Klay Thompson’s season didn’t end exactly as planned. He had his moments in the playoffs and even early in the Golden State Warriors’ series against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, but over the past four games of that series he averaged just 10.5 points on a woeful 25% shooting from the floor, a stretch which included a disastrous 3-19 effort in their Game 6 loss.

In the wake of those performances, Warriors coach Steve Kerr noted that “Klay’s second half of the season was fantastic” but did acknowledge his playoff struggles, before going on to discuss what he needs to do to bounce back next season.

“I think the biggest thing for Klay is to have a great offseason. At 33 and with two major injuries behind him, this is a time where he’s gotta be more prepared than ever for the first day of training camp. Not only physically, handling the injuries…but also understanding that as you get older you’ve got to get better at areas you can improve. You can’t rely on the same things you could rely on at 28 or 27 so there are areas where he can get better and he’s gonna focus on those things this summer and come in and have a great year next year.”

It’s certainly been a tumultuous few years for the star shooting guard, who didn’t play a single game in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons and managed just 32 in 2021-22. The 69 games he played this season was the most in four years, and though he looked like a shadow of his former self at times, there’s no doubting that he did begin to more closely resemble the best version of himself as the season wore on.

At 33 years of age, Klay Thompson’s absolute best is likely behind him. However, he still has a whole lot more to offer than what he showed in the latter half of the Lakers series, and clearly, Steve Kerr is hopeful he can deliver that next season.