SAITAMA, Japan – Klay Thompson was disappointed but not surprised by the Warriors’ decision to sit him for their first two preseason games this weekend in Japan.
The Warriors training staff told Thompson last week that participating in the first two preseason games was a “long shot.” Golden State ultimately ruled Thompson out for the Japan games out of an abundance of caution with their condensed start to training camp.
“I am a little sad because I wanted to show these fans a great time,” he said Saturday night. “But I understand we have very big goals to hit and our training staff did such an incredible job with me last year. I’m not going to force their hand when they literally prepared me for a championship run.”
After being out for two full seasons, the Warriors slowly brought Thompson back this year, managing his workload by restricting his minutes and not allowing him to play in back-to-back games. He seemed to be returning to his previous form during the playoffs when he logged a team-high 792 minutes in 22 games.
Despite playing in a total of 52 games last season, Thompson was hesitant to participate in five-on-five scrimmages this summer partially because he ruptured his Achilles tendon playing in a pickup game in Los Angeles about 16 months after he tore his ACL in the 2019 NBA Finals.
“It was really hard for me to get out there,” he said. “It’s like a mental block in a way. I’m gonna face it one day, but this season was so taxing just coming back, it was hard to win a championship and a month later play. It was a lot but I look forward to playing summer basketball again.”
Thompson went through his full warm-up routine and did some lateral drills before heading into the locker room before the Warriors’ preseason opener Friday. He had another workout Saturday afternoon before the fan fest, where he was pushed so hard that he said it “felt like two” sessions.
“I feel great,” Thompson said. “I’m excited for this season. Like it’s hard to even put into words how excited I am.”
The Warriors will play another preseason game Sunday before returning to the Bay Area. Thompson anticipates the lead-up to Golden State’s third preseason game on Oct. 8 at Chase Center will be a “very big week” for him.
Though he’s sidelined for the games, Thompson was still able to give fans a show at NBA Japan Games Saturday Night.
Thompson joined Stephen Curry in a two-person 3-point contest in front of more than 20,000 fans at Saitama Super Arena. He made all but four of his 16 shots as the Splash Bros. coasted to an easy victory over Moses Moody and Jordan Poole.
“I love shooting the basketball especially on the same team as Steph,” Thompson said after the win. “I’ve gone against him twice in the 3-point shootout so it was nice to have a combination of great shooting. It was nice to humble Jordan Poole.”
And of course, Thompson said he’d jump on the opportunity to win another 3-point shooting title at NBA All-Star Weekend.
“I want to win multiple,” he said. “Steph has multiple. Larry Bird has multiple so it’d be cool to be in that category.”
