SAN FRANCISCO — When Klay Thompson was nearing his return in January 2022 after missing 2 1/2 years of action, the Warriors medical staff told coach Steve Kerr it would take about a year or so for Thompson to fully get back to where he once was.
Fourteen months later, Thompson is closing in on a career mark — the latest sign of how far he’s come since he suffered back-to-back devastating injuries.
Thompson entered Monday leading the league in made 3-pointers and is just three shy of tying his regular-season career high of 276, set in 2015-16. After going 5 of 11 from deep in Sunday’s close loss to Minnesota, Thompson has made 273 treys in 64 games, converting on 40.7% of his attempts from beyond the arc. Pacers guard Buddy Hield is right behind Thompson with 271 3-pointers.
In Kerr’s mind, Thompson will never lose his scoring touch.
“He’ll be able to [bury 3s] until he’s 90,” Kerr recently said. “He’s always going to be able to shoot.”
And he’s come a long way from where he was just a few months ago.
Thompson spent the first part of the season searching. He wanted to be the player he was before he crumpled to the floor with a torn ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals and then ruptured his Achilles tendon 17 months later. Thompson felt the outside pressure and heard the doubters who questioned whether he could ever get back to his All-Star form.
He was frustrated with his situation. Not only was he on a minutes restriction and unable to play in both sides of back-to-backs, but his trusty shot wasn’t falling. Thompson made only 38 of his first 115 attempts from deep in the first 12 games of this season. The rough start led to Thompson’s emotions boiling to the surface — in a rare outburst, Thompson experienced his first career ejection after getting slapped with two technical fouls while jawing with Phoenix’s Devin Booker.
A brief social-media hiatus and a one-on-one chat with Draymond Green, as well as the general support of his coaches and teammates, helped Thompson find his zen on the court once again. He stopped chasing his shot and started playing within the flow of the offense.
His increased patience was followed by immediate results.
In his 52 games since that mid-November talk with Green, Thompson has averaged 23.2 points while shooting 45% from the field and 42.3% from 3-point range. He’s eclipsed the 40-point mark three times and notched his third game with 12-or-more 3-pointers — something not even Stephen Curry has accomplished.
But Thompson is most proud of the fact that he’s available and been one of the Warriors’ most reliable players this season, logging the second-most minutes on the team (2,115.)
Kerr said Thompson’s durability alone this season is worth celebrating.
“The fact he’s playing back-to-backs now, playing heavy minutes, he’s just put in so much work to get to this point,” Kerr said. “To overcome two injuries and now play at such a high level, everybody’s thrilled for him.”
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