Getty Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson reacts during his media availability after Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals.
The Golden State Warriors didn’t just play a pair of preseason contests against Bradley Beal and the Wiz during their quick jaunt to Japan. They also participated in a number of non-game events and showcases, acting as ambassadors of the NBA game to the local fans.
One such event was the NBA Japan Games Saturday Night Fan Fest, which saw the Splash Bros. team of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson take on Jordan Poole and Moses Moody in an All-Star style Three-Point Shootout (with the team-up twist).
As one might expect, Steph and Klay — who have combined to drain more than 5,000 triples in their pro careers — made quick work of the young Dubs.
The real fireworks arguably came during the winners’ interview at center court. After throwing some playful shade at Poole and Moody, Thompson promptly turned his attention to the public face of the NBA 2K video game series — Ronnie Singh, a.k.a. Ronnie 2K — lighting him up in the process.
Klay’s Beef With Ronnie 2K Is Still Very Much a Thing
Klay’s initial response to a question about how he felt about winning the shootout was more or less standard fare for this kind of interview.
“Feels great! I might not be able to jump like these young bucks, but I’ll never lose the strap,” Thompson said. Then, he turned his attention to Singh.
“Ronnie 2K — change my three-point rating right now! Right now! Freaking hater!”
Just a handful of days before the release of the NBA 2K23 video game in early September, it was revealed that Thompson’s in-game, three-point rating of 88 was tied with Kevin Durant, Desmond Bane and Luke Kennard for second league-wide.
Steph was the only player rated higher than the aforementioned with a 99 score. Despite this fact, Thompson took to Instagram to shred the 2K series, writing, “NBA 2K has been doo doo since Sega Dreamcast.”
For the record, that console was released way back in 1999.
Clearly, time hasn’t healed Thompson’s wounds if he still felt compelled to go at Singh now. For his part, though, the 2K guru probably isn’t sweating the beef.
Ronnie 2K Defends Thompson’s In-Game Rating
Singh notably took the high road when probed for a reaction to Thompson’s criticism during a recent interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Joey Linn.
“He was really upset about an 88 three-point rating,” Singh said. “But you know what the funny thing is? That was still tied for the second-highest rating.”
As Singh sees it, this is simply a case of the Steph effect.
“I think that’s part of the issue of having a teammate that’s leaps and bounds ahead of everybody, like how do you deal with that? Steph since 2015 has made way more than 10% more three-pointers than anyone else in the league. So at some point, shouldn’t the rating be 10% higher than everybody else in the league? How do we deal with that?
“I think he’s just kinda broke that scale.”
Regardless of how one feels about Thompson’s rating, it’s difficult to find fault in Singh’s logic. Steph is, after all, in a class all his own as a three-point shooter.