Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson participated in his first 5-on-5 full team practice on Tuesday, Nov. 23, and he and the team are excited about what’s to come.
Thompson last played an NBA game in 2019. That was Game 6 of the NBA Finals where he tore his left ACL. In November of 2020 while rehabbing from the ACL he tore his right Achilles.
That’s the double whammy of basketball injuries, and it has been a long road back for the other Splash Brother.
His jumper is still as wet as water, but head coach Steve Kerr noted that Thompson looks great early, but gets tired much quicker than he used to.
Kevon Looney and Steve Kerr give their early observations on Klay Thompson in a 5-on-5 setting
Kerr: "Especially early when he's scrimmaging, he's knocking down shots. But you can see fatigue set in much quicker than we will see in a month." pic.twitter.com/Hvvk0NxX69
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 24, 2021
That’s to be expected.
You can do as much cardio work as you want, but nothing can simulate basketball game speed. So even when his conditioning improves as he practices more, game shape will be an entirely different process.
Still, with early signs of Klay looking good and the Warriors already with the best record in the league, a second dynasty could be on the way. We have a long way to go before we get there, and for now Thompson is just excited to be practicing in 5-on-5:
“It’s so exciting. Just to be running up and down the court and playing basketball, it’s truly a blessing and it makes coming to work so easy. The boring stuff’s behind me, and now it’s just getting back in game shape — I got to stay patient because I can be an overeager person to get out there and play, but I’m just incredibly grateful to be out there. The work the training staff and I have done over the last two years is really paying off, and it’s hard to put into words how grateful I am to be playing basketball again.”
No target date has been set for Thompson’s return, though there is optimism among the staff that Christmas could be a possibility. For now Kerr just wants his sharpshooter to build his endurance.
“We don’t have a target date,” Kerr said. “What we have is a number of weeks ahead of us for certain where we’re going to play it out, keep letting him scrimmage as often as possible so that he’ll build that endurance. And I would think within a few weeks we’ll be able to finally sort of get a target date, but we don’t have one right now.”
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At 15-2 the Warriors can take their time with Thompson. While the team knew they would be better this season, nobody thought they would have the best record in the league almost a quarter of the way through the season.
Yes, the Phoenix Suns have won 13 straight and are only a game behind but the rest of the West’s teams are struggling.
The Utah Jazz have been uneven lately, the Dallas Mavericks just got superstar Luka Doncic back on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Clippers are without Kawhi Leonard and Nicola Batum. The Denver Nuggets have been bitten bad by the injury bug, and the Lakers are just bad right now.
The time for the Warriors’ resurgence is now and with the return of Klay Thompson iminent, the rest of the league might be in trouble.
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