Emotional Klay Thompson gets jubilant, heartfelt tribute in Bay Area return

On By Littum

Warriors legend Klay Thompson basks in the cheers of his former home fans as he returns to the Chase Center.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Klay Thompson exited the team bus and then beamed as he strolled back to the Chase Center on Tuesday night, greeted by about 400 cheering Warriors employees who lined his path to the Dallas locker room to show their love and appreciation for the former Golden State star.

They had “Captain Klay” hats, the giveaway for all fans on a celebratory night remembering Thompson’s 13 years with the franchise, two of them spent injured and four championships he helped win here.

The White Hats filled the Chase Center, where video highlights of Thompson were shown in a place where he is still loved — and always will be. Stephen Curry jogged up to Thompson, now wearing No. 31 with teammate Kyrie Irving in No. 11, and offered a quick hug before Andrew Wiggins also hugged his old teammate.

Stephen Curry scored 37 points, including Golden State’s final 12, to rally the Warriors past Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks 120-117 on Tuesday night in an Emirates NBA Cup game.

Thompson finished with 22 points in one emotional return to the Chase Center for the first time since leaving to join Dallas in July.

Earlier, after a brief jump-rope routine outside the Mavericks’ locker room, Thompson ran out of the tunnel and onto the floor to thunderous applause from Warriors fans with phones up to capture the moment of Thompson’s return.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Curry had considered addressing the crowd before tipoff, but spoke with Thompson and they each decided to focus on the game, even though Kerr knew it would be something when they had to defend each other.

Curry defeated his former Splash Brother 15 seconds into the game and Thompson scored the first two points of the contest on free throws.

“I imagine he’s going to be the exact same guy that I saw for 10 years, so he’s always aggressive,” Kerr said. “I’m sure he’ll come out firing and none of us would have it any other way.”

The Warriors invited their entire staff to be part of the welcoming committee for Thompson, who joined Dallas in July on a three-year, $50 million contract. Thompson, 34, missed more than 2 1/2 years — the entire 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons — recovering from surgeries on his left knee and right Achilles tendon before making his comeback in January 2022.

“I think what he overcame is almost unprecedented,” Kerr said. “… The last couple of years after he came back, he struggled to reconcile all of that and lost the best seasons. We all saw that, saw him struggle with that emotionally. We saw him struggle to get his game back. He helped us win a championship, led the league in 3s two years ago, he did a lot of great things.

“We wished this was gone forever, that Klay would have finished his career with us but circumstances always dictate these things. In the end, I think he made the right choice. I think he needed a fresh start, I think he needed some kind of new surroundings and that was evident last year. He wasn’t happy, and it was hard to see, because he deserves to be happy. At his core, he is a very happy person.”

Thompson has tried to downplay the magnitude of being back in the Bay Area, though it was certainly emotional for everyone involved.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and basketball is basketball,” he said.

But as the home crowd went wild and tipped their captain’s hats as he was introduced, Thompson was visibly emotional and clearly touched by the tribute. He waved and greeted in several directions.

Dallas coach Jason Kidd called the Mavericks “lucky to have him” and imagined how difficult it might be for Thompson with so much emotion.

“He’s a true pro. Comes to work, understands what it means to win,” Kidd said. “We can talk about his ability to shoot the ball, space and his gravity. We can run around him, he will create space for others. So when you talk about the big picture, it’s hard to find, and we didn’t have that, and it was needed.”

Golden State planned a “Salute Captain Klay” ceremony before tipoff to pay tribute to Thompson’s contributions to the franchise and his tradition of sailing across the bay for games. He’ll be back again in February for the Mavs’ second trip to the Chase Center.

“This is all personnel. It’s incredible,” Warriors president and COO Brandon Schneider said. “What Klay has meant to our organization and to all of us for the last 13 years, the team’s accomplishments, individual accomplishments, who he is as a person, what he have done in the community, it’s a special night.”

For Kerr, this moment felt very different from Thompson’s triumphant return nearly three years ago from the injuries and daunting rehabilitation that the veteran guard considered some of the hardest days of his life.

“It was a welcome back, we knew there were a lot of good times ahead. In fact, there was a championship six months later,” Kerr said. “Obviously this one is more of a farewell, the first time we’ve seen him. … It will feel very strange, but it will be a different atmosphere, more of a thank you and a goodbye and all that you have meant to us.”