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At this point, Golden State Warriors fans have seemingly reached the “so close, yet so far away” stage of their Klay Thompson comeback watch. After all, two long weeks have already passed since ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the five-time All-Star “could play 25, 30 minutes” in an actual NBA game.
“He’s ready to do that,” Woj told Mike Greenberg at the time.
So here we are with Thompson apparently being ready to play right now while the Warriors refuse to even hint at a return date.
Sure, he has been shuttling back and forth between the Warriors and their G League affiliate in Santa Cruz, getting work in and wowing everyone with his progress along the way. However, mum has continued to be the word regarding his actual return outside of vague rumblings about Christmas time or a little after.
Until now, that is.
On Thursday, a major update about some potential return dates hit the wire. However, if you’re a Warriors fan hoping for a pre-December 25 present, you’re probably not going to like the report.
Shams: Warriors Have Ruled Out December 20, 23 & 25
The Athletic’s Shams Charania just dropped the following intel on Golden State’s plans for Thompson over the next week-plus via Twitter:
The Warriors do not plan for Klay Thompson to debut on either Dec. 20 or Dec. 23 home games, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater. Thompson won’t come back on Christmas. So earliest possible return would be Dec. 28 — with Thompson ramping up conditioning over next couple weeks.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Connor Letourneau and Dubs Talk host Kendra Andrews both indicated that a return in the New Year was likely.
On the plus side, we appear to be getting closer to having an actual date to circle on our calendars. Clearly, though, this wasn’t the news that anyone was hoping for. Thompson’s continued absence is especially difficult to reconcile when there are videos of him draining game-winning shots circulating online, let alone Woj saying he’s ready to go.
That said, getting Thompson to the highest possible level of conditioning is crucial to keeping him both healthy and effective. It’s also worth noting that he has already had one false start since he first tore his ACL during the 2019 Finals. That, of course, was the ruptured Achilles he suffered ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.
Avoiding additional setbacks remains the top priority in this process, even as it approaches its end.
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Warriors Stars Sitting in Toronto?
Golden State’s next game will be on Friday, December 17 against the Celtics in Boston. From there, it will be a quick turnaround as the team travels to the Great White North to take on the Raptors the following night.
However, there’s a better than average chance that Toronto will be getting a Warriors squad that’s vastly different from the one the Beantowners will see.
Via The Athletic’s Anthony Slater:
Draymond Green hinted at an expected rest night in Toronto on Saturday for the veterans. Steve Kerr said no official decision has been made, but seems like Warriors are leaning toward sitting Curry/Draymond/maybe others against Raptors.
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