Getty/Thearon W. Henderson Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors talks to the media after Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Game 5 will be the third anniversary when the Golden State Warriors were eliminated from the 2019 NBA Finals by the Toronto Raptors. The loss closed a chapter in a dominant run for the Warriors, where they went to the Finals for five straight years.
It was also the day Klay Thompson tore his ACL, which instigated a two-and-a-half-year absence away from the court. Thompson then tore his Achilles before the 2020-21 season, which delayed his return until January of 2022.
“When I hurt my knee, it was kind of unchartered territory for me because I had been able to be consistently present in the lineup my whole career,” Thompson tells reporters after practice on June 12. “So I had to kind of realign my whole train of thought with the months coming up. I knew I had a lot of training ahead, and it was actually hard because I didn’t really get a break. Usually, after such a long season, you get a nice summer break. I had to go straight into rehab, and it was kind of a long cycle after that, a couple years.”
With the three-year anniversary of his 2019 Game 6 ACL injury tomorrow, Klay says he’s grateful “to be here again”
Without their core healthy. the Warriors spent the last two years missing the playoffs entirely—not knowing if they would ever be back in their current situation. Steph Curry summed it up best on what it meant to get back to this point after the arduous three-year journey for Thompson and the team.
“And to think it’s three years ago and all that we’ve been through, all that Klay has been through personally since that time, and to be back here, it adds a sense of gratitude of being back on this stage,” Curry talked about the past three years. “That chapter will always be part of our journey, for sure. That’s something we’ll probably talk about for a very long time.
Hopefully, we can get this job done and pay homage to that three-year journey actually leading to something truly special.”
With the third anniversary of Game 5, it provided a perfect opportunity for writers to do a story on it, so it was not surprising that veterans of the Dubs were all asked a similar question. Not surprisingly, one player, in particular, did not take too kindly to address the past.
Draymond Green Has Awkward Exchange with Reporter
Media-savvy Draymond Green was asked the same question about the third anniversary, but unlike his teammates, he chose to sway the other way and didn’t give the quotes reporters were looking for.
“It’s unnecessary,” Green snaps to the reporter. “We’re here in this moment. There’s no need to talk about something that’s unfortunate that happened three years ago. We’re here in this moment. We’re going to stay in this moment. We’re going to think positive thoughts and we’re going to move forward.”
Throughout Green’s reply, the reporter tried to interject and reinstate what he was trying to ask, but Green would not let him finish. After Green was done with his response, the reporter was able to get a brief reply from Thompson, but Green did not want to address the past.
“Yeah, it’s been great to see where he is and the level that he’s back playing at.” Green says. “But there’s no need for us to talk about moments that we don’t want to relive from three years ago.”
Draymond Green went back and forth with a reporter when asked about the 3-year anniversary of Klay Thompson’s ACL injury.
What Has Changed the Last Three Years?
Six players from the 2018-19 roster remain with the Dubs at this point, but a lot has changed since. The Warriors no longer play in the same city, as they moved across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.
Chase Center, the new state-of-the-art stadium, that was built in San Francisco is not the same as the rowdy Oracle Arena, with the roofs much higher, which drowns out much of the sounds of the arena.
Almost half of the roster is injected with new youthful energy. With the Warriors struggling the past two seasons, they were able to load back up with high draft picks, and restock their assets. In a way, it felt like the Dubs hit a soft reset button while the pandemic happened.