The Golden State Warriors are on the verge of winning back-to-back championships after taking a 2-0 lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals. Much of the team’s success has been due to a slightly unappreciated source, the least heralded of the Warriors’ Big Three.
Klay Thompson has had a phenomenal postseason, having been the most consistently great player for Golden State in that stretch. Despite Thompson’s stellar play, the shooting guard often goes unnoticed, perhaps due to his personality. Thompson is a quiet player who appears to have no desire to be in the spotlight.
But in a new, fantastic feature by ESPN’s Zach Lowe, it becomes evident that even Thompson plays with a chip on his shoulder, similar to an extent to teammate Draymond Green.
Thompson holds a semi-tongue-in-cheek grudge against the Kings for daring to draft another shooter, Jimmer Fredette, over him. “I considered myself the best shooter in that draft, so when someone took another shooter over me, it was a slap in the face,” Thompson told ESPN.com after Game 1 of the Finals.
He delights in reminding teammates and coaches behind closed doors that two Cavaliers, Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson, went ahead of him in the same draft; he quips that the Cavs took “the wrong Thompson,” team officials say. “He definitely remembers Kyrie went before him,” assistant GM Kirk Lacob told ESPN.com. “I can say that for sure.”
Thompson was chosen with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 draft and there is no doubt that in a redraft, he would go much, much higher. Of course, things worked out for the shooting guard, considering he ended up helping form arguably the greatest backcourt of all time with Steph Curry.
However, it is cool to see Thompson get so emotional about his reputation as well. Lowe reports, for example, that Thompson was fuming after Portland’s Damian Lillard was chosen for second team All-NBA ahead of him.
Most professional athletes are content to publicly state that they only play for team success and that awards and draft position are meaningless. It is always great to see that a player of Klay Thompson’s stature take pride in how he is viewed by fans, media, and his peers.
