Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson will return for toughest part of the schedule
By Justin Fried
The Golden State Warriors’ 2019-20 schedule appears very backloaded which is good news for a team that will be awaiting the return of Klay Thompson.
The Golden State Warriors were dealt a major blow in their last game of the season when star shooting guard Klay Thompson went down with a torn ACL.
As if the pain of falling short in the NBA Finals wasn’t enough, Thompson going down took the heart and soul of the Warriors and ripped it away from them. And once the game came to its conclusion and the night progressed, the reality of the injury became clear.
The Warriors roster this season will look very different from years prior with the likes of Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston all departing this offseason.
And with Thompson out for the majority of the season, it will be all hands on deck for the time being. The Warriors will have to make up for his shooting, defensive prowess, and on-court leadership while their star rehabs his injury.
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Fortunately, it appears that the schedule makers did the Warriors quite the favor.
Golden State’s 2019-20 schedule has been released and when glancing at it, it’s hard not to notice the incredible string of difficult games that come late in the season. And it just so happens that those games could line-up perfectly with Thompson’s eventual return.
The 29-year-old was given a six-to-nine-month timetable for a return but could play his first game in as soon as mid-to-late February. Thomspon is already reportedly targeting a post-All-Star-break return.
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And if that’s the case, it will be just in time for the hardest part of the schedule.
The Warriors are set to play in front of a national audience in 12 of their 27 total games following the All-Star break. Nearly half of their games will nationally televised, big-time matchups.
That includes matchups with the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers — some of the league’s frontrunning championship contenders.
On top of that, matchups with the Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors shouldn’t exactly be cakewalks either.
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In fact, out of the 21 different opponents that the Warriors will face post-All-Star-break, 12 of them made the playoffs last season. And that’s not even including teams like the Lakers, Sacramento Kings, and New Orleans Pelicans who should all be much-improved from last year.
The Warriors’ late-season schedule is a who’s who of the NBA and they are going to need all the help that they could get. Fortunately, Thompson could provide just the help they’ll be searching for.
It might take some time for this new-look Warriors team to mesh. Head coach Steve Kerr will have to flesh out his preferred rotations and the new players will simply take more time to develop the same chemistry that previous Warriors teams had.
And by the time this team is truly figuring out their own identity and hopefully firing on all cylinders, Thompson could be reintroduced into the fold. That’s good news for a Warriors team that should be playing meaningful regular-season games right down to mid-April.
When the Warriors really need Thompson the most, he’ll hopefully return like a knight in shining armor to save the Warriors season and propel them to a playoff spot.
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Thompson’s return will be much-anticipated as the season progresses. And it might just come at the perfect time.