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The Golden State Warriors are set to play Monday's contest against the Sacramento Kings without the services of both Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
It has put the rest of the roster in the spot of having to make up for their massive void. One of the biggest areas will be playmaking as a distributor to which Klay Thompson somewhat embraced the challenge of showing he can be a factor in that area of the game as well, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Klay Thompson on his added playmaking duties tonight with KD and Curry out pic.twitter.com/AJji0lcszm
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 27, 2017
“Honestly I don't really change what I do. When I do that, I don't feel that I am myself. I just try to be myself and stick to what my best that's moving off the ball, making the right play, taking the shot when it's there and trusting your teammates. We got plenty of guys that can score if we play the right way. Nobody can make up for what they do individually with all nine or 10 guys. Hopefully, I will be able to make more plays off the bounce and show people I'm not just a catch-and-shoot guy.”
Throughout his career, Thompson hasn't had to focus on that part of his game as he is holding a career average of 2.3 assists while never cracking three or more assists in any campaign. He has been able to purely focus on being primarily a scorer on the court.
That said, there will be opportunities for him to contribute as a distributor throughout the game but the bulk of that may likely go through Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston. Although both Durant and Curry are responsible for the bulk of their assists on a nightly basis, they have enough surrounding talent to carry the load for a short period of time.
This is a chance for Thompson to show that he's more than just a passer but he will ultimately take up a greater scoring load in their absence.
