Klay Thompson will miss his second straight contest due to illness when the Warriors face the Timberwolves (5 p.m. PT tip-off on 95.7 The Game) Tuesday night in Minnesota.
During his weekly appearance on 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Tuesday, Warriors president of basketball operations/general manager Bob Myers said Thompson could rejoin Golden State very soon. You can listen to the full interview below:
“It’s too bad,” Myers told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “We could have used him in that game [against the Dallas Mavericks Sunday]. We could use him tonight. Klay more than anybody wants to play, especially how much time he’s missed. He’s always wanted to play – whether he was playing every night or not – he’s probably going to meet the team in Dallas, is the plan, and play in that game on Thursday.”
So, it appears Thompson will return in time to play the Mavericks in a possible revenge game for the Warriors later this week.
Thompson has played in 17 of possible 23 contests since his return from a two-and-a-half year absence on Jan. 9. The beloved Splash Brother is averaging 17.1 points and 25.2 minutes per game so far while reclaiming his role as the No. 2 scoring option behind Steph Curry.
Thompson’s minutes had been ramped up to about 30 per game with expectations that it would increase to a 34-36 minute limit in the coming weeks. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the goal is eventually to have Thompson ready to play up to 39 minutes in a playoff game.
Andre Iguodala (lower back tightness) remains out for the Warriors Tuesday. James Wiseman (knee) is traveling with the team but Warriors GM Bob Myers told 95.7 Tuesday that Wiseman is probably still a “week or two” away from game action, likely with Santa Cruz of the G League.
Without Thompson in Sunday’s ugly loss against the Mavs, Kerr elected to start rookie Moses Moody and keep Jordan Poole coming off the bench as a sixth man. Poole stumbled in one of his worst games of the campaign, failing to make a field goal for the first time (0-for-7) while scoring a season-low four points.
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Andrew Wiggins has also been in the spotlight for his subpar production over the past few weeks since Thompson returned. Myers said it’s been a change for those players to incorporate Thompson, whose usage rate of 27.7 and 14.6 field-goal attempts per game are second only to Curry.
“When Klay came back, Poole goes to the bench. That’s a big adjustment,” Myers said. “Jordan said all the right things, but I think that’s a bigger adjustment – not to make excuses, you still gotta perform – but Wiggins had to adjust to Klay because that’s a lot of shots going the other way.
“Bottom line – our job, my job and the front office’s – is to put as much talent as we can on the floor. Then the coaches and players have to figure out at some level how to make it all work. We’ve seen it in spots. We’re gonna need to find that rhythm here in the last 20 games.”
