San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Thompson’s devastating injury hurt Curry, too
Curry ‘ needs’ old friend after leg injury darkened nights for each
Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser tries to be nearby when Stephen Curry greets Klay Thompson on Day 1 of training camp.
As Curry shrieks with glee and Thompson mumbles, “Hey, Steph,” with an awshucks grin, Fraser can feel the special bond between the future Hall of Famers. In nine years together, Curry and Thompson — the “Splash Brothers” — reached five NBA Finals, won three titles, developed a deep mutual respect and decided that, no matter what else happens, they want to spend the rest of their careers in the same backcourt.
Fraser had particularly awaited the CurryThompson reunion at training camp this month, given that Thompson missed last season with a torn ACL suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals. But two weeks before that first workout at Chase Center, while playing a pickup game in Los Angeles, Thompson tore his right Achilles tendon. When Curry learned that his close friend would miss his second straight season, he broke down in tears.
For two days, Curry was so devastated that he barely spoke. When he finally got Thompson on the phone, Curry told him, “Be around the team as much as you can this season. We need you.” Perhaps no one needs Thompson more than Curry, who knows that he likely wouldn’t have gone from the oftinjured leader of a losing team to a threetime champion, twotime MVP and global phenomenon without his buddy’s complementary ways.
Therein lies Curry’s biggest challenge. As Thompson works through another lengthy rehab, Curry will be called upon to acclimate to new teammates and keep the Warriors nationally relevant as fanless games threaten to cost the franchise hundreds of millions of dollars amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Majority owner Joe Lacob wouldn’t dispute that Curry is the biggest reason the Golden State franchise, which was considered overpriced when it sold for $ 450 million in 2010, is valued by Forbes at $ 4.3 billion. However, the Warriors didn’t start making annual trips to the playoffs until Thompson became a fulltime starter. Last season, even before Curry broke his left hand in the fourth game, head coach Steve Kerr knew his team would struggle without Thompson.
There is no way to replace someone who, in addition to being arguably the secondbest shooter in NBA history behind Curry, is an allstar stopper. What makes Thompson unique is his ability to dominate without infringing on others’ greatness.
To score 60 points in 29 minutes of a December 2016 rout of Indiana, Thompson needed only 88.4 seconds of possession, 33 shots and 11 dribbles. When not darting around screens to create shots that wouldn’t otherwise be there, Thompson is making life difficult on the opponent’s top scorer.
His easygoing temperament and aversion to fame mesh ideally with the excitable Curry and the fiery Draymond Green. As Curry put it, “Klay just is who he is, and that’s what I love about him. There’s nothing fake about him. What you see is what you get.”
Contrary to Slate. com’s suggestion 31⁄ years ago that 2 he might, in fact, be a robot, Thompson feels deeply — even if he doesn’t often show it. This is someone who is so competitive that once, as a 12yearold Little Leaguer, he pitched on a broken foot without telling anyone. Now, after missing an average of three games over his first eight seasons, Thompson is poised to go at least 28 months without playing in an NBA game. Curry has texted Thompson to check in every few days or so since Thompson tore his Achilles. When Curry receives no response, he hardly gets offended. Over their nearly decade together, Curry has learned that Thompson, perhaps more than anyone Curry has played alongside, needs his alone time — especially when going through a difficult stretch.
Curry and Thompson don’t hang out much away from the team because they’re in different phases of their lives. While Curry is married with three young kids, Thompson is a bachelor who spends much of his free time with his older brother, Mychel, and childhood friend, Seth Tarver.
But in a league rife with bloated egos, Curry and Thompson recognize that they depend on each other. Theirs is a bond built on mutual understanding. Both the sons of fathers who had long NBA careers and mothers who played college volleyball, Curry and Thompson were lightly touted out of high school despite the enviable genes.
Now at the top of their chosen field, they shun the locker room infighting common among other teams and embrace each other’s differing playing styles. Curry talks to friends about how much more special it would be to have a statue at Chase Center if it were next to one of Thompson.
“I don’t think either one would ever even want to be without the other,” Fraser said. “It’s one thing to play on a team with a guy. It’s another thing to achieve the kind of success together that they have. That’s a bond that’s probably indescribable.”
After giving himself a few days to process the news of Thompson’s latest injury, Curry continued a rigorous offseason workout regimen. Drills were focused on such minutiae as hand placement on the ball, footwork coming off screens and balance on defense.
In the weeks leading to training camp, Curry enlisted friends and teammates to join him for 5on5 scrimmages. By the time the Warriors started to practice this month, he was a bit fatigued, only because he had been overeager during the long hiatus from games.
After a recent workout with Curry, Fraser asked where Curry thought a Thompsonless team could finish in the Western Conference this season. Curry thought for a moment before saying, “We can be really good. We might start a little slow, but we have the talent.”
This was typical Curry: Faced with adversity, he chose optimism. But that doesn’t change the fact that, without Thompson’s twoway prowess, the Warriors need Curry to deliver an MVP caliber season to contend.
Those close to Curry figure that’s a realistic goal. At 32, Curry is still getting physically stronger. In July, while working out with Fraser, Curry set personal records in several of his goto shooting drills.
“From a physical standpoint, he hasn’t really hit his peak,” said Brandon Payne, Curry’s personal trainer. “He hasn’t showed any signs of starting to decline.”
Barring another setback, Thompson will return for the 202122 season at age 31. Curry, who is interested in perhaps playing until he’s 40, will be 33 — six years older than what research suggests is the heart of an NBA player’s prime.
Both players take care of themselves to have a chance at playing at least another halfdecade together, but they know they’re in the latter stages of sharing a backcourt. This is part of why Curry asked Thompson last month to be around the team more this season than he was during his recovery from the torn ACL.
If Curry can’t play with Thompson, he wants to seize any opportunity to see him. Thompson’s quirky humor and monotone voice offer Curry a measure of familiarity at a time when Curry is learning to play with overhauled supporting cast.
“The Achilles injury, it hasn’t killed his spirit,” Curry said of Thompson. “We know how energetic and the magnet that Klay is in his personality. It hasn’t changed that.”