Klay Thompson has had an absolutely incredible journey back from two successive injuries that saw him have one of the longest injury layoffs in NBA history from June 2019 to January 2022. Thompson’s injury woes started in the 2019 NBA Finals when he tore his ACL against the Toronto Raptors.
In 2020, Thompson tore his Achilles while getting ready for training camp and he finally returned to play half the season this year. The injury in 2019 was massive when it happened, as his injury coupled with Kevin Durant’s ensured the Warriors cannot three-peat and the Toronto Raptors became onetime champions.
Considering what the Warriors were fighting for, the conversation between Thompson and coach Steve Kerr when he got hurt was highly profound. Klay wanted to just take a two-minute break and check back into the game, either unaware of the severity of the injury or just wanting to see their title run out until the end.
The Warriors have spent the last three seasons trying to find their dynastic form again and seem to have done it this year. They walked through the Western Conference and are now locked in a tight battle against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. This is the Warriors’ 6th Finals in 8 years. The two non-playoff years saw them be without Klay.
Thompson hasn’t been perfect, evidently getting back into the rhythm of playing basketball. However, he has been incredibly useful in certain games through the playoffs. Game 3 against Boston saw him put in a great performance, and he effectively led the Warriors to beat the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the Conference Finals.
It was a long road, but both Coach Kerr and Thompson find themselves in this position to become champions once again. Hopefully, all the catastrophic injuries can stay at bay and we see the two best teams in the NBA do battle through the next couple of games in the series.
