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Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson was on his way to a masterful performance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night and seemed primed to lead the Warriors to a win, which would have forced a Game 7 in Toronto.
However, in the third quarter, Thompson landed awkwardly after a foul from Raptors guard Danny Green and suffered a torn ACL. He would make both of his free throws to reach 30 points on the night, but he then had to come out of the game.
Not that there is ever a good time for an injury, but the timing of Thompson's could not have been any worse for either him or the Warriors, as Golden State proceeded to lose Game 6 and the NBA Finals without him, and Thompson's injury comes just a couple of weeks before he becomes a free agent.
The good news for Thompson, though, is that the Warriors seem to have every intention of re-signing Thompson on a five-year max deal, and Thompson doesn't seem to have any plans of leaving.
The question is, just how much will this ACL tear impact Thompson's future?
Fortunately, we live in an era of medical knowledge and medicine where these types of injuries are not nearly as severe or compromising as they once were. That's not to say that ACL tears can't have any long-lasting effects (just ask Derrick Rose), but this is not as bad of an injury as, say, the ruptured Achilles that Kevin Durant suffered in Game 5.
There is a history of NBA players successfully coming back from ACL injuries. Heck, just ask Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, who played the role of hero in dropping 26 points in Toronto's title-clinching win on Thursday evening. Lowry tore his ACL back in 2004 when he was at Villanova, but he has managed to have a very impressive NBA career.
The key seems to be avoiding re-injury, which guys like Rose and Jabari Parker were simply not able to do.
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Thompson does not have a checkered health history, as up until Friday night, he never really had any serious injuries throughout his NBA career, which lends some reason to believe that he will be just fine once he recovers.
Also, keep in mind that Thompson is not a guy who relies on his athletic ability. He is someone who depends upon his ridiculously quick shot release from the perimeter. He is not a player who is going to go up and over you or blow by you.
Now, where this could hurt Thompson is defensively, as it could have an impact on his quickness, but there are plenty of examples of NBA players who tore their ACLs and came back just fine on the defensive end. Think Tony Allen, who tore his ACL with the Boston Celtics back in 2007 and later became a First-Team All-Defender.
Obviously, torn ACLs are always scary, as knees are everything to basketball players and athletes in general. However, they are not completely debilitating, and guys coming back from ACL tears have a much higher success rate than Achilles tears.
That's why there is a lot more reason to be concerned about Durant going forward than Thompson.
Thompson may miss a good chunk of next season, but smart money is on him being okay once he returns and gets his legs back underneath him.
