The Warriors still don’t have a certain timetable for the return of Klay Thompson. During his bi-weekly appearance on 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast: Executive Show”, Warriors president of basketball operations and general manager Bob Myers said the shooting guard is scheduled to scrimmage Tuesday with the Santa Cruz Warriors. Check out the full interview below:
For now, the starting shooting guard position belongs to Jordan Poole. The third-year guard has been streaky but is largely living up to expectations as the team’s No. 2 offensive threat behind Steph Curry, averaging 18.1 points and 2.7 3-pointers made per game on 44.9 percent from the field. Thompson has been very supportive of Poole throughout his career and recently showed him some love for his solid season.
Myers discussed the dynamic at shooting guard between Poole and Thompson on Tuesday morning with Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. It sounds like the franchise is set on starting Thompson once he returns and using Poole as a sixth man off the bench.
“Now [Poole]’s a human being, he can be upset, everybody wants to start,” Myers said. “If they say they don’t, they’re lying. And that’s fine. But I think Jordan knows his time will come. Look, if it’s Klay in front of you, it’s not so bad, right? Pretty tough guy to say you should be starting in front of.”
Myers pointed to Andre Iguodala as a potential source of inspiration for Poole, as Iguodala came off the bench for the 2014-15 season before winning Finals MVP.
“So you got a guy like that on your team and now you’re looking at Jordan Poole and you got Andre sitting over there,” Myers said. “If Jordan Poole -- which I don’t think he’ll have any issue -- had one, Andre just says, ‘Hey, come here, sit down. Let me tell you a story about me.’ That’s why kind of having winning around the program, not just this year but in the past, helps with stuff like that.”
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At this rate, it appears Thompson could return by late December as he builds up his endurance following two seasons missed due to injury. It’s been 12 months since Thompson tore his Achilles and he hasn’t played in an NBA contest since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, when he tore his ACL.
Following Friday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Thompson sat on the bench for 35 minutes with a towel draped over his head, soaking in the moment and cheers from Warriors fans. Myers said there wasn’t a setback for Thompson, it was just a display of how much he misses being on the floor with his teammates.
“When Klay Thompson does it, the whole world knows,” Myers said. “I don't think he did it for attention. He just, in that moment, was feeling what he was feeling, and he sat there, right? With him, that’s where it’s different.
“It's all part of it. It's part of the deal. Two years, nothing happened, he didn't have a setback. There was no event that occurred. It was just, 'I miss playing basketball,' in a deep, deep sense. That's where it all comes up."
