Warriors guard Klay Thompson has had to fight his way back onto the court after back-to-back severe injuries jeopardized his chances of playing in the NBA again, let alone at a high level. The five-time All-Star sharpshooter suffered injuries to his ACL and Achilles in the same year, but still managed to return to Golden State after going 941 days between NBA games, helping the team win last season’s NBA Finals.
Thompson’s resilience against tremendously difficult odds is commendable, but he found himself as the target of criticism earlier this week in a series of comments made by TNT analyst Charles Barkley.
On Tuesday night, after the Warriors lost to the Suns by 29 points and Thompson was ejected from the game, Barkley said that the 32-year-old was “slipping” and that “he’s not the same guy” as he was before his run of injuries. Thompson took offense to those remarks, explaining in an emotional press conference Thursday that he was “hurt” by Barkley’s criticism after all that he had to do to get back on the court.
