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Draymond Green: "Who are your top three defensive teammates of all time? Andrew Bogut number one, Klay Thompson number two. Klay Thompson, ball hawk. And I'd say number three, number three, my favorite defensive teammate of all time, or not favorite, but top three. Kevin Durant was elite defensively here. Elite. Andre Iguodala. Andre Iguodala made the game really easy. Got to go with Andre. It has to be Andre."
The first clue occurred to me several years ago in a conference room at the Warriors practice facility in San Francisco, during a technical discussion about biomechanics and basketball. At the time, Klay Thompson was still rehabbing from a brutal one-two punch of traumatic lower-body injuries that upended his prime and likely shortened the team’s dynasty. When our meeting wrapped up and the room fell into that unique silence that signals that a group is ready to disperse, Ron Adams, the longtime assistant coach and elder statesman of the Warriors, spoke up for the first time all afternoon. “Basketball used to be a two-footed sport,” Adams said. The room locked in. “If you ever watched a John Wooden practice, it was always the same: get to the paint and play off of two feet. Nowadays, the game is a one-footed sport. Most players are making every move off of one foot.” Adams’s observation was basic but profound. He was exactly right. The footwork in basketball is drastically different now than it was a few decades ago.
The Warriors remember dealing with it even before the Durant days. Kerr injected an ecosystem of off-ball offensive movement that fully unlocked the shooting greatness of Curry and Klay Thompson. When it vaulted them to the top of the NBA mountain, the outcry was swift and loud: Illegal screens! "That became a constant topic of conversation," Kerr said. "It did frustrate us. Especially if teams countered that by flopping. You run into a slightly moving screen and act like you've just been hit by a truck. [Andrew] Bogut in particular, when he'd set an off ball screen, guys would go flying. But all's fair in love and war."
Austin Rivers on Draymond Green: This guy to have the delusion and I said the word delusion to think that you're supposed to be the point a more focal point of a offensive threat scoring-wise, we're talking about scoring with Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry on your team not to mention all those other names I said because the role players they had aren't your typical role players like Livingston and Wiggins, Wiggins was the second option on on another team you know what I mean like Wiggins was the fourth option on that team and then we're not talking about Jordan Poole and other guys. So for him to come out after everything his career has amounted to the Hall of Fame, everything and say, "I should have been more of a focal point of an offensive threat and Steve Kerr hindered my career." I'm sorry. There's no other way to look at it. It's comical. Okay? It's comical. It's comical. And if there's a reason why you talk about a focal point, he could have shot at any time. He was open. Every time he had the ball, he was open. He could have shot a shot anytime he wanted to.
Looks like Klay Thompson won't be getting a taste of Megan Thee Stallion's "Sweetest Pie" anymore ... 'cause she just confirmed to TMZ she dumped him. The singer tells TMZ via her rep ... "I’ve made the decision to end my relationship with Klay. Trust, fidelity and respect are non-negotiable for me in a relationship, and when those values are compromised, there’s no real path forward. I’m taking this time to prioritize myself and move ahead with peace and clarity.”
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Megan Thee Stallion has publicly ended her relationship with Dallas Mavericks player Klay Thompson, accusing him of cheating in an Instagram Story. On Saturday (April 25), the 3-time Grammy winner posted a message about the NBA player (who she didn’t explicitly name, but whose identity was clear) cheating, despite the fact that she had gotten close with his family members. “Holding you down through all your HORRIBLE mood swings and treatment towards me during your basketball season now you don’t know if you can be “monogamous?” Megan wrote. “Bitch I need a REAL break after this one. Bye yall,” she concluded.”
The rapper told Complex via a rep: “I’ve made the decision to end my relationship with Klay. Trust, fidelity and respect are non-negotiable for me in a relationship, and when those values are compromised, there’s no real path forward. I’m taking this time to prioritize myself and move ahead with peace and clarity.”
NBA History: Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown record their 50th playoff game both scoring 20+ PTS, becoming the 8th duo to reach the mark. They join Larry Bird & Kevin McHale as the only Celtics duos to do so. The other duos: 74 - Jerry West & Elgin Baylor; 68 - Scottie Pippen & Michael Jordan; 67 - Shaquille O'Neal & Kobe Bryant; 58 - Kevin McHale & Larry Bird; 56 - Russell Westbrook & Kevin Durant; 53 - Klay Thompson & Stephen Curry; 50 - Tony Parker & Tim Duncan.
Crazy Stats: Kon Knueppel and LaMelo Ball became the second duo in @NBA history to finish first and second in made three-pointers in a season, joining Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Curry and Thompson did it four times (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17).
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Thompson was directly asked after the match in the final press conference of the season about his future with the Mavericks, giving a vague answer: "Oh, hard hitter. I’m not sure. I mean, I’m under contract, so I do. But i’ve definitely learned my time in Dallas, things can change on a time," he started. "I’m just here to have a great time and put my best foot forward that’s all you can do really." "That’s the hardest part of being an NBA player. They think they pay you for the records broken or the rings won but it’s really, they pay you for being able to be traded, being on the road away from your family on a consistent basis, going through injury and all the stuff that the common fan doesn’t really see. That’s what really makes it difficult," he concluded.
ESPN Insights: LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel join Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson as the only teammates to each make 270 threes in a season Curry and Thompson did it twice (2015-16 and 2022-23).
"We don’t want to play for anyone else," Green told Tim Kawakami on "The TK Show" Saturday. "We built this thing together." Green emphasized that Kerr’s role in the Warriors dynasty is just as significant as the team’s core players, including Steph Curry and his former teammate, Klay Thompson. "Just as much impact as Steph Curry has had, as I’ve had, as Klay’s had, Steve’s had," Green said. "We built this thing up from the ground."
