Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently opened up about how Klay Thompson has been dealing with his season-long ACL injury.
According to Kerr, the 30-year-old has not exactly been in the best place psychologically during his lengthy road to recovery.
“It’s been a really, really hard season for Klay,” Kerr said, via Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “He loves to play basketball so much and just not being able to play has crushed him. And so he was, unlike Steph, over the last couple, few months, he hasn’t been around as often as Steph was. I was OK with that just because it was so frustrating for Klay just to be at practice watching and not really being able to do anything.”
The good news, however, is that Thompson's rehab appears to be going as well as expected, even though the NBA hiatus has affected it a bit. Coach Kerr added that the Warriors' 6-foot-6 sharpshooter appears to have gotten his smile back of late after being cleared to participate in some light basketball activities.
Kerr expects Klay to be ready to rock next season, whenever that may be:
“Finally over the last few weeks he was able to start shooting with our guys, running through some drills and he was so happy to be out there. But for much of the season, it was just about getting away and not torturing himself by watching us play. He’s going to be so ready to play next year and so excited and the rehab is coming along really well, so I have no doubt that assuming everything starts in September and October like it usually does that Klay and Steph will be in great shape and ready to roll.”
That's a pretty scary notion to think about for the rest of the NBA, with Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry likely to come out with some renewed vigor once the new season kicks in. We certainly miss the Splash Brothers, and there's little doubt that the 2020-21 season will be the Warriors' year of redemption.