https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/warriors/article/Just-how-good-can-the-Warriors-be-with-a-healthy-16730047.php

Basketball in hand, Klay Thompson wore gray rain boots as he ambled underneath the stands of Footprint Center.

A video of the scene, posted to Warriors rookie Jonathan Kuminga’s Instagram story about an hour before Saturday’s nationally televised game against the Suns, featured Kuminga chuckling in the background. Long one of the NBA’s quirkiest players, Thompson is a master at getting a laugh out of his teammates just by being himself.

Soon enough, he will finally be able to again bring that joy to an NBA game.. The Warriors expect to start making available Thompson, who has missed the past 2½ years with ACL and Achilles injuries, sometime next month. As head coach Steve Kerr noted, “it’s a good sign” that Thompson accompanied the team on the road Saturday for the first time this season.

During pregame warmups, he flashed his textbook shooting form — plant, catch, release — as he knocked down jumper after jumper. Thompson’s frustrated facial expression on the rare occasions he missed reinforced that, even after a lengthy hiatus, he maintains a high personal standard.

As he watched from the bench in street clothes as the undermanned Warriors beat the Suns by nine on one of the NBA’s marquee days, Thompson might have wondered: Just how good can we become? Golden State leapfrogged Phoenix for the Western Conference lead despite having four players, including two starters, in health and safety protocols (Draymond Green was added Sunday). And that doesn’t account for Thompson, James Wiseman and Andre Iguodala — all of whom were sidelined by injuries.

Kerr was even a handful of assistant coaches. To improve to 27-6, the Warriors got 14 points and eight rebounds from a 6-foot-3 journeyman point guard (Gary Payton II), 19 points from a veteran-minimum addition (Otto Porter Jr.), 12 points from a 19-year-old rookie (Kuminga) and lock-down defense from a 10-day-contract player (Quinndary Weatherspoon).

All that, combined with the usual brilliance of Green and Stephen Curry, allowed them to outplay perhaps their biggest title threat. In addition to outrebounding the bigger Suns, the Warriors tallied 28 assists to only nine turnovers. Phoenix guard Devin Booker, who spent much of the night matched up against Payton and Weatherspoon, shot just 5-for-19 from the field (1-for-5 from 3-point range).

“We have great depth on our roster,” Kerr said. “Our front office did an amazing job putting this roster together so that, when we are down bodies, we can put guys out there who can really play.”

This is a far cry from the past two seasons, when the Warriors’ thin bench was a big reason they made back-to-back draft lottery appearances. Golden State now has more than a dozen players it could feel comfortable using in a high-stakes playoff game. Before the Warriors’ recent COVID-19 issues tested their depth, Kerr was having trouble finding consistent minutes for Kuminga and Juan Toscano-Anderson.

Kuminga, the seventh pick in July’s draft, is a skilled scorer with All-Star potential. For much of last season, Toscano-Anderson was one of the Warriors’ most reliable rotation players — a versatile forward who can guard multiple positions, make almost any kind of pass and knock down open jumpers.

Assuming Golden State is beyond its virus outbreak by the time Thompson — and eventually Wiseman — return, Kerr figures to only have more difficulty ironing out his lineups. What shouldn’t be tricky, however, is finding his players open looks.

Over the first 33 games, the Warriors have re-established their pre-Kevin Durant offense — a movement-heavy style that relies on reads, timing and, perhaps most importantly, unpredictability. They rank last in the NBA — by a wide margin — in pick-and-rolls per possession. With experienced floor-spacers like Porter and Nemanja Bjelica now complementing Curry, the Warriors have more room to operate than ever before.

The notion of adding Thompson, perhaps the greatest long-range shooter in league history not named Curry, to such a group almost feels unfair. But in the next couple of weeks, that is exactly what the Warriors will do.

A small contingent of social-media naysayers has speculated that Thompson might hurt Golden State more than he helps — at least, at first. This is someone attempting something that no one has done in the NBA: come back from ACL and Achilles injuries without any games in between. It’s fair to wonder whether, by trying to bring Thompson back up to speed, the Warriors might mess with their prized cohesion.

But whenever Kerr has been asked about incorporating Thompson back into the lineup, he has left zero up for interpretation: He expects minimal growing pains. Thompson has long been one of the league’s easiest superstars to play alongside — a basketball metronome who guards the opponent’s best player, breaks records without hogging the ball and shuns the spotlight.

Given that the Warriors won’t need to adjust their system to accommodate Thompson’s arrival, newcomers might only have to brace themselves for the even wider swaths of space they’re about to see. Even a less-than-100% Thompson should make life easier for his teammates.

After transforming himself into a two-way force, Wiggins could suddenly become one of the NBA’s most overqualified No. 3 options. Poole, whose fill-in act as the starting shooting guard has made him a front-runner for Most Improved Player, will likely settle in as a vaunted bench scorer.

But on the off chance that Thompson looks like a shell of his former self, the Warriors are well-equipped to ease him back into the rotation slowly. His looming addition is a luxury more than a necessity. Even if Thompson had to miss his third consecutive season, plenty of pundits would still pick the Warriors to win the title.

Therein lies why Kerr feels so good about Thompson’s upcoming return. Thanks to general manager Bob Myers’ savvy roster-building, Thompson faces little pressure — at least in the near term.

However, this won’t stop Thompson from expecting the most from himself. A self-described perfectionist, he often let himself daydream while watching recent Warriors games: What will that first game back be like? Will he deliver one of his signature scoring outbursts?

“It’s exciting,” Kerr said of Thompson’s return. “I think we’re getting close.”