>> Bruce Jenkins: Thompson injury latest heartbreak for reeling Warriors’ dynasty.
AllStar guard Thompson’s seasonending injury forces reeling dynasty to shift focus to future
Among those of a certain faith, it is believed that all things — even those of dire consequence — happen for a reason. Klay Thompson, the Warriors’ fallen star, must be wondering exactly what that reason might be.
The Warriors announced Thursday that Thompson will miss the entire upcoming season with a torn right Achilles tendon, suffered during a pickup game Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles. Because Thompson missed all of the recently completed season after knee surgery, it means that at least 28 months will pass between NBA games for one of the most revered shooters in history.
And it leaves the Warriors in shambles, not to mention Thompson’s state of mind. He will face a rehabilitation period that generally lasts nine to 12 months and never grants a guarantee of restoration.
The timing of this development was downright cruel. Thompson appeared to have made an excellent recovery from a torn left ACL, suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals. The 30yearold looked spry and excited in workout sessions, and with the new season set to begin Dec. 22, the Warriors sensed that the long wait between performances of the Splash Brothers — Thompson and his backcourt partner, Stephen Curry — was about to end.
Less than two hours before Wednesday night’s NBA draft, the Warriors learned of Thompson’s injury. Details were sparse, but insiders painted a grim picture. The Warriors could only say it was his lower right leg, but they correctly feared the worst.
Great organizations do not panic in an emergency, and to their credit, the Warriors didn’t alter their draft strategy. They
didn’t attempt to swing a trade for a veteran shooter who could approach Thompson’s superior marksmanship — for that, after all, would be impossible. They stuck with their plan to draft 19yearold James Wiseman, a promising center, and the decision didn’t just fill a glaring need on the roster.
It shifted the Warriors’ focus to the future. All of a sudden, that has to be the plan.
One can only imagine the reaction of Curry and Draymond Green, who turned 32 and 30, respectively, in March. They’ve been waiting for Klay, right along with management and an eager fan base, and now he has vanished again. Will he ever be the same? That becomes a disturbing but legitimate question. Both men have the talent and motivation to play at an AllStar level in the coming seasons, but without Thompson, it’s difficult to foresee an immediate return to the pinnacle.
Curry now stands as the team’s only elite shooter, with high hopes for Andrew Wiggins and, to a lesser degree, youthful prospects Eric Paschall and Jordan Poole. Kelly Oubre, who averaged 18.7 points per game last season, could be an excellent fit in head coach Steve Kerr’s backcourt if the deal to acquire him from Oklahoma City goes through. ( Nico Mannion, selected out of Arizona in the second round of the draft, is considered more of a playmaker.) The Western Conference is absolutely loaded, starting with the Lakers and Clippers and featuring a large number of teams — more than the conference has ever seen — with legitimate playoff aspirations.
As long as they have Curry, the Warriors will be a show. Fans should also be grateful that Joe Lacob, a man whose pursuit of NBA dominance never wavers, is the team’s majority owner. San Francisco’s Department of Public Health has thus far rejected Lacob’s plan to allow some 9,000 fans per game into Chase Center, but his strategy is thoughtful, progressive and reflective of a forthright response to a serious crisis.
The Warriors had called a news conference outside Chase Center to introduce Wiseman and Mannion, and each proved to be a fresh, engaging presence, but general manager Bob Myers spent the first 20 minutes addressing Thompson’s plight. He said he was sitting with Lacob and Kerr when he got the news, “and when you get those phone calls ... I’m not comparing this to what a lot of people are going through ( in a pandemic) right now,” Myers said, “but in our job, these are the phone calls where the color drains from your face.”
Clearly fighting through surges of emotion, Myers said, “Klay has a strength of will, and I think he’ll get to a place where he’s on the road ( back), but right now, it’s a tough day for him. It hurts. We will move on. We’ll be OK, and he’ll be OK. But when life gets disrupted like this for an athlete of his caliber, it hurts.”
Thompson first joined the Warriors as a rookie in 2011, “and the longer you get to experience life with people, the more pain you have,” Myers said. “That’s why you get invested in these relationships. That’s why it’s special. That’s why, over here ( pointing off to the side), maybe there will be a statue of that guy. You gotta know somebody, go through the battles with him, to really know how we feel as an organization.”
When it came to informing Curry and Green, “It’s not something you want to do over the phone, but that’s how it was done,” Myers said. “There was a lot of silence ...” he paused, eyes dropping, “probably what you’re hearing right now. Nothing. What are you gonna say?”
In the strictest sense, the Warriors aren’t drawing much sympathy from the teams they overpowered during their run of three championships in four years. But for anyone with a trace of compassion, it’s stunning to ponder the sequence of events beginning with the team’s quest for another NBA title in June 2019.
In Game 5 of those Finals against Toronto, Kevin Durant went down with a ruptured right Achilles tendon, ending his career with the Warriors. ( He is now with Brooklyn.) Just one game later, Thompson fell to the floor with the torn ACL — like the dreaded Achilles, one of the most damaging injuries an athlete can endure.
At least there was the sparkling new Chase Center, right? The Warriors delivered their new arena to hearty approval, but just four games into the season, Curry broke his left hand and was sidelined for three months. Left with a threadbare roster — some of the names weren’t even vaguely familiar — the Warriors cascaded to an NBAworst 1550 record and were one of eight teams unable to participate in the “Bubble” that revived and finished the season in Orlando.
Chase Center is empty now. It will remain that way indefinitely. Lacob and Rick Welts, the team president who brainstormed and shepherded the complicated project, never could have imagined such a depressing turn of events.
Now their plans for a sustained NBA dynasty are cloaked in heartbreak. For another year, we’ll have nothing of Thompson but the memories: his record 37point quarter against Sacramento, saving the 2016 Western Conference finals with a desperation 41 points in Game 6, separating himself from the hotshooting pack with his ferocious defense and tireless ball movement, or just the simple things, like his beloved dog, Rocco, or his whimsical sense of humor.
There’s a strong work ethic inside Thompson, as well, and for those most familiar with the organization, the current mood is not about the Warriors’ prospects but the man himself, steeling for yet another endless rehabilitation grind. If there’s a reason behind all this, it comes from a very dark place.