Klay Thompson will be returning to play his former team this week, and he'll see some familiar faces opposite of him.
Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Thompson were all teammates on the Warriors and won four championships together. They have 98 playoff wins together and rank third in NBA history among three-player groups, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Before the game, Thompson was asked by Andscape's Marc Spears if he's spoken to Curry and Green.
“I’m locked-in. Not really,” Thompson said. “I will see them when I see them. That’s it.”
It's normal for players not to talk to the opposition ahead of their matchup, but there's no doubt that they will talk after the game.
Thompson was also asked about his feelings about playing against the Warriors, and he played it cool with the intention of it just being another game.
“It’ll be good to see people you grinded with, obviously, but to me, it’s just another regular-season game in November. Obviously, there are bigger implications with the NBA Cup, so what's on my mind is to win that because I haven't been a part of it yet. I know it's young, but it'd be fun to play for that title,” Thompson said.
Draymond Green, Stephen Curry speak about Klay Thompson's return
Draymond Green and Stephen Curry both spoke about Klay Thompson's return.
“I'm working out; they come in again after me, and I'm talking to Kyrie, and he [Klay Thompson] walks up and says, ‘Ky, are you talking to the Ops?' and I said there's definitely some seriousness to it because he just said the same thing to me,” Green said. “Therefore, I'm going to run through his chest when we play him now.
“I wasn't going to, but now I'm going to run through his chest. That's where that whole thing came from. Obviously, we all love Klay, but to love Klay is to also know that he's going to come in there and try to murder us.”
“I'm not ready for this, man,” Curry said.
There looks to be no love lost between the trio, and it may be emotional for Thompson as they're set to give him a tribute. So far with the Mavericks, Thompson has been playing well, and he looks to be fitting well alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Thompson will undoubtedly be trying to play his best against his former team.