Background Information:
Klay Thompson was born February 8th, 1990, in Los Angeles, California. The Thompson family is a very athletic family with amazing genetics. His father, Mychal Thompson, was the first pick in the 1978 NBA draft and his mother attended the University of Oregon for volleyball. His dad was a center and a force in the league for sometime, and his mother was also very impressive and good at volleyball.
Thompson thrived all his childhood and dominated others throughout long practices and games. In Thompson’s senior year of high school, he averaged 21 points per game while leading his school to a state championship. In that championship game he set a record by hitting seven three-pointers.
College Career:
Thompson attended Washington State University to continue pursuing his passion for basketball and his goal to make it to the NBA. The 6’6” guard averaged 17.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in his three seasons enrolled there. In the 2010 season, Thompson averaged 2.9 three-pointers made per game. During his run with Washington State, he was first-team Pac-10 two different times. He entered the NBA Draft in 2011.
NBA Career:
Thompson’s local team, the Warriors, showed interest in Thompson before the draft. The Warriors had a rising star in Steph Curry and a young core around him, including Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes. The piece they were missing was a second scoring option, and this is where Thompson fit in perfectly.
In the 2011 draft the Golden State Warriors selected Klay Thompson in the first round with the 11th pick. In 2015, the Warriors set the NBA record for best start to a season at 24-0. They ended the season with a record of 73-9, which is the best of all time. During this season, Thompson averaged 22.1 points per game while making 3.5 threes per game and was one of the most impactful players in the league.
His career has not been able to reach the maximum potential he wanted as he has suffered two season-ending ACL injuries already. He has missed two straight seasons, but the whole NBA community and myself are rooting for him to come back stronger than ever. Klay has begun practicing with the Warriors G-League team, which is a level below the NBA but is good competition and will prepare him for the season.
NBA Finals:
The Warriors later won the NBA Championship in 2015 against Lebron James and the Cavaliers, 4 games to 2. Thompson averaged 19.6 points and 3 rebounds per game. This was another strong performance in the finals from Thompson, and it marked the start of a dynasty.
The Warriors continued to grow year by year, and it seemed as if these players just got better every day. In 2016 the Warriors wanted another championship win, but they came up short against Lebron James and the fighting Cavaliers in an epic seven-game series. This was not the end of this dynasty, as they continued every year to fight and show their resistance to not back down when adversity came.
The next two years they went back to the finals and won both years. In the 2017 finals Klay Thompson averaged 16.4 points and 4.8 rebounds a game. Finally, in the 2018 finals win over the Cavaliers when the Warriors swept them, Thompson averaged 16 points and 3.8 rebounds a game. The following year they once again made the NBA Finals against Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors. They did not win this finals, as we saw true leadership from Kyle Lowry and clutch shots back-to-back by Kawhi Leonard. In game six of the series Thompson tore his ACL in the last two minutes of the third quarter.
Thompson’s Legacy:
Klay Thompson is surely a future Hall of Famer. He is one of the best catch-and-shoot players the game has ever seen. The impact and the way he carries himself on the court is unmatched by any other. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were given the nickname “Splash Brothers,” which perfectly describes the dominant shooters they are and were during the Warriors dynasty. The game will be forever changed by Thompson and his amazing performances. No one will ever do what he did on December 5th, 2016, vs the Indiana Pacers, when he scored 60 points on 11 dribbles. I believe that when Thompson returns in a couple of weeks, he will still be a very solid player and continue to excel as he has his whole career.
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