No one wants to lose a breakup — especially a tricky, uncomfortable one like the Warriors and Klay Thompson’s.
Yes, everyone wants that first run-in with the ex to be one where they can hold their head up high and say, with honesty, that they’re “doing great.”
And the Warriors can do just that on Tuesday.
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The Warriors and Thompson were together for 13 seasons. He built a Hall of Fame-worthy career here, and the Warriors built a new arena to hang the four title banners won by the sweetest shooter ever to grace the planet.
So yes, it’s weird to see him wearing another uniform. Especially one as ugly as Dallas’.
It will be weirder yet for him to be back in a place where he was universally revered, playing against the team with which he’ll forever be associated.
“Don’t do this to me,” Steph Curry told NBC Sports Bay Area following Sunday’s win over the Thunder, which moved the Warriors to 8-2 on the season, tied for first place in the Western Conference, with the third-best net rating in the league. “I’m not ready for this man. It’s going to be a lot to look forward to, and I’m excited to see him, obviously as a friend. But I’m trying to conserve all of my mental energy for Tuesday. It’s going to be a lot.”
“It’s weird seeing 31,” Curry added with reporters in the locker room. “I hate that.”
Yes, this is a big deal.
Thompson, of course, is downplaying it, calling the contest “Just another regular season game in November.”
Is that disrespect to the Warriors? Only if you don’t know Klay.
It is, however, disrespectful to the prestigious* NBA Cup, of which Tuesday’s game is the opening contest for both teams.
(*Prestige pending)
But jokes aside, Tuesday’s game, what with the Captain Klay hats the Warriors are giving fans and the pregame video tribute, will carry some serious emotion, the depths of which we can’t know until the moment comes.
It’ll also re-open some wounds for both sides of the breakup.
I maintain that cooler heads should have prevailed this past summer — that Thompson and the Warriors should have found a way to stay together for the kids (the fans, Curry, and Draymond Green). Ultimately, Thompson decided that he wanted to leave — he was tired of being compared to a past version of himself. Seeing his conviction on the matter, the Warriors did little to stop him.
As far as breakups between franchise legends and organizations go, this one was generally amicable. The concept of “clean” was never in the cards — not with this much history.
But with the Warriors’ great start to the season, this uncomfortable situation has proven far more palatable for Golden State and those aforementioned “kids.”
The Warriors don’t need to be self-conscious or second-guessing on Tuesday. They’re winning games and, in turn, the breakup.
Thompson’s salary turned into three new Warriors this summer — De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson, and Buddy Hield. All three have been fantastic for the Dubs, with Hield, in particular, thriving in the off-the-bench role Thompson openly eschewed playing last year.
There will never be another Splash Brother to Curry, but his Splash Buddy sure does enjoy playing for the Dubs.
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The Warriors are not only playing well, but they’ve now beaten two of the NBA’s three best teams over the last three games. Yes, they were blitzed by Cleveland last Friday (who knew you were allowed to play 7-footers in the modern NBA?), but beating Boston and Oklahoma City in both of those locales is a feat that’s impervious to serious criticism.
This is a solid basketball team.
So forget my concern that the Warriors aren’t not built for playoff basketball — at least the Dubs look like a playoff team. That was never a given heading into the campaign.
In fact, the Warriors might even have a high seed in a few months.
It’s early days yet, but the Warriors look like a better team than last season’s edition with Thompson.
Meanwhile, Thompson looks the same. As so many folks who have moved from California to Texas have found out in recent years, living in a new state doesn’t change your personal state.
Yes, Thompson came out of the gates of the season hot, making 11 of his first 22 3-pointers, but since then, he’s made 30 percent of his shots from deep and less than 40 percent of attempts overall. His defensive woes — a tragic byproduct of his two massive injuries that sidelined him for 2.5 years following the 2019 NBA Finals — are on full display, too.
The Warriors moved on from Thompson with an active and aggressive offseason. The early returns are marvelous.
Thompson, sadly, might be past the Warriors mentally, but he’s the same player he was in the final years with Golden State.
The good news is that because the Dubs have a bright future this season, Tuesday’s celebration will focus on the team and Thompson’s glorious past rather than the here and now.
Thompson deserves nothing but love and admiration for what he provided the Warriors. His stretch as the second-best shooter on the planet and a two-way bulldog turned the Warriors from a laughingstock franchise into the gold standard.
The Warriors will surely provide that level of treatment for a legend. Curry will give a speech before the game, Thompson will be announced last in the Mavericks starting lineup, and once all the homecoming festivities are over, they’ll play some basketball.
Surely, that’s what Thompson wants. He’s not big on pomp and circumstance.
But the surging, smiling Warriors will want that, too.
And doesn’t that tell you who really won this split?