Klay Thompson and the Warriors were together for 13 mostly glorious years, but it just didn’t work out at the end. Thompson needed a fresh start, and the Warriors understood. They’ll always have a special place in their hearts for one another.
Since Thompson left the Warriors for Dallas, he and the Warriors have had time to heal, to process. Like with any breakup, they’ve had the inevitable awkward run-ins, and they’ve seen from afar what each can do when they go their separate ways.
Tuesday, when Thompson returns to the Chase Center as a Dallas Maverick, will be the first opportunity to find closure. They’ll be able to unburden themselves from any leftover animosity and reflect on all the memories.
“We’ve had homecomings before, but nothing like this,” Steph Curry told reporters Sunday in Oklahoma City. “Level of impact and the brand of Klay in the Bay Area is something that I don’t know if any way I explain it would do it justice… You want to enjoy the moment of him getting the celebration he deserves. However it plays out, I just hope he feels the love because he deserves it.”
If both sides actually react to the celebration remains to be seen. Thompson, for one, still appears to be in an earlier stage of post-breakup grieving.
“That chapter is over,” Thompson told Andscape on Sunday. “I’m in the midst of trying to win here. There is no point in missing anything when we have such a great opportunity here to be great. There’s no point in looking back. I got to look forward.”
For Thompson’s anticipated homecoming, which happens to be the Warriors’ first NBA Cup group stage game, the Warriors have brainstormed ideas to celebrate one of the most revered athletes in Bay Area history for months. They settled on giving away captain’s hats to every fan, giving Curry the chance to say a few words, and playing a tribute video for Thompson before he gets announced last in pregame warm-ups.
It will be another emotional night for a franchise that has been through so many in the golden era. Thompson is that important to the Warriors organization.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “I think we all are. It will be very emotional. I know our fans are geared up for it and can’t wait to see Klay.”
No one can predict exactly how Thompson will react to the showering of love in the Chase Center. But however he does, it won’t leave much to the imagination.
What makes Thompson special — truly special — in the history of the NBA is not only his pure jump shot or his clutch playoff moments. It’s the way he never hides his emotions, never fakes anything. Anger, frustration, passion, jubilation, swagger: You don’t have to be a body language expert to tell how Thompson is feeling. Either he never figured out a way to mask his feelings or never cared to seek out.
On the court, at the podium, in front of his locker, driving his boat, he was unabashedly himself with the Warriors.
After an April 2022 game when Thompson was recovering from his torn Achilles, he sat on the Warriors’ bench, alone, with a towel draped over his head for 30 minutes. The Achilles and ACL injury kept him out for 941 days, and in his return to game action, he snarled at the Chase Center crowd after dunking on a pair of Cavaliers.
The Bay Area watched Thompson through it all. Warriors fans saw him grow up, reach immortality, then crumble to a low place. They saw consecutive catastrophic injuries steal prime years from him, only for him to return triumphantly to win a fourth title and then lead the league in 3s.
They saw him score 37 points in a quarter and save Golden State with his iconic Game 6 performance. Saw him take free throws and try to stay in the game after tearing his ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals.
Then they saw him leave. Both the Warriors and Thompson are now learning the meaning of the old adage: “If you love someone, let them go.”
But given how honest Thompson has been, you have to take his word when he says the only thing about the Bay Area he misses is the water. That won’t be the case forever, but his wounds from the breakup — be it Golden State’s willingness to part with him, the nature of contract negotiations or something else — still seem fresh.
Maybe Thompson reuniting on the court with Curry, Kerr and Draymond Green will help bring him and the Warriors peace. Maybe 18,000 salutes will help jog everyone’s memories of all the good times. Maybe competing, with Thompson in his new No. 31 jersey with unfamiliar blue and white threads, will help the healing process.
Or maybe moving on will take more time. But Thompson’s first game back is the first chance at closure.
