Klay Thompson’s illustrious Warriors tenure ended two years ago, which might have been five seasons after its initial expiration date.
The sharpshooting guard left Golden State to sign with the Dallas Mavericks in NBA free agency two years ago, but according to longtime teammate Draymond Green, Thompson’s departure would have happened much sooner if not for one fateful night.
Green, on the latest episode of his podcast, “The Draymond Green Show,” reacted to Thompson signing a two-year contract with the Miami Heat on Friday after a buyout with the Mavericks and the narratives surrounding Thompson’s career, specifically that he never was capable of being a true No. 1 option throughout his 15-year (13-season) NBA career, and revealed an interesting Warriors scenario that never came to fruition.
“Everyone tries to make Klay the guy Klay was after the injuries,” Green said. “I won’t go for that. What I will also say is, [it was] highly likely that after the 2019 playoffs, Klay Thompson was going to leave the Golden State Warriors and go be a No. 1 option somewhere. Highly f–king likely.
“Then he got hurt, and so he stayed. But one thing I can assure you, there was a 90 percent chance my brother was going to leave Golden State and go elsewhere and test that No. 1 option thing out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for him and he got hurt and he never got the opportunity to.”
Thompson famously suffered a torn left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors, weeks before he was set to become an unrestricted free agent.
However, even before the injury, there did not seem to be much doubt that Thompson would re-sign with Golden State, so Green’s revelation that Thompson very likely would have left that summer if not for the injury certainly might come as a surprise to many Warriors fans.
Thompson, after missing the entire 2019-2020 NBA season while recovering from the ACL tear, then suffered another devastating injury, a torn right Achilles in Nov. 2020, that sidelined him until Jan. 9, 2022, when he made his long-awaited return to the court with the Warriors after two-plus seasons.
Green believes that because of Thompson’s initial knee injury in 2019, and Achilles injury a year later, his former teammate never had the opportunity to truly prove his capabilities as a team’s No. 1 option.
“So now, in turn, everyone wants to talk like ‘Oh, you couldn’t do it’ like he wasn’t going to,” Green added. “But I study the history, I do the research, and I’m going to appreciate and watch and know the Klay Thompson of 2017, ’18, ’19, he was capable.
“He just never got the opportunity to do the contractual obligations, and once he fulfilled his contractual obligations, he faced an ACL and Achilles in back-to-back years and missed two-and-a-half years of basketball.”
While the consecutive season-ending injuries certainly were a devastating blow to Thompson’s career, the four-time NBA champion and five-time All-Star still should be a first-ballot Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer whenever his career does end.