Warriors’ Thompson returns to practice
Warriors guard Klay Thompson practiced with his team Friday for the first time since he tore his left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Thompson, 30, was cleared to join Golden State for the third day of minicamp after quarantining in his hotel room for 48 hours. Though the Warriors have yet to hold 5on5 scrimmages, he did get in some 3on3 work at Chase Center.
This marked his first group workout in 470 days. Since early June, Thompson had worked out oneonone with coaches. Before his teammandated quarantine, he trained four or five days in a row at Chase Center with assistant coach Chris DeMarco, who told Warriors head coach Steve Kerr that Thompson looked great.
“It’s been a long time coming, and it’s great to have him out on the floor, in the locker room,” Kerr said of Thompson’s workout Friday. “Just his presence alone gave us a jolt of energy and excitement. Practice went well. This is his first practice coming off an ACL injury in a yearandahalf absence. I didn’t expect him to be in top shape, and he was not.
“But he moved well, and it was a good first step . ... We’re trying to ease into it because of the long layoff, but Klay got a lot of good work in. I think he was able to gauge where he is right now, and what he needs to do going forward.”
This minicamp offers Thompson a chance to get back into game shape and build a rapport with his new teammates. Of the 15 other players at minicamp Friday, Thompson had played with only two of them: center Kevon Looney and guard Damion Lee.
“I think it’s a process that he has to go through, and there’s no shortcutting the process,” Kerr said of Thompson and his rehab.
In addition to Thompson, forward Eric Paschall joined practice Friday after completing a 48hour quarantine. Asked how Paschall looked, Kerr said, “He’s been quarantined the last couple of days, so his conditioning needs to catch up a little bit with the rest of the guys. He may be a little bit late in terms of scrimmaging, once we start doing that. But all in all, Eric’s doing well.”