Klay Thompson’s return date reportedly pushed back as Warriors try to
limit anticipation
Said Draymond Green: "I don’t want him to feel that anxiety and that
pressure that I know comes with it when everybody’s looking, like, ‘Hey
Klay, you about to be back yet?"
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 3: Golden State Warriors’ Klay
Thompson wears a Jimmy Hendrix shirt in a Seattle Supersonics jersey
during the Phoenix Suns game, Friday, Dec. 3, 2019, at Chase Center in
San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 3: Golden State Warriors’ Klay
Thompson wears a Jimmy Hendrix shirt in a Seattle Supersonics jersey
during the Phoenix Suns game, Friday, Dec. 3, 2019, at Chase Center in
San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
By EVAN WEBECK | ewebeck@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: December 16, 2021 at 1:42 p.m. | UPDATED: December 16, 2021
at 1:53 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/12/16/with-klay-thompsons-return-date-reportedly-pushed-back-warriors-try-to-limit-anticipation/

NEW YORK CITY — Despite anticipation that Klay Thompson could be ready
to make his long-awaited return when the Warriors get home from their
current road trip, the team will reportedly have to wait a little longer.

The earliest date of Thompson’s first game back from a 30-month injury
absence has been pushed back to Dec. 28, according to a report Thursday
by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. While the Warriors have not publicly
set a timeline for their star’s return to the court, it was previously
reported that it could come in the week before their Christmas Day
showdown in Phoenix.

At approximately the same time that Thursday’s report was published,
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was addressing the media following practice
before Golden State departed for Boston on the penultimate leg of its
five-game road trip.

Kerr said that he is in daily communication with Dr. Rick Celebrini and
the Warriors training staff, who remained in the Bay Area to work with
Thompson and James Wiseman, but that there was nothing new to share.

“I talk to Rick pretty much every day. They were all in Santa Cruz
yesterday. They’re getting their work in,” Kerr said, but he was not
able to say the longest Thompson was able to run in his scrimmages.

Thompson, who tore his right Achilles last November while rehabbing from
a torn left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) he suffered in the 2019 NBA
Finals, has spent the majority of the Warriors’ past two road trips
practicing with the G League squad in Santa Cruz. He has fully healed
from both injuries. All that’s left is to get back in game shape.

Since being cleared as a full participant in practice, Thompson has been
playing five-on-five, starting in stints of 4 minutes and eventually
ramping up to playing 12 minutes at a time, the equivalent of a full
quarter of basketball.

“I think he’s looked awesome. To me, he’s ready to go,” said Leandro
Barbosa, a Warriors player mentor coach who was scrimmaging with
Thompson on Golden State’s past road trip but traveled with the team on
the current one. “So far, so good. I’m very impressed with what he’s
been doing. He’s a little slow, but even with the slow pace of the way
he plays, he’s still really good. I try to do my best. I try to keep up
with him. I also try to be really, really fast and quick so that he can
bring back that explosiveness on both legs, especially when we play
one-on-one, and he’s been doing great.”

If Thompson doesn’t return for either of the Warriors’ two games before
Christmas — Dec. 20 vs. Sacramento and Dec. 23 vs. Memphis — that would
mean they’ll face their top competition in the Western Conference for a
third time without the reinforcements of Thompson’s return.

Warriors brass has committed to bringing back Thompson in front of the
home crowd at Chase Center. Golden State travels to Phoenix for a
Christmas Day game against the Suns, then returns home to face the
Nuggets on Dec. 28.

If Thompson isn’t able to return by Dec. 28, it would have to wait until
Jan. 3 for it to come at home. After that, the Warriors only have one
more home game until Jan. 18.

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On the opposite side of the country, the Warriors have been able to
disengage from the anticipation of Thompson eventually rejoining them.
They are reminded of his progress every time they come home, though,
Draymond Green said.

“When you see him every day, he looks good,” Green said. “So when you
see him every day, you’re like, ‘Oh, man, Klay looked good. You see
Klay?’ So not being around him definitely helps. But the reality is
you’re not around him for seven days and then you come back and he looks
even better than he did a week ago. Then you’re back to like, ‘Oh, man.’
So I try to stay away from it.”

Green, who has never missed more than six consecutive games, said
nevertheless he understands that the anticipation for Thompson only
makes the final steps of a long rehab process all the more difficult, so
the team tries not to add to it.

“You start to feel the pressure of anticipation of everybody else around
you in a circle when that starts to mount up. The reality is I don’t
think he should feel that. I don’t think that’s fair to him,” Green
said. “He may not be ready tomorrow, mentally. His body may be great,
but is he ready tomorrow mentally? He could not be. So I don’t want him
to feel that anxiety and that pressure that I know comes with it when
everybody’s looking, like, ‘Hey Klay, you about to be back yet?’”

--
Evan Webeck | Reporter
Evan Webeck covers high-school sports on the field and beyond — and a
little bit of everything else — for the Bay Area News Group. A Pacific
Northwest native and graduate of Arizona State, Evan has previously
worked for The Seattle Times, MLB.com and Sports Illustrated.