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Unlike his rough patch during this year's NBA Finals, Klay Thompson has gotten off to a scorching start this season, one that could be perhaps his best season yet, even after the surprise on a career-high 22.3 points per game despite the addition of star forward Kevin Durant during the 2016 offseason.
Even head coach Steve Kerr has noted the mid-season form his starting marksman has sported during the first nine games of the season.
“Klay is at his absolute peak for us now,” Kerr said, according to Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News.
Thompson may be in the running for a 50-40-90 shooting season, the way his backcourt Splash Brother Stephen Curry was during his second MVP season, one that notched a unanimous vote for the award.
“It would be awesome to shoot that percentage from the floor throughout the whole year,” Thompson said. “It would be incredibly difficult. That’s what Kevin shot last year. But if you’re around 50 percent as an outside shooter, that’s great. That’s what I aim for.”
Thompson is shooting 52.7 percent from the floor, and 45.7 percent from deep, railing 3.6 treys per game through Golden State's 6-3 start. He's a mere 5-of-6 from the line but has shot in the high 80s in four of his six NBA seasons thus far — making the 90 percentile not far out of the realm of possibility.
Besides the offensive barrage, Thompson has recorded a block or more during seven of the Warriors' first nine games, finally showing making his defensive prowess translate into the stat sheet.
Kerr noted “it’s not just the shooting,” but “shooting is a byproduct of the other stuff” that coaches love to preach, the small things that miss the glamour, like boxing out, calling out defensive adjustments, and a quick screen to give just that extra whisker of time to get a shot off.
“He’s under control,” Curry said. “That’s the biggest thing. Defenders are running him off the 3-point line and he’s giving them pump fakes when he knows it’s time to pull that out within himself and making timely shots. He’s playing amazing right now. He’s obviously a catalyst for us.”
