SoCal native Klay Thompson and dad Mychal relish Lakers vs. Warriors clash
Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson will fulfill childhood dream of
playing against Los Angeles Lakers in NBA playoffs
>Former NBA player Mychal Thompson listens to his son, Golden State
Warriors player Klay Thompson, during an interview in the Golden State
Warriors training facility players’ lounge in Oakland, Calif., on
Friday, Sept. 20, 2013. Mychal Thompson played for the Portland Trail
Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers and the Italian League’s
JuveCaserta Basket. Warriors player Stephen Curry’s father Dell Curry
also played in the NBA from 1986 until 2002. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News
Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 2, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. | UPDATED: May 2, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/05/02/socal-native-klay-thompson-and-dad-mychal-thompson-relish-lakers-vs-warriors-clash/

SAN FRANCISCO — Life as the son of an NBA champion exposed Klay Thompson
and his two brothers to experiences no regular kids get.

As children they shook hands with Michael Jordan, chopped it up with
Shaquille O’Neal at his locker and got up shots alongside Kobe Bryant
warming up at Staples Center.

In an NBA career that took Mychal Thompson from Portland’s Rose Garden
with Clyde Drexler to Los Angeles with Magic Johnson and, after his
retirement, alongside the Trail Blazers and Lakers as a radio
commentator, it was his goal to make arenas like home and teammates like
family for his three boys.

“I recognized how fortunate I was as a parent to introduce them to the
greats who played the game,” Thompson said in a phone conversation.
“What a blessing and advantage it is for kids growing up in their
father’s business, if that’s what they want to do, to meet the legends
and icons to come before them.”

So for Klay, the Warriors’ Western Conference semifinal matchup against
the Los Angeles Lakers that starts tonight at Chase Center isn’t just
another step toward a potential fifth NBA title. It’s a homecoming he’s
desperately wanted.

“I’m personally excited,” Klay Thompson said. “I get to play in front of
my father, my mother, and some of my best friends and go down to SoCal
after our home stand and it’s just a dream come true. I’ve waited for
this for 12 years.”

>Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) attempts to drive past Los
Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant (24) in the first half of an NBA game at
Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. It was
Bryant's last game at the Oracle Arena after announcing he'll retire at
the end of the season. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

It’s also still a Thompson Family event. Mychal, a longtime radio color
commenter for the Lakers, and Klay will somewhat face off for the first
time on the playoff stage as the Warriors take on the Lakers in a
playoff series for the first time since 1991. Thompson, alongside Steph
Curry and Draymond Green, is facing Lakers superstar LeBron James for a
fifth time in their decade-long postseason rivalry.

“This is the main event,” Mychal said. “The other series have a lot to
offer, but this is the glamor series. This is the cover girl.”

Mychal always roots for his son when the two teams aren’t playing. He
“couldn’t breathe until the Warriors were up 15” in their Game 7 win
against the Sacramento Kings over the weekend. In the immediate
aftermath, Klay had no idea where his father’s allegiance would lie for
the semifinals.

“I don’t know. I really don’t,” he said. “If I had to guess, probably
his employer. But I’m just excited. I have so many great memories with
him watching the Lakers, watching Kobe, watching Shaq and Pau (Gasol),
and the rest of the gang. So I’m just really excited to try to stick it
to the team that I grew up rooting for.”

Mychal wouldn’t pick a side, saying he’s “rooting for a classic series.”

“It’s a win-win, lose-lose for me in any situation,” he said. “Sometimes
I think the Lakers will win because of size and sometimes I think the
Warriors will because of their groove. So we’ll just have to sit back
and enjoy it. This is the matchup the casual basketball fans have been
waiting for.”

Though the Thompson brothers grew up big Lakers fans, they’re all Team
Klay this time around, according to his dad. That includes little
brother Trayce, who plays outfield for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Big
brother Mychel is a video coordinator at Golden State and certainly
‘Team Warriors’. Their mom, Julie, is ‘Team Klay’, too.

“As they should be,” Mychal said. “And the family back in the Bahamas,
too. As much as they love the Lakers, it’s all about Klay for the rest
of the family.”

‘Team Klay’ has deep Lakers roots, though. Thompson is a SoCal guy —
still drawn to sunshine and the ocean (now on his own boat) like he was
as a kid. As a player, he carries himself like Bryant, the late Lakers
great he idolized growing up.

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When Klay was young, Mychal would take any opportunity he could to have
Bryant talk one-on-one with Klay, Trayce or Mychel. Bryant would usually
pass along something cliché, telling them to compete and work hard,
Mychal recalls.

Cliché or not, that advice spoke to Klay. He was a fierce competitor who
“dogged other kids on defense” at a young age and showed an unusually
advanced work ethic as a toddler. At nine months old he’d take all his
Dr. Seuss books to the corner and try to read on his own without any
prompting. From youth basketball to his pro career — his determination
to overcome two major injuries in 2020 and 2021 because he didn’t
understand his life without basketball — was Kobe-esque.

“I always told him he doesn’t play like Kobe,” Mychal said. “But he
competes like Kobe.”

Now Klay will return where it all began hoping to prove he and the
Warriors core he’s embedded with can win again.

“Whoever wins this,” Mychal said, “Could be the favorites to go to the
Finals.”

--
Shayna Rubin | General Assignment Sports Reporter
Shayna Rubin is a Bay Area News Group sports reporter for The Mercury
News and East Bay Times. She covered the Oakland A's from 2019 to 2021
and, most recently, the Golden State Warriors' championship run in 2022.
Shayna is a San Francisco native. She is a graduate of San Francisco
State University with a BA degree in journalism and a MA degree in
broadcasting and electronic communication arts.