Klay Thompson was selected by the Golden State Warriors as the 11th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. The 6’6″ guard from Washington State blossomed under Mark Jackson’s leadership. When Steve Kerr took over the reins, Klay had already shown signs of being an ice-cold killer on the court.
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Klay is currently playing his 12th season in the league. In that span, he’s won 3 NBA Championships, 5 All-Star selections, undergone two career-altering surgeries, and still returned and won another championship. He’s spent his entire career with the Warriors and wishes to keep it that way.
Recently, Matt Barnes had Klay Thompson as a guest on All The Smoke. It’s very rare to find Klay agreeing to do podcasts and talk shows. However, the two have a bond from when they were teammates in 2017, which might have helped Barnes convince the 5x All-Star.
Klay Thompson discussed Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry being on the same team
Klay’s relationship with the NBA goes way before his draft. His father, Mychal Thompson, was the first pick in the 1978 NBA Draft. He played 13 seasons in the NBA, during which time he won 2 NBA Championships with the Lakers.
During that time, Mychal played with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the same team. Having grown up listening to those tales, Klay drew a parallel to the same.
“When I would think about bringing KD on board, I would think about the stories my dad would always tell me about playing with Magic and Kareem. He’s like, ‘Yeah I thought I’d get to practice early every day, and I’d see Kareem practicing his skyhook 30 minutes before practice, every day.’”
When Klay used to go to practice, he used to see what dad used to talk about.
“And I saw the same parallel with KD and Steph. I’m not really early but I’ll get there, and KD’s out there in full sweat, doing his mid-range pull-ups, his spins, every one of his moves. I’m like ‘Dang man, this guy really wants it. Imma tell my kids about this one day,’”
Just like his father, Klay played along with two of the game’s greats and won two championships alongside them.
How good were the KD-era Warriors?
Before Kevin Durant signed with the Warriors, they had recorded a 73-9 season. With KD on the roster, the Dubs won two championships in a row. They were on their way to a third, but injuries to KD and Klay Thompson hampered their plans.
As Klay revealed, the team didn’t just plan to win two or three championships. They wanted to build a whole dynasty with Kevin Durant and had planned to win five to six championships. Many compare the 2016-17 Warriors to the ’95-96 Bulls, which is arguably one of the best teams in NBA History.
Every team in the NBA redesigned their rosters to take down the Warriors during the KD era, and that in itself answers how great the team truly was.
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