Along with teammates Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Andre Igoudala, guard Klay Thompson will go down as being apart of one of the best team's in NBA history with the Golden State Warriors winning four NBA titles in eight years.
The Warriors truly established themselves as contenders following the arrival of Steve Kerr as head coach. With Curry and Thompson in the backfield, the team had the best shooting duo in history of the league, with both being able to shoot anywhere from half-court. This begun a new era of basketball, with teams zeroing in on defending the three-point shot whilst being effective at doing so themselves.
But none have been able to replicate this as well as Golden State, as they would win last year's NBA finals playing the same way as they defeated Boston Celtics in six games.
It's not just their ability to shoot, however, but their tenacity on the defensive end of the ball. In Green and Thompson, the Warriors have two of the better defensive players in the league which has seen them able to effectively halt as many outside shots against them, with the opposing team struggling to stop them offensively.
That defensive tenacity, and their dominance over the league, has seen them being admired and respected by opposing players, but also puts a target on their back.
And in Tuesday night's defeat to the Phoenix Suns, Thompson got into it with superstar Devin Booker in a very public on-court bust up as the two went back and forth throughout the game.
When asked what was going on between the two, Booker said: "He was just having a tough night. I think everything plays into that. Just frustration, I've been there before. You know what they have, they have four rings and they're going to use that in all the trash talk, rightfully so. Respectfully. But that don't have nothing to do with competing."
And when pushed on what Thompson was saying, Booker added: "They have four rings. Repeated it over and over. And they do."
It's been a slow start to the Warriors this season, but will be expected to compete for their fifth championship together after keeping the majority of their players on the roster after last year.
And in a recent interview, Thompson stated that he feels the team should already have five championships to boast about, admitting that this is his biggest regret.
In the 2016 NBA Finals, a play saw Thompson get switched off of on-ball Kyrie Irving, who would make a shot over Curry to effectively win the game. Thompson, a much taller defender than Curry, believes he would have altered this.
He said: "That's the other biggest regret I have in my basketball career besides getting busted for the weed [in 2011 while in college] was switching that pick-and-roll with Steph with JR [Smith] and Kyrie. I still can't bring myself to watch that footage; It's too uncomfortable.
"You watch yourself and you're like, 'I can't believe I just gave in to that switch, now Kyrie got one [of] the greatest shots in NBA history. Steph's a great defender too, but I'm just like, 'Man, I can't believe I conceded to that switch, it still burns.'
"You never get over things like that in your career. When I look at the footage, I'm like, 'That was a pretty weak screen by JR, I could've gotten through."
