In the aftermath of the Golden State Warriors' 109-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, Klay Thompson's postgame reaction to being benched stole headlines. Thompson had endured a rough 2023-24 season to that point, and the Warriors' decision to utilize rookie forward Gui Santos over him during crunch time plunged the 34-year old guard to newfound depths.

Still, the Warriors had utmost trust in Thompson's ability to bounce back. After all, he has the heart of a champion, being as big of a part of the Dubs' four championships over the past 10 years as anyone not named Stephen Curry, and on Wednesday, Thompson had as bit of a bounce-back outing in their 127-104 win over the depleted Philadelphia 76ers.

Klay Thompson didn't press the issue too much, and as a result, he scored 18 points on an efficient 6-12 from the field and an even more impressive 4-5 from deep. This prompted Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to give Thompson his due flowers for staying the course instead of letting the emotions of accepting his new reality snowball into oblivion.

“When he plays like he did tonight, just under control, moving the ball when that’s the right thing to do, shooting when he’s open, he’s a fantastic player. I loved Klay’s game tonight. Very much under control and just fit in with the group. It was perfect,” Kerr said in his postgame presser, per Jack Winter, Warriors beat reporter for ClutchPoints.

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There have been plenty of times where Klay Thompson has disrupted the team's offense by hoisting up some boneheaded shots that he probably would have made had he shot them in his heyday. But in the Warriors' win over the 76ers, Thompson channeled his inner zen, impressing Steve Kerr all the more.

“He just looked so relaxed out there. Klay just puts a lot of pressure on himself. Sometimes he goes through stretches of the season where he just expects to make every shot. He’s hard on himself,” Kerr added.

This is the version of Klay Thompson the Warriors need moving forward if they were to climb out of the 11th spot in the congested Western Conference standings.