Getty Klay Thompson #11 of the Golden State Warriors looks on during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Golden State Warriors‘ fading star Klay Thompson is open to a reduced role if that is what it takes for him to remain with the team beyond this season in a revealing interview with The Ringer’s Logan Murdock.
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Thompson told Murdock. “I’ll be 35 next year. At 35, coming off the ACL and an Achilles [tear] and still have the ability to be a really good player. Maybe not the guy who scored 60 in three quarters and scored an NBA record 37 points in a quarter, but still a great threat out there. I’ve modeled my game after Reggie [Miller] and Ray [Allen], and those guys were incredibly effective until their late 30s. So I plan on kind of following that mold.”
Thompson’s up-and-down season continued in Phoenix when he watched again from the bench in the closing minutes after a 2-for-10 shooting night. Stephen Curry bailed him and the Warriors out with a 27-footer 3-pointer at the end.
Klay Thompson’s Days as Max Player is Over
The 34-year-old Thompson has finally acknowledged the elephant in the room. After two serious injuries, he’s no longer the five-time All-Star and the league’s second-best 3-point shooter next to Curry that he once was.
“I put in so much work to get back to even just playing basketball that I just needed a little perspective shift and rather than trying to be the old me or be an All-Star in the NBA or whatever,” he told Murdock. “Just to be as effective as I can in my current role and, most importantly, just have fun, man, because at the end of the day, I only have so many years more doing this and got to have fun. I can’t be stressed because things don’t go my way. I just got to continue to have fun.”
Will this shift in perspective also mean being open now to give the Warriors a hometown discount in the extension negotiation this summer?
During the start of the season, Warriors governor Joe Lacob openly said he wanted Thompson back despite not striking an extension last summer.
“There are two sides to every negotiation. We want him back. He wants to be back. It’s kind of like Draymond [Green’s contract situation this past summer]. I think everyone needs to just chill a little bit. Let it take its course. My guess is it works out. I can’t control it. I can’t dictate it. You can’t dictate it. Fans can’t dictate it. These things have to take their course. There are different parties involved, but the intentions are really good,” Lacob said in a radio interview in October last year.
The Warriors signed Green to a $100 million, four-year extension last summer. That could serve as the starting point in Thompson’s extension negotiation talks.
Klay Thompson Plans to Ride the Sunset With Warriors
Ultimately, what will keep Thompson in the Bay area after this season is his special bond with Curry and Green.
“I mean, just for where we started,” Thompson told Murdock. “The Warriors before we got there had a good history as far as Wilt and Rick Barry and TMC and We Believe. I think we elevated that to another level. I just think it’s a special, special group, and then when we win and go to so many championships together, … it’s like a bond for life. It’s probably the best part of the job, honestly. Trumps the money, trumps the fame, just being able to have a bond for life with those guys.”
Thompson’s bet on himself this season is backfiring. So he has no other recourse but to adjust.