Klay Thompson Receiving Undeserved Scrutiny

For the Record

Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

When reports on the Warriors refusing to deal Thompson for Love first surfaced, there was only one picture that was engraved into the minds of NBA fans who were relatively unfamiliar with Klay Thompson and the Warriors’ locker room:

Thompson was preventing Love from joining Curry in the Bay Area.

Thompson was unfairly painted as the primary obstacle blocking the Love trade, the one thing keeping DubNation from experiencing the heavenly goodness of Curry-Love pick-and-rolls.

Thompson, to many, was the antagonist, the villain of the story. He was the bad guy. He was an enemy of the state — an enemy of the Golden State.

 “Obviously Kevin Love’s a great player and they were making the decision whether that would make us a better team to let him go, bring Kevin on, and I think they made the right choice that me and him in the backcourt and core that we have, we’ve got a legit shot at winning the championship next year…” – Stephen Curry

The worldwide discussion was based on whether the Warriors organization — split as it was — was making a mistake in being stingy with Thompson. Not many people were talking about whether giving up Lee and his horrendous contract was a terrible idea. Even fewer people were discussing whether giving up on Barnes’ potential was the best move to make. And it wasn’t until later when analysis on Love’s defensive deficiencies and Martin’s financial burden were fully realized.

Prior to those reports, Klay Thompson became the fixation of every article criticizing the Warriors’ passivity in Love trade rumors. Popular media caused public opinion to turn against Thompson.

He was projected as an overvalued shooting guard incapable of creating his own shot, rebounding well and making his teammates better with his passing. His excellence on the defensive end was downplayed, and his inability as a finisher was overstated to detract from the fact Thompson is an overall good scorer. Reports of his agent vying for a max contract also didn’t help support him staying as people debated whether Thompson was worth that kind of money.

In this way, Klay Thompson became the scapegoat for the Warriors’ decision not to pursue Love. In some cases, Thompson still is. Allow me to humor you as we venture into the realm of misleading evidence — a.k.a, advanced statistics.