Although drafted in the same year, Klay Thompson has played more games than Kyrie Irving in regular reason as well as playoffs despite missing more than 2 seasons.
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The Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson finally made his much-anticipated return to the NBA. He dealt with two career-threatening injuries back-to-back. As a result, he was sidelined for 2 years and the Warriors weren’t the same without him.
In his first game back, Klay scored 17 points in 19 minutes and dunked on Lamar Stevens last night. He was clearly rusty but showed potential for getting much better with time. Warriors are currently tied for the top spot in the west and the addition of Klay Thompson to this mix will only make it harder for every other team.
Another superstar whose presence we have missed this season is Kyrie Irving. Due to New York’s vaccination mandate, he became ineligible to play in home games. Brooklyn Nets refused to have him as a part-time player earlier.
But the Covid outbreak forced them to reconsider and Irving was brought back to the starting lineup. However, he only plays on the road and made his debut last week against the Pacers.
Klay Thompson missed 941 days of NBA basketball and still played more games than Kyrie Irving
Irving missing games is something every team of his has made peace with. He has always been extremely injury-prone. Earlier it was by no fault of his own. This season however he made the choice to remain sidelined. A deep dig into his stats reveals just how many key games the 7x all-star has missed over his career.
He was drafted in 2011 alongside Klay Thompson. The latter has played 616 games so far while Kyrie only played 583 in the regular season. To put things into perspective, Thompson missed 2 straight seasons and a huge chunk of the ongoing one as well. This just goes to show how big of a liability Kyrie can be sometimes.
Kyrie’s absence in the playoffs is widely known. People still wonder if the outcome of Klay’s first championship would be the same if he played in the 2015 finals. In playoffs, Klay has played 123 games while Kyrie only recorded 70.
The Warriors star has never missed a playoff game and only missed 25 regular-season games prior to his injury. It is insane when compared to the fact that Kyrie misses 25 each season due to injuries or personal reasons.
It is highly unlikely that Brooklyn will have Kyrie as a full-time player. He will continue to miss home games and possibly key games in playoffs, where the Nets need him the most.
