Landon Buford
On Wednesday, three-time NBA Champion Klay Thompson suffered an injury during a pickup game in Los Angeles. The Warriors announced that Thompson would have an MRI on Thursday morning.
After receiving that MRI, it was confirmed that Thompson would the 2020-21 season with a torn right Achilles tendon. Thompson’s agent, Greg Lawrence, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that his client is expected to be fully recovered for the start of the 2021-22 season.
“Klay has a strength of will, but right now, it’s a tough day for him,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said. “It hurts. He’ll get to a place, I think, where he’s on the road. But, like you or I or anybody, this is a tough day for him to hear that news. It’s hard. It’s tough.”
It’s challenging, and one NBA analyst doesn’t believe Thompson will be the same after the Achilles injury, “I’m going to say Klay Thompson will not be the same,” said Ryan Hollins.
“As a ballplayer, Klay Thompson won’t be the same. Will he still be able to shoot? Yes! Will he still have a high IQ? Yes! But, when it comes to Klay Thompson, he is not going to be the defender,” said Hollins on Instagram Live with Brendan Haywood.
“And Klay Thompson, the defender, was the best possible fit with Steph Curry or any organization because he could slide over and guard the other team’s best player. He wanted to, and Klay Thompson takes it personally when [you] score on him.”
Hollins then proceeded to ask Haywood, “I want to know the biggest effect of Klay Thompson’s [injury] because I think [his] injury just ruined the Golden State Warriors?
“Klay Thompson’s injury takes away everything we thought the Golden State Warriors could be. We thought the Golden State Warriors could challenge the Lakers, without Klay Thompson, no way. We thought Klay Thompson was the perfect complement to Steph Curry because he guards all the tough people that Steph can’t guard,” said Haywood.
“When they played Cleveland [In the Finals], Steph was always guarding someone like Jr Smith or Iman Shumpert; he wasn’t guarding Kyrie [Irving]. That was Klay, and I agree with you, the ACL combined with the Achilles, and [now] he will have two years removed from not playing basketball. It takes a while to get back to the confidence of everything is working well.”
Thompson missed the entire 2019-20 season due to an ACL injury that suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
