Klay Thompson, shooting guard for the Golden State Warriors, spoke with Shams Charania of Stadium about many things, including his perceived All-Defensive Team snubs and his desire to have a 50-40-09 season:
“The past few years, there’s been some guys where I’m like, ‘Man, I know I’m a better defender than him,’” Thompson told Charania regarding the lack of an All-Defensive Team selection. “I really want to make one of those teams. I think I put the work in on both ends to get that recognition.” Thompson also said he wants to be part of the 50-40-90 club, something Curry and Kevin Durant have accomplished.
Both of those goals are probably accomplishable for Thompson. For the 50-40-90 season, he’ll need to up his field-goal percentage a bit – he shot a career-high 48.8 percent last season – and make a solid leap as a free-throw shooter. Thompson’s career average as a foul shooter is 85.2 percent, and he shot 83.7 percent a season ago. His career-best mark came in 2014-15, when he shot 87.9 percent. The 3-point shooting is super there for him; he has never shot under 40 percent gfrom 3-point range in a season.
Thompson is generally regarded as a very good, and perhaps even elite, defender. And yet, that All-Defensive selection has, thus far, eluded him. He could do it one of these years, however,
Thompson’s teammate, Draymond Green, has been named to an All-Defensive team in each of the last four seasons and was Defensive Player of the Year in 2016-17.
