Thompson and his worst numbers

In this incipient start of the NBA season, one of the first disappointments has been the champions Golden State Warriors, who have a negative record and are having trouble finding their rhythm, especially on offense; in addition to the hangover from the title won a few months ago, one of the aspects that explain this bad start is the contribution of Klay Thompson.

The shooting guard, Golden State’s usual second-leading scorer and who also shines defensively, has started the season with difficulties, which has affected the rest of the team, as coach Steve Kerr himself has recognized, although without setting off the alarms because it is only November and the Bay Area team needs the best version of the 11 for the playoffs.

The ideal partner of Stephen Curry was a fundamental piece for the first title of this era of dominance of the Warriors in 2014-15 and then accepted to yield protagonism before the arrival of Kevin Durant to the institution to achieve the championships of 2016-17 and 2017-18 and reach the Finals of 2019, where they fell to Toronto.

In that series, Klay suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee that left him out for almost a year and when he was on his way back, he also tore his Achilles tendon, which kept him away from the court for another season.

The squad felt his absence and that of KD, who left for the Brooklyn Nets: he had a 15-50 record in a 2019-20 cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic and then 39-33 in 2020-21 to fall out of the postseason.

His expected reappearance occurred nearly 31 months later on Jan. 9, 2022, and his presence was immediately felt – Golden State returned to the playoffs and the guard went from averages of 29.4 minutes, 20.4 points, .385 in three-pointers and 2.8 assists in 32 regular-season games to 36, 19, .385 and 2.3, respectively, en route to another Larry O’Brien conquest.

Thompson shined in Game 5 of those Finals against the Boston Celtics, when he had 21 points, including five three-pointers, for a pivotal victory in his team’s coronation in the next game, away in Boston.

“The anguish that Klay felt over the last three years, people can assume, but we saw it up close, between an injury that kept him out for a second year and not doing what he loves most in life which is playing, it’s been tough for him, so his return was special for us both on and off the floor, because of what he means to the organization, what he’s done for this team and of course, his contribution,” Kerr praised him still at the TD Garden podium.

With another ring in hand, 32 regular schedule games and 22 more playoff games on his shoulders, it seemed that in this 2022, Thompson was ready to pick up where he left off in the distant 2019, when he looked against Toronto in the Finals.

However, this was not what happened, after a couple of performances of more than 15 points against Lakers and Nuggets, the alarms went off when he contributed eight against Sacramento and then just two in a loss to Phoenix in which he even suffered the first ejection of his career, after a fight with Devin Booker.

Although he then converted 19 against the Heat on a couple of occasions and then broke out with 27 in a loss to Orlando, Klay hasn’t been the same and went three games without topping 20 again before converting 41 against Houston on Sunday, which has forced Kerr to rest him on a few nights, with the goal of getting him back in rhythm and, more importantly, his shooting.

“I’m confident that Klay will be able to get out of this moment or whatever you want to call it, but it’s a frustration you can feel, you can see it in his eyes, he’s frustrated, he wants everything back right away and it doesn’t work that way, you have to go out, play and relax, the ball will come back to him,” the coach told local station 95.7 El Juego’s Damon & Ratto show.

So far this season, he has accumulated the worst numbers since his rookie season: he averages 29.2 minutes per game, a figure even lower than the 32 games he played the previous year, 39.3 in field goal percentage, when in his entire career he had never had less than 42.

In three-pointers, his specialty, he converts 37.9 percent, a record even below the 38.5 of the previous year and far from the 44 of 2017-18; as for points he scored 17.3 after 15 games, when since 2013-14 he had not gone below 20.

That decline on offense is also noticeable on the other side of the court, because defensively, another of the tasks in which he excels, his performance has fallen and averages 0.7 steals per game, which only compares with what happened in 2021-22, while in blocks he contributes 0.3, the same figure as in 2011-12.

All this has not been reflected in the overall production of Golden State, which has the sixth best offense in the NBA at this start, is ninth in field goal percentage and second in three-pointers, but it is noticeable in the team’s record, which is not among the top 10 in the Western Conference and still has a losing record.

The offensive production is recharged on Curry, accompanied by Andrew Wiggins and then Jordan Poole, to average 66 units among the three, while, in the other areas, Kevon Looney has fulfilled his role with the rebounds and Draymond Green as the assistant, but it is Klay who takes this team to another level.

For this reason, the criticisms are not long in coming and one of the clearest was Charles Barkley, who pointed out that he missed the two-way player that Thompson was before his physical problems, to empower Golden State both on offense and defense.

Immediately, the star had a response for the former player’s comments, “I had ligament and Achilles injuries in back-to-back years and still helped the team win a championship, it hurts to hear that because I put in so much effort to get back to this point, it’s even hard to put into words what I had to do to be the player I am, I played only 55 or 57 games in three years, give me a little time to get back.”

At 32 years old, there has been speculation about a retirement, although he has a contract with the franchise until 2023-24, which was quickly denied by the number 11, who stated that he will not say goodbye when the agreement expires, which will generate him 83.8 million dollars in the next two years.

The shooting guard also admitted that there have been no talks for a possible renewal, amid the extensions recently signed by Wiggins and Poole and the doubts also surrounding the permanence of Draymond Green in the franchise, despite being another of the pillars of recent successes.

Klay is betting on regaining his level this season and proving his worth, especially after the All-Star Game, when enough time has passed to get back in rhythm and the postseason is near, because the ‘Splash Brothers’ are known for connecting in the decisive stage.

Golden State needs its point guard to return to the elite of the West and for that, not only requires his contribution to the offense, but also to be able to mark the best scorer of the opponent and show that after two tough injuries, his talent is intact and can remain as a key piece both in the short and medium term in the Bay.