“I was overeager to shoot and out of position defensively”: Klay Thompson self evaluates his game after much-anticipated return this season to the Golden State Warriors

After improvement on the offensive end, Klay Thompson hopes to regain lateral quickness to be one of the best two-way guards in the NBA.

Golden State Warriors were thought to be unbeatable after Klay Thompson’s return. He suffered back-to-back season-ending injuries at a time the Warriors needed him the most. After 5 consecutive finals appearances, GSW hit rock bottom in 2019.

This season, however, they turned things around with just the right roster moves. Even before Klay’s return, they were no. 1 in the west and were blowing out top-seeded teams. The possibility of  Klay Thompson to this mix put the league on alert.

On the contrary, the Warriors have actually been struggling of late. With Curry’s shooting slump coinciding with multiple injuries, they have lost the no. 1 spot to Phoenix Suns and are quite far from retaking it.

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Klay Thompson says he is 80 percent of his old self

During the all-star break, Klay Thompson did some self-reflection. “I thought I was overeager to shoot and out of position sometimes defensively,” Thompson said.

“And I think the last 10 games, my numbers shooting-wise have been going up. I want to come out shooting it like I know I’m capable. But who can do that after two-and-a-half years off from an NBA game?”

He missed two full seasons and a good chunk of 2021-22 seasons as well. Fans knew that they weren’t getting ’60 points off of 11 dribbles’ Klay, but just to watch him play the game of basketball after 941 days was incredible.

The 3x NBA champion gave a very accurate self-assessment of the 16 games he played after his return. Although he is looking like his old self offensively, the Warriors need him to be the kind of defender he was in 2019.

When in the zone, Klay Thompson can be the most dangerous player on the court. He has set some unbreakable records in the NBA and we saw a glimpse of that in the game against LA Lakers prior to the All-Star Break.

His skills at the perimeter are invaluable and quite necessary to make a legitimate title run. With Iggy perpetually injured and Dray missing two months of NBA action, Dub Nation is counting on Klay to pick up the pace.

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