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Klay Thompson recently returned from a long battle with an injury that sidelined him for more than two years. After tearing the ACL in his left knee in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals and then his right Achilles in November 2020, Thompson was forced to sit out for a long time.
After his return on January 9th of this year, Thompson has been contributing in much the same way he was before he got injured. If he can maintain this level of play and become the special two-way contributor he was prior, the Warriors are going to be a threat once again.
Stephen A. Smith excited for Klay Thompson and Warriors post-season run
In Tuesday’s episode of “Stephen A’s World”, Stephen A. Smith outlines how he knew Klay Thompson was going to be a problem upon return.
In the video, Stephen A. Explains:
“I told all of y’all, all season, that Klay Thompson was going to be a problem when he got back on the court. Hell, I told you all last season that teams better win while they could because Klay was coming back, and when he did, Lord have mercy. I told you the Warriors would reclaim their top spot in the league. You shoulda listened!”
In Thompson’s first game back, he scored only 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting and 3-for-8 on 3-pointers in his twenty minutes of play. He made seven of those points at the beginning of the third quarter.
When asked about Thompson’s performance after that game, teammate and fellow “Splash Brother” Steph Curry said:
“18 shots in 20 minutes, that is so Klay Thompson.”
As Thompson got a few more games under his feet, he started to warm up and get his shooting back. In Monday night's win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Thompson hit two huge 3-pointers in the final two and a half minutes of the game to give the Warriors a 110-98 win over OKC. Thompson is back to making his clutch shots with ease.
Steven A. Smith commented on Thompson recently:
“Klay Thompson is heating up y’all. Took him a month to warm up, get his legs back under him, you know. But a stroke that pure doesn’t take long to get right.”
Thompson's minutes on the court have steadily increased over the last month to a season high of 29 minutes on Monday. When asked about his return after their win, Warriors coach Steve Kerr explained in an interview:
“He looks great out there. He’s moving great. It’s fun to be able to play him 29 minutes — we’ll bump that up.”
In just 12 games played since his return last January 9th, Klay Thompson has averaged 16.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in around 25 minutes per appearance. He is shooting 42.6% from the field, 37.8% from the three and 100% from the free-throw. In both of his last two games, Klay has managed to score above 20 points.
Even his stats will show that Thompson is getting back to full strength. Stephen A. Smith may have a point: teams everywhere are going to have to look out for a bothersome threat in the near future. As if Golden State was not already a threat, holding second place for most of the season — long before Klay was healthy. With the “Splash Brothers” back, it looks like fans everywhere are in for more showtime ball from the Warriors.
Guess the Lakers players!
