Injuries can ruin a player’s career in the NBA. In the past, we have seen that happen often to even the brightest of superstars. Derrick Rose, Tracy Grady, Gilbert Arenas, etc. all saw their careers go down the hill after some pretty devastating injuries.
After the 2019 NBA Finals, it felt like Klay Thompson would also join the list of NBA superstars whose careers were destroyed by injuries. Klay did suffer two potentially career-ending injuries in back-to-back years.
His road to recovery must have been very difficult, but he still made a comeback this season. He was rewarded for that by winning the fourth NBA Championship of his career. Although Klay didn’t play that big of a role in the championship run, he still did his level best.
Speaking of his injuries, one might wonder if he ever thought of giving up at any point in that two-year time span. As it turns out, head coach Steve Kerr recently revealed an emotional story about Thompson almost reaching his breaking point amidst his recovery.
Via Sportskeeda:
“I went out there, and he was basically crying on the bench by himself and Steph and Draymond both came out there, and I think everything was just, it was just too much for Klay. At that point he was still kind of wondering, like, ‘Is this ever gonna happen for me?’ And everything that he had been through seemed to kind of come to a boiling point in, you know, for him emotionally, and he just, he just started crying.”
Making a comeback from an injury is not all about just recovering physically. Being sidelined for an elongated period, that too, during the middle of your prime, takes a huge toll mentally.
Fortunately for Thompson, his teammates and head coach were always there for him and helped him make a great recovery. Hopefully, Klay can avoid such injuries in the future and we see him knock down amazing threes every now and then.
