MISSION BAY — It was an okay Klay Thompson game Friday night against the San Antonio Spurs. Not great, but serviceable; the type of game you would expect from someone slowly clawing their way back from an early season cold streak. It was also not what he wanted. In the final minute of the first half, just seconds after Thompson drilled his third three-pointer of the night, Chase Center seemed primed for his homecoming. The longer the slump, the greater the roars. Thompson shot once, then twice behind the arc in a single possession, desperately trying to get hot. He could not.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr then sent Gary Payton II in for the final defensive possession before the break. Thompson berated himself as he walked to the bench, back-kicked a chair and threw a couple of towels down the baseline in anger. Quite the departure from the mild-mannered, sometimes aloof shooting guard the Bay Area has embraced as a sporting darling for more than a decade — not coincidentally, the one core member without a contract beyond 2024. Basketball questions then become life questions, such as, “Where are you going to live next season?”
“That’s where we really earn our money,” said Kerr before the game. “When you know you have to deal with getting traded, getting cut, getting booed, having people yell at you. That’s the real stuff.” Klay Thompson is just going through it.
Managing 33-year-old Thompson’s reality and expectations while on a contract year is not just for the Warriors team and organization to figure out. Used to the riches of the Warriors dynasty era for almost 10 years now, fans wonder: Where is the help for Stephen Curry in his late-late prime? Inside Chase Center, where the audience once egged on an unconscious Thompson to keep raining threes, ticket-holders have settled into a sort of nervousness in the face of every new attempt — a rumination of cheerful hollers and howls of apprehension that No. 11 hadn’t heard at home up until now, the sound of people pondering if this is just the usual early-season slump or, god forbid, the inescapable decline.
Thompson is improving, and reading plays the right way, but still gets caught rushing shots here and there. Then, dejected, he can let himself go on the defense at times. An unscientific pre-game survey in Chase’s lower bowl revealed that the uneasiness is real.
“They disappoint you when they are not able to meet your expectations,” explained Lodie Celis from San Leandro. “But you [as a fan] wish you could also do your part to inspire them more, or to motivate them, to shout, which is, like, moral support for them.”
Just like Steph, there are many believers in the art of shooting yourself into a rhythm.
Take Francisco Valdez, from Tracy, who refuses to scream “Nooo!” at the bad shots, and would encourage him to keep shooting, because “we may lose the next five games, but we might win the next 10!” Others, like Eric Tanner from Palo Alto, would take a drive-and-dish approach, because “a basket is still worth two points, right?”
The more extremists would straight-up trade if all the wishful thinking proves insufficient.
“I like him a lot, but time is catching up to him,” said Leon Badarie from San Jose. “He may have a good game here and there, but he cannot do it consistently.” Like many others who can’t fathom the thought of voicing the unthinkable, he would like to be proven wrong.
“Cut his salary, take him off the bench, less minutes, maybe he’ll play a little better,” is his best bet.
Thompson should be freed by the return of Draymond Green on Tuesday against the Kings in Sacramento. Even then, some propose an adjustment of functions. “He’s never going to be the old Klay, but I think, or maybe just hope, that he can be a good enough version of the old one” said Jonas Honick, a season ticket holder since 2003.
Instead of searching for lost time, Thompson would be better served searching for his best 2023-24 version of himself. Otherwise, he risks the Russell Westbrook boos from a couple of years ago in Los Angeles. That’s a tall ask for anyone facing their basketball mortality, especially with a contract up in the air.
On Friday, his first three came at the second try, like CBD drops for a fanbase already stressed out over 7-foot-4-inch Victor Wembanyama’s impossible basketball. The Warriors had adjusted to the Spurs’ length and speed, which had surprised them in preseason. Things were on track. And yet, slowly but surely, Thompson continued to press. Then chairs were kicked, towels thrown in the air.
Despite a terrible spell of turnovers and bad decisions at the end of the game, the Warriors were able to hold on to a win that should have been a blowout. Fans were elated, if spooked. Among the key contributors: Curry, Dario Saric, Payton II and, yes, Klay Thompson with 15 points.
Thompson didn’t come out to speak to the press at the end of the game, but Curry did, and acknowledged his Splash Bro’s moment.
“There’s a lot on the line, personally and as a team,” he said. “That’s part of the stress that you go through out here as athletes, and the expectations that you have on yourself every night. You just try to keep it flowing, keep the joy high, keep the trust in each other, and eventually it’ll pay off.”
Or, like Kerr said, it’s about “how you deal with the adversity, and can you do so with dignity?”
Irreplaceable on the roster as it stands, a better Klay Thompson remains the Warriors’ best bet to go far this season. There is time — but not that much — to find out whether the current dynasty ends, not with a bang, or with the gasp of adoring fans swallowing a, “Don’t shoot!”
I think you should leave CP on the bench a lot more because Klay deserves to be on the floor whether he is shooting 3 s or not. He needs to know how much we care. You brought CP in because you want him to get something he has not gotten with other teams. Dirty plays and the rep he has.
I think we should accept that Klay should become a Ray Allen-type player and be inserted into the rotation later on in games when others’ 3-pointers are not falling.
His previously vaunted defensive capabilities are suffering from age, i.e., he has lost a step or two and so is less reliable. Let’s increase minutes for Kuminga and Moody.
At the Warriors’ size, “drive and dish” opens up when the shots fall from outside, in particular with Klay’s contribution as a second threat. He’s too good to not going to turn the corner, just a matter of time. So, if you absolutely must boo your own team right now (don’t), safe your breath for the return of Draymunde.