Thompson guarantees he’ll be an All-Star again

Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson expects to return to the court early next season, and to play at a high level for years to come.

Thompson, who is out for the season with a torn Achilles, doesn’t anticipate playing major minutes right away but is committed to getting back to being one of the best two-way guards in the league.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t expect to come back and be balls to the wall, 38 minutes a night, guarding the best player, running around 100 screens,” Thompson said. “I’m going to get to that point. I guarantee that.

“I’m just trying to take it day by day, but I plan on being the AllNBA player I was. I will not settle for anything less. I’m too competitive to just take a relegated role. No, that’s not me.”

Nearly four months since tearing his Achilles during a workout in Los Angeles, Thompson is out of his walking boot and working on his ankle mobility. Though he can’t yet run on land, he’s been using an underwater treadmill and swimming to keep up his cardiovascular fitness. He recently swam in the San Francisco Bay.

“It was life changing! It was amazing!” Thompson said. “I’m going to incorporate that into my routine now. (Former Spurs forward) Tim Duncan swam his whole career and he played for 21 years. So, these last few years have allowed me to look at things and reevaluate how I train and how I diet.”

Thompson appeared optimistic during his first question-and-answer session since his injury, but he admitted he struggled in the early stages of his rehabilitation, his second after missing all of the 2019-20 season with a torn ACL he suffered in the 2019 Finals. He said the injury happened when performing a routine turnaround jumper, and that he knew immediately the severity of the injury.