The Portland Trail Blazers are in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2000 — when they infamously blew a 3-1 series lead against the Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers.
Way back then, Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson was growing up in Oregon, so he was a Blazers fan. Now, he is playing Portland for a berth in the NBA Finals.
Thompson's favorite player from those Blazers teams? Rasheed Wallace, of course.
The sharpshooter said that he actually went to school with Wallace's sons and is friends with the family until this day, per Mark Medina of The Mercury News.
Klay Thompson grew up a Trail Blazers fan when he spent part of his childhood in Lake Oswego. Klay’s favorite Blazer? Rasheed Wallace pic.twitter.com/kSUbp2bDKK
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 15, 2019
Wallace spent the first seven-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Blazers, making a couple of All-Star teams before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks midway through the 2003-04 campaign. He was then flipped to the Detroit Pistons, where he ended up winning a title that season.
It didn't take long for Wallace to become a fan favorite not just in Portland, but around the NBA in general. One can even make a legitimate argument that he was ahead of his time, as he was one of the first bigs who began spreading the floor and taking 3-pointers.
As a matter of fact, in 2002 and 2003, Wallace took four 3-pointers per game, which was a rather significant number back then especially for a big man.
Wallace then spent five-and-a-half years with the Pistons before signing with the Boston Celtics during the summer of 2009. He resided with the Celtics for one season, retired and then came back three years later with the New York Knicks. However, he played in just 21 games due to injury that year and retired for good.
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