But it was fun seeing it in a Miami Heat jersey.”
Heat forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was more succinct.
“It’s like throwing a rock into the ocean," Antetokounmpo said. "It's fun to watch. It's fun to witness greatness. He’s one of the best shooters of all time.”
And Thompson found his form just in time, too.
The Heat start a five-game road trip on Monday, the first four of those games to be played in Thompson's beloved California. It starts with games against the Lakers and Clippers — meaning he'll be back in his hometown of Los Angeles, the place where he fell in love with basketball in large part because his father, Mychal, was playing for the Lakers.
The trip then continues in Golden State, the team that Thompson won four titles with when he was “Splash Brothers” with Warriors sharpshooter Stephen Curry. And from there the Heat will move on to Sacramento, a city where Thompson won a high school state title in 2008 by making seven 3s — a California boys state final record.
“I love going to LA," Thompson said. "I love seeing my parents, my brothers, my niece and nephew. ... And then, you go up the interstate and go the Bay and all the memories I was able to make up there are second to none. I'll see so many guys I grew up with, and I want to beat them bad; we're all still very competitive in our mid-30s and I love to go compete against them because they’re some of my best friends.
"I just can’t wait to go back and see familiar faces — not just the players, but the training staff, the equipment managers, the people who work the stands and the concessions, the custodians. I have friends for life in the Bay and LA, so it’s always special.”
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
Miami Heat guard/forward Klay Thompson (11) shoots over Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard (2) during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami Heat forward Klay Thompson (11) celebrates after making a three-pointer during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami Heat forward Klay Thompson (11) celebrates after scoring during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Saying the president was “grasping at straws,” a federal judge on Saturday threw out Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch over a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed the suit with prejudice, ruling that the president did not prove the defendants made defamatory statements with actual malice as required by law. The ruling said the lawsuit had attempted to “manufacture” flaws in the Journal’s investigative reporting.
When a case is thrown out “with prejudice,” it cannot be refiled again and the dismissal is permanent and incontrovertible.
The dismissal is a blow to Trump and his administration, which have both pursued adversarial relationships with news organizations during his second term. In addition to the Journal, he is embroiled in lawsuits involving the BBC, The Associated Press and — most recently — CNN, MS NOW and Politico, which are suing him for restored access after he banished them from the White House in mid-September.
Trump has denounced media outlets that write things to which he objects and frequently calls them “fake news” and insults their journalists.
The lawsuit against the Journal was over a story it published last year describing a sexually suggestive letter and drawing that the paper said bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. The letter was reportedly collected by disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell as part of a birthday album for Epstein years before he was first arrested in 2006 and subsequently had a falling-out with Trump.
The letter bearing Trump’s name includes text framed by the outline of what appears to be a hand-drawn naked woman and ends with, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to the newspaper.
Trump denied writing it and called the story “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, accused the paper and its reporters of having “knowingly and recklessly” published “numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements,” which, it alleged, caused “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” to the president.
Gayles previously dismissed the suit in April, saying Trump had failed to make the argument that the article was published with the intent to be malicious. But he gave the president a chance to file an amended complaint, which he did in May.
In Saturday's ruling, the judge cited the Supreme Court's landmark 1964 ruling in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. That decision made it harder for public figures to win libel lawsuits because it requires proof that a media outlet knowingly published something false or showed a reckless disregard for the truth.
“The Amended Complaint falls short of pleading actual malice,” Gayles wrote. “Indeed, the allegations regarding malice are conclusory, vague, sometimes inconsistent with the Article, and often irrelevant to whether Defendants knew or should have known that the statements in the Article were purportedly false.”
The judge also noted that the Journal's story did not ignore or minimize Trump's denial, “Rather, it informed readers that President Trump decried the Letter as a fake and denied writing it.”
Gayles also said several other allegations in the lawsuit did not have merit.
President Donald Trump walks from the podium after speaking at a campaign rally at the Ocean Center, in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
