Despite recent comments from head coach Steve Kerr suggesting Klay Thompson will be out for the season, a source with knowledge of the Golden State Warriors' thinking told Connor LeTourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle that the team is still hoping the marksman will return this season. However they are not banking on his return to “save them” come March.
The Warriors reportedly are wanting to “under promise” and play it safe, hoping not to create any pressure with his return, apparently having learned the lesson from their last playoff run, where Kevin Durant's strained calf took much longer than initially expected to heal, eventually resulting in a month of absence.
That long wait caused fans and analysts to add plenty of layers around his injury, at times creating a narrative and hypothesizing as to what could be keeping him on the shelf for so long.
Thompson could face the same type of scrutiny if expected to return around the All-Star break, and the Warriors have no willingness to rush him back into action after inking him to a five-year, $190 million max deal in the summer.
The Warriors will handle this with utmost caution, preferring to under promise on his return and be gladly surprised if he can return before the end of the season instead of putting the onus on his body to come back rather quickly from a long-term injury.
Others like Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker have taken a full calendar year to return from a torn ACL and Kerr is measuring Thompson to that same standard, despite having shown proof of iron-man-like durability through the course of his career.
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