The Golden State Warriors played the entire 2019-2020 season without Klay Thompson and just a few games with Steph Curry. The Warriors ended up with a 15-50 record, which wasn't much of a surprise given the absences of their key cogs.
However, the 2020-2021 season is a different story. Now that Stephen Curry is back on the lineup and with a promising rookie like James Wiseman at the helm, expectations for the team were heightened once again, though Golden State continues to struggle in covering the glaring hole temporarily left by Klay Thompson.
In hindsight, Thompson has already been through a string of injuries in recent memory. He sustained a hamstring injury back in Game 2 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors which forced him out of Game 3 of the series.
Thompson returned to action in Game 4 and scored 28 points as the Warriors succumbed in a 105-92 loss to go down 3-1 in the series. Already on the brink of elimination, he delivered once again in Game 5 with 26 points en route to a narrow 106-105 victory to pump life back into the team and cut the series lead down to 3-2.
In Game 6, after scoring 30 points halfway through the third frame, Thompson eventually sustained a gruesome ACL injury which ruled him out for the rest of the series. The Raptors eventually capitalized on his absence in the fourth quarter to run away with the 114-110 title-clinching victory to snag the first championship in franchise history.
Nonetheless, the Warriors organization recognizes the immense value that Thompson brings to the team so they decided to ink him to a five-year, $190 million maximum contract extension in the 2019 offseason. Even after being going down with the injury that could sideline him for an extended amount of time, the Warriors still believed that he will be worth the huge paycheck moving forward.
After receiving surgery for his ACL tear, the Washington State product was ruled out for the entirety of the 2019-2020 season. His running mate in Stephen Curry also missed the majority of their campaign last season due to a nagging thumb injury.
The team's dismal performance eventually led them to settle for the cellar-dwelling spot in the Western Conference. The prize for such a tank job was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Coincidentally, Thompson suffered an Achilles tendon injury around the same time as the draft day. The Warriors continued to display their utmost confidence for Thompson to get back to his previous form as they opted to select a big man in Memphis Tigers center James Wiseman.
Two games into the 2020-2021 NBA regular season, the Warriors are visibly lacking firepower on the offensive end with Thompson's continued absence on the court. The Warriors are not only missing his offense but also his defensive prowess and ability to lock down opposing players.
The Warriors may be a guard-heavy team but none of their players can match the level of productivity that Thompson brings to the table on both ends of the floor, not even a former top overall pick Andrew Wiggins. In fact, he came out cold in the team's season opener against the Brooklyn Nets where he only contributed 13 points, two rebounds, and an assist in 31 minutes played.
Another newcomer in Kelly Oubre Jr. has been misfiring from the field and only finished with six points on 3-of-14 shooting, along with seven rebounds and two assists through 25 minutes of action. The Warriors couldn't find any other reliable scorer outside of Curry and Wiseman who tallied 20 and 19 points, respectively, in a 125-99 lopsided loss.
The Warriors were visibly unable to contain the high-scoring duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving who generated 22 and 26 points, respectively. The presence of Klay Thompson on the defensive end could've possibly slowed down the offensive onslaught wreaked by Durant and Irving.
In their following game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Curry led once again with 19 points and six assists in 28 minutes while Wiseman added 18 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes. Wiggins struggled anew with 12 points and six rebounds while Oubre came out with a meager output of three points and five rebounds.
Dub Nation received better production from Brad Wanamaker and Jordan Poole who each chipped in 11 points off the bench. However, the contest churned out the same story as the Brooklyn game for the Warriors, as Curry and company got wrecked by the Bucks, 138-99.
Perhaps, the Warriors will be able to play more fluidly with the return of forward Draymond Green who acted as the glue guy of the team in recent years. However, he isn't known by many for his offense, which the team is greatly lacking as of the moment.
It is still too early to say that the Warriors will miss out on the playoffs and once again become a lottery team despite their struggles early on. That said, it is safe to say that the team is indeed missing the contributions of Klay Thompson which has been overlooked and underappreciated by many in previous seasons.
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