Klay Thompson isn’t comparing his game to the great Michael Jordan, but he is trying to age gracefully like MJ did.
Thompson dropped 42 points against the Rockets on Friday night and became the first player in NBA history to record 12 or more threes in multiple games in a single season.
The shooting guard has since recalled a conversation with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and assistant coach Bruce Fraser about how he can elevate his game in the twilight years of his career, much like Jordan did.
“I actually talked to Steve and Bruce Fraser about it,” Thompson said. “And Steve was just telling me how my game needs to evolve as I get older. He used Michael Jordan as an example of how when he got into his mid-30s, he came such an incredible low post player. Not saying I’m Mike or anything, I’m just saying I can evolve in other areas.
“[Fraser] told me I’m going to go down as one of the greatest to ever shoot it no matter if the ball goes in or not. He’s just telling me to go for triple-doubles and round out my whole entire game. I felt those things because those guys are straight shooters, they wouldn’t tell me I’m capable of those things if I wasn’t. That really resonated with me and I’m going to try to continue to rebound at a high rate and play-make the rest of the season and my career.”
So far this season, Thompson is averaging 21.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 42.6 percent shooting from the field despite suffering two horrific, season-ending injuries in 2019 and 2020.
In his ten-year career, Thompson has proved to be one of the best ever catch-and-shoot guards the NBA has ever seen and is likely to be a future Hall of Famer.