Technically, Warriors star guard Klay Thompson is listed as questionable for Thursday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks after missing the past two contests due to illness.
Listening to Thompson at Wednesday’s practice, though, it sounds like there’s no doubt he will be back to face the Mavs. The Athletic’s Anthony Slater shared video of Thompson’s conversation with reporters.
“I’m playing,” Thompson said. “I didn’t come all the way to Dallas to watch.”
Thompson said he started to get a “raging headache” last Thursday night following the 132-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. He has played in 17 games since returning on Jan. 9 following a two-and-a-half year absence due to ACL and Achilles injuries. Thompson was relegated to the role of spectator as the Warriors suffered back-to-back brutal losses, first giving up a big comeback to the Dallas Mavericks before getting wiped by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Sucks when you watch, man,” Thompson said. “Been doing a lot of watching the last few years and you just feel helpless. I hate that.”
Thompson is averaging 17.1 points per game and was playing about 30 minutes per contest before getting sick. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the plan is to increase Thompson’s minutes to the 34-36 minute range in the coming weeks so he is ready to play upwards of 39 minutes during the postseason.
Thompson hasn’t been shy about re-settling into his role as Steph Curry’s Splash Brother, as his 27.7 usage rate and 14.6 shot attempts per game are the second-highest on the Warriors only to Curry. Klay knows the spacing isn’t the same for the Curry and the Warriors when he’s unavailable.
“He’s going to see a lot of double teams and a lot of attention,” Thompson said. “I hate that feeling because you want to be able to help your team. We still haven’t seen our team at full yet. There’s a silver lining.”
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Draymond Green (back), Andre Iguodala (lower back tightness) and James Wiseman (knee) were also spotted at the practice, in a video shared by the San Francisco Chronicle’s C.J. Holmes.
Kerr told reporters that Green is "making strides" and that Moses Moody (left eye contusion) is questionable to play on Thursday. No word on if Nemanja Bjelica (right quad contusion) will be available.
Golden State will be seeking revenge against the Mavs, who used a ridiculous fourth-quarter run to stun the Warriors last week in San Francisco.
