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Klay Thompson can relax and enjoy his birthday now that the NBA trade deadline has passed and he remains a Golden State Warrior. He turned 34 on Thursday. In recent days, rumors that he might be on the trading block proliferated, but it appears he’s staying with the team at least until the end of the season.
However, he’s had to contend with his limited role as Warriors coach Steve Kerr has taken him out of the lineup twice in the last three games. Even after scoring 18 points in a win over the struggling Sixers on Wednesday night, there were still rumors that the four-time champion might be traded.
“I don’t partake in NBA discourse … I think that’s such a waste of energy, and at the end of the day, whether I’m wearing a Dubs uniform or another uniform, I’m gonna be myself,” Thompson said after the game, via The Athletic.
But he did admit a few days before that the struggles he’s having this season have impacted him. In his last ten games, he’s scored 17.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Not a bad line unless you’re Klay Thompson. While they’re not that far off his career stats, this year, he’s hit all-time lows, shooting 41.5% from the field and 37.1% from 3-point range.
Against the Sixers on Wednesday night, Klay scored 18 points by going 6 for 12, hopefully, a sign that things are improving for the five-time All-Star.
But his team is barely holding on in the Western Conference. The once-mighty Warriors are just four spots away from the bottom of the division, a big comedown from their Finals glory years. Kerr is increasingly going to younger players like G-Leaguer Gus Santos, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski, likely trying to see how the future will play out. But he says he hasn’t given up on Thompson.
“This is a season where he’s had a lot of ups and downs,” Kerr said. “It’s not easy for a guy who’s been so good and a Hall of Fame player to deal with the injuries and … it’s never easy for any player, getting older. [But] he’s mentally tough.”
He’s had to be. Thompson helped lead the Warriors to the 2022 championship after missing the 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 seasons due to injury. He says he wants to remain with the Warriors but that the shooting slump has worn on him.
“I feel great physically,” Thompson told media after Monday’s game. “Mentally, probably a little different story. But such is life, huh?”
As the Warriors finish up an East Coast road trip that finishes up with a game tonight in Indiana, Thompson can look no further than Steph Curry for perspective. The two have won all four of those championships together.
“I know he wants to shoot the ball better,” Curry said, per ESPN. “I know he wants to be out there on the floor. He’s a champion. He is a guy that’s been as much a part of all of our success as anybody. The challenge as we get deeper into our careers is the adjustments that we all have to make to try to continue to win at the highest level.
He added, “So the way this game works, there’s ebbs and flows. There’s down periods in the season, there’s times where it’s your time to shine. You have to stay locked in, stay ready.”
The Warriors made no trades and let the deadline pass. The day before, Kerr foreshadowed that decision, saying he thinks the current squad still has the chance to make an impactful run.
“I feel like this group can do something special,” he told reporters. “I really do. So if we don’t do anything tomorrow, we feel like we have a good group we can push with.”
See how social media’s reacting to rumors surrounding a trade involving Thompson:
