Lost amid the ongoing controversy of Draymond Green's vicious punch to Jordan Poole at Golden State Warriors practice last week has been the status of Klay Thompson. The veteran sharpshooter has yet to take the floor in the preseason despite enjoying his first healthy summer since 2018, apparently entering training camp needing to pass certain performance benchmarks before being cleared for official 5-on-5 action.

Thompson will be sidelined again for Tuesday's exhibition game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Chase Center. Shortly before tipoff, though, Steve Kerr shed light on Thompson's status as the regular season fast approaches, noting that he's finally been through scrimmages with teammates and is poised to make his preseason debut on Friday against the Denver Nuggets.

“No Klay tonight,” Kerr said. “We're hoping that he will play Friday…He got some scrimmaging in earlier today.”

Thompson is fully recovered from the right ACL tear and left Achilles rupture that caused him to miss all of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons before making his long-awaited return to the floor in early January. Though he acquitted himself well over the season's remainder, starting all 22 games during the Warriors' title run, team medical staff flagged Thompson as training camp began, recognizing physical indicators that he wasn't quite ready for full-contact NBA basketball.

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Thompson's delayed preseason debut comes exactly one week before Golden State tips off its title defense with ring night against the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center. Expect him to be in the starting lineup on October 18th barring any setbacks.

The Warriors have kept Thompson out of the spotlight during exhibition play, but it's safe to say being unable to play left him frustrated. Still, the notion that missing two weeks of 5-on-5 play before the 82-game grind begins will mar a season that could be Thompson's best since 2018-19 is foolish. There's still every reason to believe he'll be better in 2022-23 than he was last season, when Klay Thompson played a key role in Golden State's fourth title in eight years.

We'll know much more about his form, though, come tipoff of Friday's game against Denver.