The news will get more and more concrete this week, and seemingly more and more exciting for Warriors fans when it comes to Klay Thompson.
Thompson, who last played on June 13, 2019 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, could return next Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday that “there’s optimism” Thompson could debut then — on Jan. 9 — and a final decision is expected once Golden State returns from their two-game midweek road trip.
The five-time All-Star has been recovering from a torn ACL suffered in that June 13 game and a subsequent torn Achilles before the 2020-21 season.
The Warriors have slow-played Thompson’s rehab process this season. There’s been no need to rush him back, as Golden State has posted a league-best 28-7 record without their second-best player. The nature of Thompson’s back-to-back serious injuries is also unprecedented.
Thompson has been scrimmaging for about a month, first beginning with quick bursts of game play and full contact. He’s practiced mostly with Santa Cruz and has also gone through pregame warmup drills with the Warriors on occasion.
When the Denver Nuggets didn’t have enough healthy players to meet the league minimum requirement to play, Thompson completed the final leg of his rehab process: scrimmaging with the A team. Instead of playing the Nuggets in the Ball Arena, Golden State scrimmaged, allowing Thompson to re-acclimate himself with Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and other Warrior mainstays.
Curry said Thompson got his shots up — at least 17 in 12 minutes, he thinks — and hit at least half of them. Forward Andrew Wiggins, who’s only played against Thompson in his career, was in awe at how Thompson could score so efficiently without dribbling. The scrimmage was a “big moment” for Thompson, he said.
“The shot feels great,” Thompson said. “It always feels great. The shot, I’m never worried about. The hardest part when you come back from a long layoff is the timing, the rhythm of the game and the conditioning aspect. … Man, I feel really good. Honestly, I give myself credit, the training staff credit. There are times throughout the lengthy process that you might doubt yourself if you’re ever going to be the same type of player. Honestly, when I come back, I feel like myself, I feel great, and I just feel like it’s going to take a few games, maybe a few weeks, to get to feeling like an All-Star again.”
GSW director of sports medicine Rick Celebrini is tasked with deciding when Thompson can officially return, but Thompson and the Warriors have publicly committed to it return happening at the Chase Center. Sunday’s game against the Cavaliers is the next most immediate home game after Monday’s tilt against Miami.
“I want it to be in front of our fans,” Thompson told reporters recently. “They deserve it.”