Klay Thompson returns to cheers from some 400 Warriors employees

AP Sports Writer

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

Once the ball was tipped a couple of hours later, Thompson tried to pull off an impromptu shimmy, Stephen Curry-style, as the former Splash Brothers dueled in different uniforms.

The employees who greeted Thompson sported “Captain Klay” hats, the giveaway for all fans on a celebratory night remembering his 13 years with the franchise and four championships he helped win.

“That was really cool,” Thompson said. “I’m very grateful for the employees to give me that kind of love … totally unexpected and definitely put a smile on my face. Something I’ll never forget.”

Those white hats filled Chase Center, where video highlights of Thompson showed in a place where he’s still beloved — and always will be. Curry jogged up to Thompson, now wearing No. 31 with teammate Kyrie Irving in No. 11, and offered a quick embrace in their first words of the day before Andrew Wiggins also hugged his old teammate.

“Thankfully we were all able to focus on the game and just hoop and compete,” Curry said. “It was an unreal night for sure all the way around.”

Thompson scored 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting with six 3-pointers but watched Curry shine in the closing moments of Golden State’s 120-117 victory. Thompson high-fived a fan afterward and tossed his white headband into the seats, giving some lucky patron an unexpected souvenir.

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

“It was a cool moment to feel the energy from the fans,” Thompson said. “Especially all the chatter that I heard, it was all positive.”

Curry had considered addressing the crowd before tipoff but he and Thompson traded a couple of text messages and they decided to each focus on the game, though coach Steve Kerr knew it would be something when they had to defend each other.

Just 15 seconds into the game Curry fouled Thompson, who scored the initial two points of the contest on free throws. He missed his initial two field goal attempts before knocking down a 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining in the opening quarter.

“I’m so surprised they ran a post up for him on the first play,” Curry said. “I blacked out on that one, I wasn’t going to let him score and I fouled him. It was a pretty special night.”

The Warriors invited all their employees 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 reconciling all of that, losing those prime seasons. We all saw that, saw him struggle with it emotionally. We saw him fight to get his game back. He helped us win a championship, led the league in 3s two years ago, he did a lot of amazing things.

“We wished that this had 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 kind of a new set of surroundings and that was apparent last year. He was not happy and that was hard to see, because he deserves to be happy. At his core he’s a very happy person.”

Thompson had tried to downplay the magnitude of being back in the Bay Area, considering it just another game in November.

“I hope you all didn’t believe him,” said Curry, who watched the tribute video from the tunnel to have some space with all the emotions.

When the home crowd went crazy, jumped to their feet in a warm ovation and tipped those captain hats when he was introduced, Thompson became visibly emotional and clearly touched by the tribute. He waved and saluted in several directions.

“I couldn’t imagine a better night all the way around,” Curry said.

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

For Kerr, this moment felt far different from Thompson’s triumphant return nearly three years ago from the injuries and daunting grind of rehab that the veteran guard considered some of the most difficult days of his life.

“That 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. “This one is obviously more of a goodbye, the first time we will have seen him. … It’ll feel very strange but it will be a different vibe, more of a thank you and a goodbye and everything that you’ve meant to us.”

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