The 2023-24 NBA season has been a whirlwind for the Golden State Warriors and Klay Thompson. Aside from where they find themselves in the standings, this season has shed light on what the future holds for Thompson, who is currently in the final year of his contract. A five-time All-Star and four-time champion with the Warriors, Thompson has seen his role change drastically this year, something that nobody could have guessed after his resurgence coming off of major ACL and Achilles injuries during their recent championship season.
A couple of weeks ago, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made the decision to move Thompson to the bench, allowing for rookie Brandin Podziemski and recent lottery pick Jonathan Kuminga to start alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins. While this move was obviously made due to the team's recent success with their young talents, it is also one that gives Golden State more firepower off their bench.
Even with Thompson's struggles and inconsistent shooting splits, he has still managed to average 17.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 37.6 percent from three-point range. For anyone else in the league, this is a really solid season.
However, this move Kerr made by moving Thompson to the bench is still a learning process. Klay has embraced this new role and is willing to do what is best for his team, but it's a scenario he never actually thought would happen.
Klay Thompson dared Steve Kerr
Throughout the entirety of this season, Thompson has been unable to splice together numerous games in a row where his offensive contributions reflect the numbers he used to put up earlier in his career. There are games where Klay goes for 20-plus points and can't be contained on the perimeter, but the vast majority of the season resulted in single-digit scoring numbers and a shooting percentage below 50 percent for the game.
As a result, frustrations have obviously mounted for Thompson at different points. When the Warriors lost 124-123 on November 28 to the Sacramento Kings, a game they led by 24 points in, Thompson failed to score in the fourth quarter. After the game, the future Hall of Famer barked at reporters over questions about whether there should be lineup changes, stating: “What, are you going to bench me?”
After a 109-98 win on February 5 against the Brooklyn Nets, Thompson made more comments on not being on the floor with the team in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN. Rookie Gui Santos was chosen by Kerr to finish the game in place of Thompson.
In November, when Thompson first presented the crazy idea of him being benched, it certainly raised a lot of eyebrows since the Warriors held an 8-10 record after a 6-2 start to the season. With consistency continuing to be a problem for the veteran, Kerr finally pulled the trigger and made these lineup adjustments, moving Thompson to the bench in a strategic move that sets the team up for more immediate success.
“The thought of him coming off the bench as our flame thrower, it's a pretty powerful weapon,” Kerr said, via ESPN.
Since Thompson moved to the bench, he has averaged 19.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in five games while shooting 53.7 percent from three-point range. Even though this isn't the role he desires, Klay is thriving in the role his team needs him to play.
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