Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson “unlikely” to return this season

Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson is considered “unlikely” to play this season per the words of his head coach, Steve Kerr.

When Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson walked off the court with an apparent leg injury in Game 6 of the NBA Finals last June, nobody knew the extent to which the injury would change the trajection of Warriors basketball.

While the initial concern was on winning the game and keeping their season alive, reality began to set in an hour or so after the conclusion of the game.

Thompson had torn his ACL. It was the ultimate example of adding insult to injury — or in this case, injury to insult.

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The initial fear was that Thompson would miss the entirety of the following season. After all, the five-time All-Star had sustained the injury in mid-June.

For an injury like this, the usual timetable is somewhere around 11-12 months meaning that even if the Warriors made the playoffs and hoped that Thompson would return by April, that would still put him at a nine-month rehab period following his surgery in early July.

But Warriors fans were hopeful and it seemed increasingly likely that we would, in fact, see Thompson back on the court this season. Unfortunately, recent comments made by head coach Steve Kerr seem to indicate otherwise.

In an exclusive interview with NBC Sports, Kerr had the following to say about Thompson’s injury and a possible return.

"“It’s unlikely that he’s going to play this year. So we have to understand that. You have to look at it realistically. I had an ACL [tear] in college, and I missed a whole season. Generally, an ACL for a basketball player is a full-year recovery, and if it’s a full year for Klay, that puts them out for the season.”"

Kerr seemed pessimistic discussing Thompson’s injury and his declaration that he is “unlikely” to play this season speaks volumes to the Warriors gameplan. They aren’t going to rush Thompson back from injury even if it’s at the sake of their season.

Perhaps the whole Kevin Durant situation is still fresh in their minds.

Either way, this is obviously a huge blow to a Warriors team that could have desperately used him late in the season when they would likely be making a playoff push. This doesn’t necessarily affect their postseason odds, but it does affect their championship aspirations.

While Golden State obviously wasn’t expected to have him during the regular season, a dream foursome of Stephen Curry, D’Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green was the hope for the playoffs.

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Now, that hope simply looks like a distant fantasy.

The Warriors will have to rely even more on their unproven depth to get by this season. Players like Jordan Poole, Glenn Robinson III, Alec Burks, and Eric Paschall will have to step up at the wing position if the team is to continue having success this season.

And while the plan was for them to concede their starting minutes come April, it appears that the Warriors will have a weakness on the wing even going into the postseason — assuming they make it, of course.

The Warriors will miss his shooting, they’ll miss his defense, but most of all, they’ll miss his competitive spirit. The Warriors are a different team when Klay Thompson is on the court and they will certainly be a worse team without him.

While a major blow, Thompson’s health is obviously still of the utmost importance. And even if he misses this season, we can only hope that when he does return, he returns healthy and with a vengeance.