Perhaps the most uncomfortable part of the Warriors’ early-season slump has been the play of Klay Thompson.
An integral part of four championship runs, the taller half of the Splash Brothers has had a difficult start to the year, looking every bit like a 33-year-old player who’s dealt with multiple season-ending injuries on top of several deep playoff runs.
So forgive me, a romantic about dynastic teams and young cores that grow old together, if I’m looking for any positive signs about Thompson’s play. And if you look over Golden State’s last five games, those signs may actually exist!
In his first 13 games of the season, Thompson was averaging 14.0 points a night on 40.0% shooting, including a disappointing 33.0% from three. And Golden State posted a 5–8 record in those contests. Over his last five, however, Thompson is putting up 20.0 points a night on 42.1% shooting, more importantly connecting on 42.1% of his shots from deep. For good measure, he’s also seen an uptick in rebounds and assists. And the Dubs have won three of their last five.
This is good news! Golden State still has issues—we’ll get there—but any sustained improvement starts with better play from Thompson and Andrew Wiggins. The latter was also showing some signs of life over the last couple of weeks, like his 29-and-10 night vs. the Kings, before injuring himself earlier this week. (And by injuring himself, I mean Wiggins reportedly slammed his finger in a car door.)
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Thompson’s improvement is especially noteworthy. I’ve discussed this before, but his struggles were looming especially large because of his expiring contract. Thompson already seems frustrated, and adding possible trade rumors and/or speculation into the mix could have created an incredibly toxic situation. For a team desperately trying to avoid the bad vibes of the 2022–23 campaign, the last thing the Warriors need is Thompson worried if a bad performance is going to send him to the bench or have him reading columns about why he needs to be traded.
The mini-revival of Klay has coincided with better play from Golden State’s starting five. In their first 87 minutes together, the fivesome of Stephen Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney posted a shockingly bad minus-14.4 net rating. Over their last 24 minutes—which coincide with Klay’s five-game stretch and Green’s return from suspension for putting someone in a choke hold—that group has a 28.8 net rating. Small sample size? Sure! More indicative of what that lineup did last season? Absolutely! Do the Warriors need any good news they can get? Without a doubt.
Now look, the issues aren’t fixed here. Injuries to Wiggins, Chris Paul and now Gary Payton II have thrown a spanner into the works. Wiggins should be back relatively soon, but CP3 and GP2 could be facing longer absences.
Meanwhile, despite Klay’s improved play, Golden State is still searching for its right lineup combinations. Steve Kerr lamented taking Moses Moody out in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ loss to the Kings on Nov. 28, the night the Dubs were eliminated from the in-season tournament.
Even if Klay is looking like Klay, Kerr can’t let him play through every struggle. Or at the very least, there has to be more room for Moody and Jonathan Kuminga, both of whom probably deserve bigger and more consistent roles considering the up-and-down play of the vets. The lineup of Curry-Moody-Thompson-Wiggins-Green has played only seven minutes together, and I wonder if given time they could recapture some sort of Death Lineup magic. (I really just want to see another dominant Warriors small-ball group.)
For now I am encouraged, if not necessarily bullish, on Thompson. If the Warriors have any hope of turning this season around and becoming a contender, it starts with the vets living up to their pedigree. That doesn’t mean Kerr needs to eschew the younger players in favor of his stalwarts, but if Thompson really is turning it around, perhaps everyone can finally play together more comfortably.
