“I beaned Kevin Love right in the back… Knew he was gonna be a Cav”: Warriors’ Klay Thompson takes a trip down memory lane, reminisces about the time he beaned the Cavs’ forward in Youth Baseball

Warriors star Klay Thompson recently returned to his childhood baseball field and hilariously recalls beaning Cavaliers forward, Kevin Love

Klay Thompson and Kevin Love went head-to-head in the four consecutive NBA finals. They were parts of two opposite rivalries, the Warriors and the Cavaliers.

However, before being fierce competitors on the court, the two were childhood friends and teammates. The two All-Stars competed together on a Little League baseball team in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Recently, Klay Thompson recently made a return to Oregon and reflects on his time there as a kid. Moreover, this trip also featured a trip to a baseball pitch. The 31-year-old guard then funnily recalls how he beaned Kevin Love as a kid. Take a look at how Klay hilariously talks about the incident:

“I beaned him right in the back. … Knew he was gonna be a Cav” 😂

Klay Thompson hit Kevin Love with a pitch in youth baseball

(via @warriors) pic.twitter.com/juHJb1oyBf

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 26, 2021

We all know Klay Thompson is a funny guy and has a knack for giving and receiving banter to and from fellow peers. So, it only makes sense that he got a sly dig in on rival Kevin Love.

Even Kevin Love responded to the video, commenting, “One of the worst bruises of my life.”

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Klay Thompson and Kevin Love’s rivalry on the court

As far as the NBA goes, the two players have always had intertwined paths. At one point, they were even nearly traded for one another. It was reported the Timberwolves wanted to go for a Klay Thompson-led package.

The only hurdle was Jerry West, who put his job on the line and opposed the trade. He was of the opinion that Thompson would become an outstanding NBA player. As a result, the Warriors decided to retain Thompson and it turned out to be a franchise-altering decision.

The two athletes have met four times in NBA finals, with Love playing for the Cavaliers and Klay representing the Warriors.

However, more recently, both the players haven’t had the most fruitful time on and off the court. Kevin Love has fallen out of the rotation. Additionally, with rookie Evan Mobley joining the squad, it’s just a matter of when he gets traded or bought out by the Cavs.

Meanwhile, a gruesome ACL injury has set Klay back for some time now. As of now, the 5x All-Star focuses on recovering. This means that the two childhood friends would not be meeting in the court for some time.

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Klay Thompson took a friendly jab at his friend/rival recently. Maybe he is still sour about the past when Kevin Love and the Cavaliers came back 3-1 to win the 2016 NBA finals over Klay’s Warriors. I am sure that’s a trade-off that Love will not mind.

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Joe Viju