“Yeah I didn’t play a lot this summer”. They were the words of Golden State Warriors’ veteran Klay Thompson last October, with the reigning NBA champions having come off a short offseason before heading into battle once again.
The Warriors had won the NBA championship in June against the Boston Celtics, and it felt as if the celebrations were somewhat short-lived before another season came around. But it wasn’t just the short turnaround that hindered Thompson’s preparation, with the five time All-Star revealing his understandable hesitation given past events.
“It was hard, especially the last summer I was healthy, popping my Achilles, it was really hard for me to get out there”, Thompson said in October. “Mentally it was hard. It’s hard to explain, it’s like a mental block in a way.”
A big offseason for Klay Thompson could prove pivotal to the Golden State Warriors’ chances of re-establishing championship contention.
Thompson’s lack of preparation meant he was absent during the Warriors’ preseason campaign, with the four-time champion making a slow start to the regular season as a result. He would averaged 12.3 points on 34.6% shooting from the field during Golden State’s six games in October.
The 33-year-old’s struggles undoubtedly aided in his team’s disappointing 3-7 start through the opening 10 games. Thompson and the Warriors put themselves in a hole they were never truly able to get out of, that despite still making their way to the second-round of the playoffs.
It was a far cry from the year prior where Golden State layed the platform for their season with a blistering 18-2 start to the season. That hot opening allowed some leeway for Thompson once he made his long-awaited return in January, before the Warriors capped the season with a franchise-defining title.
After a disappointing season where they often hovered around the .500 mark, Golden State need to re-establish themselves as championship contenders. A bright start isn’t the be-all-and-end-all to that, but it would certainly restore faith among themselves, fans and pundits around the league.
Thompson is a key part of that, even if he and other veterans like Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and the newly-acquired Chris Paul are far from concerned with regular season success. While the team record may not be a huge priority, the 82-game period does give Thompson the chance to rediscover the sort of All-Star form most believe he’s lost post-injury.
A consistent year starts with a strong preseason — a hurdle that Thompson couldn’t overcome which evidently led to his slow start and even disappointing finish against the Lakers during the playoffs. Now with an extended offseason, it will be interesting to see if he can correct the same issues 12 months further on.