Marco Belinelli: 🙏 @KlayThompson
More on Klay Thompson Injury
Robert Covington: Damn @KlayThompson prayers up for a healthy recovery 🙏🏽🙏🏽
Marc Stein: The official, disheartening team statement on Klay Thompson's season-ending injury: Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson suffered a torn right Achilles tendon, an MRI confirmed today in Los Angeles. Thompson suffered the injury yesterday in a workout in Southern California.
Connor Letourneau: The Warriors' official injury update: pic.twitter.com/OwR0Sn9F9f
Bam Adebayo: 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾 @KlayThompson
Adrian Wojnarowski: Based on the type of tear, Thompson has been told to expect that he will make a full recovery, a source tells ESPN.
Ian Clark: 🙏🏾 for #11 .. come back even stronger bro
Jordan McRae: Damn I hope klay can get through this. Hate to see that
Bobby Marks: Golden State will now apply for the Disabled Player Exception worth $9.3M. The exception can be used to sign, trade for or claim a player to a one-year contract. The exception expires on April 17.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Source: Golden State’s Klay Thompson has suffered a season-ending Achilles tear.
It remains to be seen when Thompson will join them. The 30-year-old shooting guard suffered a right lower leg injury on Wednesday while playing pickup basketball in downtown Los Angeles with current and former NBA players. Thompson had to be helped out of the gym to his car. There are fears that the five-time All-Star may have torn his right Achilles tendon, several sources told The Undefeated. Warriors general manager Bob Myers says more will be known after an MRI on Thursday.
Anthony Slater: Bob Myers on Klay Thompson's injury altering roster plans: "We needed wing depth anyway." Said they'll address that in coming days.
Wes Goldberg: Bob Myers says Steve Kerr and a trainer are headed to LA tomorrow to be with Klay Thompson.
Kerith Burke: Bob Myers said re: Klay’s injury that he’s hopeful and concerned, “all those things combined.” He expects to know more tomorrow.
Drew Shiller: Bob Myers just now on NBC Sports Bay Area: “Spoke to Klay this afternoon. I don’t know guys. We don’t know the extent of it it ... it’s hard to say. I’m hoping for the best ... I can confirm the injury is to his right leg.”
Drew Shiller: Woj just now on ESPN: "There's still some optimism that Klay Thompson may not miss the entire season."
Jamal Murray: Praying for u bro🙏🏽 @KlayThompson
Klay Thompson plans to receive an MRI on Thursday, a person familiar with the details told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about Thompson's injury. “No other details are available at this time,” the Warriors said in a statement. “We will provide further updates as appropriate.”
Wes Goldberg: Wiseman on Klay Thompson: "It was down for me emotionally. But the team, we got his back no matter what."
Chris Montano: Stephen Curry with the support for Klay Thompson.
Bogdan Bogdanovic: Prayers up for @KlayThompson 🙏🙏🙏
DeMarcus Cousins: Damn Klay 🙏🏿 keep your head up bro
Donovan Mitchell: Prayers up man @KlayThompson 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Paul George: Praying for you bro 🙏🏾 @KlayThompson
Draymond Green: Prayers up for my brother @KlayThompson 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
CJ McCollum: Damn hope you good bruh @KlayThompson 🙏🏽
Monte Poole: Klay Thompson's leg injury looked bad, according to two sources, but neither was ready assume catastrophic. The Warriors have significant decisions to make tonight/this week, so fingers are crossed as they wait.
LeBron James: Praying a lot @KlayThompson is cool!! Like it’s super minor. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Adrian Wojnarowski: Golden State G Klay Thompson will undergo testing within the next few days on a leg injury suffered in a workout in Southern California today, sources tell ESPN. The severity of the injury is unclear. Thompson missed the 2019-2020 season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
Klay Thompson: Klay Thompson was unable to place weight on his lower leg injury leaving the gym today, sources said. Everyone is hoping for the best.
Shams Charania: Warriors star Klay Thompson suffered an apparent lower leg injury today and is undergoing tests to determine severity, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
The Warriors hosted a voluntary minicamp in San Francisco from Sept. 23 through Oct. 6. It marked the first time you participated in competition since injuring your knee. How did it go for you? Klay Thompson: The first day I felt a little rusty. My jumper was going right. My jumper was going left. I’m getting beat back door. I’m getting beat on closeouts. The conditioning aspect was tough. And then by the time the rust gets off, you start playing basketball, moving around, seeing shots go in, it is like night and day. It makes you appreciate the game. Seeing my teammates was great. It was so fun being there.
Klay Thompson’s ACL surgery was now more than 15 months ago. He’s been cleared for full contact since the middle of summer. There was an expectation that this camp would be a chance for him to test that healed knee for the first time in an unrestricted 5-on-5 setting against NBA athletes. But the Warriors’ cautious medical staff opted against full clearance. Thompson participated in every part of the controlled portions of practice, including some full-contact 5-on-5 work, but whenever they switched to unconstrained scrimmaging, Thompson was held out. “He didn’t feel any soreness (all week),” Kerr said. “It’s mainly just easing back into playing this caliber of athlete. It’s been 470 days (since he has). He’s feeling really good. He’s healthy. Rick (Celebrini)’s not concerned at all about the injury. Everything’s healed really well.”
Thompson, by all accounts, shot it extremely well all week. He seems to be cutting and jumping without fear (video clip here). Kerr said he’s “looking really bouncy” and had a practice sequence in a controlled drill where he dunked off one foot and then “came right back down in transition and had a dunk off two feet.” His strength and rhythm aren’t all the way back, there’s some rust in his game, but as one coach told me: “He’ll be just fine. Least of our concerns.”
He did not, however, participate in unrestricted 5-on-5 scrimmages, including the Team Blue vs. Team White game on Thursday. “We’re taking it really slow with Klay,” Kerr said. “He’s basically taking part in all of practice other than the scrimmage. We did other drills that were live. We did some defensive drills, 5-on-5, more of a controlled scrimmage that he took part in. But at the end of practice scrimmage, we had him doing some 1-on-1 stuff with Leandro (Barbosa). That is the preferable sequence right now.”
Golden State Warriors swingman Klay Thompson participated Friday in his first full practice since tearing his left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. It had been 470 days since Thompson's injury and his return was a welcome sight for coaches and teammates who missed having him around. "It was great to have him out on the floor, in the locker room," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said during a video call with reporters. "Just his presence alone gave us a jolt of energy and excitement. Practice went well. This is the first practice coming off an ACL injury and a year and a half absence so I didn't expect him to be in top shape, in top form, and he was not, but he moved well and it's a good first step."
Anthony Slater: Steve Kerr on Klay Thompson: "This was his first practice coming off an ACL injury. I didn't expect him to be in top form and he was not. But he moved well and it was a great first step. Klay got a lot of good work in and was able to gauge where he is right now."
Anthony Slater: Warriors didn't scrimmage today. They haven't gone 5-on-5 yet. Will soon. Steve Kerr said it hasn't yet been decided if Klay Thompson will take full part in it: "Kind of depends on how he reacts to today."
Thompson has mostly been out of the spotlight since the end of the Warriors' season in March, keeping his rehab and life private ... give or take a social-media post or a kayak trip. So, if you're wondering how Klay is doing heading into camp, his former teammate and current Warriors player mentor coach Leandro Barbosa has the latest. "He's very good," Barbosa said on the latest episode of the "Runnin' Plays" podcast. "He's my boy, ya know? He's happy. I haven't seen Klay for a couple years, and I went to his house [this week], we kind of hung out and we kind of talked. He was happy with me being here, I was happy being here, especially having a chat with him. But he's doing good, he's awesome, he's recovered."
Leandro knows very well what lies ahead for Klay. "I had the same injury that he has, my injury was a little worse than him," Barbosa explained. "The main thing about the injury that he has, is not about the knee, he's healthy and good, it's right here (in his head). The mindset. Not being scared going into the lane, to not be afraid to do what he used to do. I'll take a little time for him to have that fully, 100 percent confidence."
Most Warriors players — including Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney, Andrew Wiggins and Eric Paschall — are expected to participate. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr anticipates a “pick-up ball”-type atmosphere and doesn’t plan to teach specifics of the playbook — something he will save for training camp. In addition to daily workouts, which will include scrimmages, Kerr will invite guest speakers to talk to the team through RingCentral, a video conferencing software. “It’s really informal,” Kerr said in a phone interview Thursday. “It’s almost more important just to be together. … Much less structured than training camp.”
Steve Kerr on Klay Thompson: He looks fantastic. He's strong and moving really well. And feeling feeling really confident and excited about the camp on and he's where he should be. I mean he his surgery was over a year ago, I think. It was 14 months ago now, so he's he's ready to roll.
Nick DePaula: In a video to fans in China, Klay Thompson says, “My mind and body are 100% ready to get back on the court.” His new Anta KT5 sneaker launch is inspired by his trip last summer to a 400 year-old Chinese medical center in Shanghai and the treatment he received there.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr watched Klay work out last week, and came away very impressed. "He looked great. He was moving well and, as you would expect, just knocking down [shots]," Kerr said Friday on KNBR's "Tolbert, Kreuger & Brooks" show. "He's not playing 'live' yet, he hasn't done any contact stuff, but that's kind of the final step and there's obviously plenty of time for that. "He's right on schedule, and everything's going well."
Warriors coach Steve Kerr watched Klay work out last week, and came away very impressed. "He looked great. He was moving well and, as you would expect, just knocking down [shots]," Kerr said Friday on KNBR's "Tolbert, Kreuger & Brooks" show. "He's not playing 'live' yet, he hasn't done any contact stuff, but that's kind of the final step and there's obviously plenty of time for that. "He's right on schedule, and everything's going well."
Kerr said he drove up from San Diego to watch Thompson work out in Orange County on Thursday, and the Splash Brother looked impressive putting up shots. "It was great to see him," Kerr told KNBR's "Tolbert, Kreuger & Brooks" on Friday. "He looked great. He was moving well and, as you would expect, just knocking down [shots]. So, he looked good. He's not playing 'live' yet, he hasn't done any contact stuff, but that's kind of the final step and there's obviously plenty of time for that. He's right on schedule, and everything's going well."
Kerr reiterated Friday that Thompson missing the entire season was a "demoralizing" experience for the All-Star guard. "Because if you love playing that much, then not playing is just devastating," Kerr said of Thompson. "He really struggled this year not being able to play, and just not knowing what to do ... because he couldn't really do a whole lot in rehab. There was a lot of rest in the beginning, and then the team would go out on the road. Klay loves to be part of the group, bashing on each other and joking around. I just think he really missed everything this year, the whole experience. So I know he can't wait to get back out there."
One of the largest early hurdles for the Warriors’ long offseason has been cleared. Klay Thompson, nearing the one-year anniversary of his left ACL surgery, has been training without restriction on his healed knee, sources told The Athletic. He received the final medical clearance a couple weeks back and has been ramping up his workouts since, including a high-octane session on Thursday.
This doesn’t mean Thompson could compete in an NBA game right now. There are many conditioning checkpoints still to be met. Remember how long it took the Warriors to clear Steph Curry for a return from a broken bone in his left hand back in early March? That wasn’t about his hand, which had been medically cleared for full basketball activity for weeks. It was about his entire body needing to rev back up into its traditional basketball shape.
That’s where Thompson is at. He’s essentially reached the finish line of his left knee rehab, as medically approved by his physician. If it were midseason, Thompson would be getting his body ready for a targeted return. But it’s not midseason. It’s not even anything like a traditional offseason. Thompson isn’t really limited physically, he’s limited by the world’s current human-to-human contact restriction.
Now that it has been over 11 months since Thompson went under the knife, is he back to 100 percent yet? "I don't know," Warriors general manager Bob Myers told reporters on a Monday afternoon conference call. "I think we got to take a look at him when we see him. There's different versions of 100 percent. "Until we kind of test him and see him and start him in 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 -- and the pandemic hasn't allowed him that opportunity to do those type of things ... there's no rush clearly. "As far as I have heard, he's recovering fine. There hasn't been a setback. But one thing that's been a little bit difficult in the last couple months is our ability to oversee those things as much as you might normally would."
Wes Goldberg: Myers doesn't know yet if Klay Thompson is 100% healthy. Has heard that he's rehabbing fine, but hasn't been able to evaluate him in person. "There's no rush, clearly."
How’s Klay holding up and what’s the latest on his health? Thompson: "He’s frustrated he can’t work out with his teammates. He just works out on his own like everybody else. He can’t work out with other guys in groups. You have to find a place to shoot on your own and do your own exercises. These guys know what to do. You run your sprints alone and can find an empty gym. Get a key to an empty gym and go shoot. All of these guys have connections to a gym." Is he fully healthy? Thompson: "I don’t know. He’s walking around fine. Who knows if he’s cleared to play. He has to get that clearance from his doctors and the Warriors. They haven’t talked about that yet." (Before the NBA suspended the season on March 11, the Warriors had only cleared Thompson for light shooting drills).
95.7 The Game: “He says he’s feeling great and he’ll be ready to go at full speed next year.” Mychal Thompson provides an update on Klay. "He's feeling good, he's working out on his own, he's doing all of his drills. He says he feels good, he walks around without any kind of limp, no kind of soreness."
He was quite visible on the bench at most home games, but in the Warriors’ day-to-day activities, Klay was a lot less present than Curry has been. Obviously, Klay had his ACL rehab and the frustration of knowing that he couldn’t play this season. And maybe that leads to a very energetic Klay Thompson season in 2020-21. “It’s been a really, really hard season for Klay,” Kerr said. “He loves to play basketball so much and just not being able to play has crushed him. And so he was, unlike Steph, over the last couple, few months, he hasn’t been around as often as Steph was. I was OK with that just because it was so frustrating for Klay just to be at practice watching and not really being able to do anything.
“Finally over the last few weeks he was able to start shooting with our guys, running through some drills and he was so happy to be out there. But for much of the season, it was just about getting away and not torturing himself by watching us play. He’s going to be so ready to play next year and so excited and the rehab is coming along really well, so I have no doubt that assuming everything starts in September and October like it usually does that Klay and Steph will be in great shape and ready to roll.”
That means a young player like Eric Paschall, stationary in a San Francisco apartment, can’t come in to begin the early stages of a planned summer reconstruction of his jumper. It means Klay Thompson must shift his ACL rehab away from the facility with which he’s most comfortable. “Yes, it’s hard,” Myers said of Thompson’s rehab. “Privately, by himself. Maybe with one of our trainers individually at his house. Even my own hip surgery recovery, anything you can do without interacting with somebody. … If you don’t have your own gym (in your house), there’s not really anywhere to go. Most guys don’t have a basketball gym in their house. They might have a weight room.”
Connor Letourneau: Steve Kerr said Klay Thompson has been joining in non-contact drills and shooting drills. The Warriors don’t expect him to do any contact work this season.
Anthony Slater: Klay Thompson part of team drills post practice today. First time we’ve seen it like this.
Anthony Slater: Warriors practice opens, Klay Thompson in the weight room, mimicking (in a controlled setting) the full lift he’d get on a full speed jumper. First time I’ve seen him really bend and rise high on that knee.
Mark Medina: Warriors formally determine that Klay Thompson won't return at all this season. But Warriors expect Thompson to return when training camp begins in late September. They had anticipated early this season the possibility Klay wouldn't play at all this season
Connor Letourneau: Steve Kerr on the possibility of Klay Thompson returning in time for the Tokyo Olympics: "It’s still a possibility. We haven’t really discussed it."
Marc Stein: The Warriors have this week made it official and fully ruled out Klay Thompson (left knee) for the remainder of the season, league sources say
Marc Stein: Thompson, though, remains in contention for a spot on the United States' 12-man roster for the Tokyo Olympics. @usabasketball will finalize that roster in June and Klay is said to be making good progress in his recovery from a torn left ACL in Game 6 of last season's NBA Finals
Jay King: Steve Kerr said Steph Curry will “almost for sure” play again this season. Said he and Klay Thompson will play when they’re ready and the Warriors will try to win every game that they can.
Anthony Slater: Klay Thompson said he hasn’t ruled out playing this season, but will be patient: “You may not have seen me much, but I’ve been working.” Full quote on his rehab update here.
Wes Goldberg: Steve Kerr on Klay Thompson: “It just feels good to see him out there on the floor, and to see him feel like he’s getting closer... He’s pretty far down the path (to returning).” Said he’s asked both Steph Curry and Klay to be around the team more.
Kerith Burke: Word from the Warriors is Steph will be reevaluted on Feb 1 and Klay will be reevaluted at the All Star Break regarding their injuries and potential playing dates this season.
Ali Thanawalla: Klay in full uni and headband hitting fadeaway trey on pass from Zaza. Warriors practice is lit. 🤣
Logan Murdock: Klay’s been doing this over the past couple weeks. Each pregame, he’ll dress up in full uniform and go through his workout as the team prepares for its game. He’s sooooo ready to be back.
First, host Ernie Johnson asked Thompson whether he planned on returning this season, referring to reports from earlier this week that head coach Steve Kerr was skeptical that the shooting guard would play in the inaugural season at Chase Center. "I feel great," Thompson said. "At this stage of the rehab, I started jogging, running, putting up a lot of jumpers — which are going in at a high rate, still, so that's a good sign."
Nick Friedell: Kerr says it’s ‘still possible’ Klay could return this year.
Connor Letourneau: Kevon Looney on Klay Thompson returning this season: “If he comes back, great. If he doesn’t, that’s good as well.”
Ever since Klay Thompson tore his left ACL four months ago, the Warriors guard has held out hope that he could return this season in time for a potential NBA playoff run. His coach, however, isn't betting on that timeline. "It's unlikely that he's going to play this year," Steve Kerr recently told NBC Sports Bay Area in an exclusive interview that will air at 1 p.m. PT Tuesday in “NBA Season Tip-Off,” only on the MyTeams app. "So we have to understand that."
Kerr, who tore his ACL in college, believes Thompson will be on the same timeline as those players. "You have to look at it realistically," the Warriors coach said. "I had an ACL [tear] in college, and I missed a whole season. Generally, an ACL for a basketball player is a full-year recovery, and if it's a full year for Klay, that puts them out for the season. “We've kind of left the door open in case the rehab goes perfectly and the doctors say he can go. But the reality is, on April 1, that’s the nine-month mark. ... April versus nine months post-op for an ACL.
Wes Goldberg: Klay Thompson on the court at UCLA helping teammates get up some post-practice shots. pic.twitter.com/tGJBSCbvBl
