Dallas Mavericks forward Klay Thompson is not backing down from his former Golden State Warriors teammate Draymond Green’s taunting.
“I’m running through his chest,” Green said, talking smack on how he would defend Thompson in an interview with Sloane Knows during the Warriors media day on September 30.
“Well, if so, I’ll take two free throws, and I’m a pretty tough guy so I think I can handle it,” Thompson responded in the “Open Run with Rachel Nichols” on October 17.
Green also added he would trash-talk his former teammate.
“He’s my brother, but he’s not with us,” Green said. “He’s not with us — he’s with the [opponent].”
November 12 could not come soon enough.
Emotions will run high on Thompson’s return to the Bay Area since he left the Warriors in the offseason after 13 seasons.
“It’s probably going to be weird at first, but once the ball tips up and I start running around, it’s just going to be basketball again. Luckily, I’ve had great success shooting in that arena, so hopefully that translates,” Thompson told Nichols. “It feels good to be going back with some reinforcements.”
“Probably be a lot of emotions at first, but then once the competitive juices start flowing, I’ll be just trying to do everything to win.”
Reality Hits at Warriors Training Camp
Thompson’s departure did not really sink in until the Warriors reported to the training camp.
Green was shocked, according to ESPN, when he saw Thompson’s former locker occupied by Daeqwon Plowden and Jackson Rowe, who were training camp invitees.
“Oh wow!” Green said. “When I left this locker room, [that locker] was Klay Thompson. And then it wasn’t. It was those guys.
“That’s where I was like, ‘Oh [expletive], this is real.'”
Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, Thompson’s backcourt partner for 13 seasons, never imagined he would report to training camp and not see him.
“[Klay] would usually enter the practice facility coming off of his boat,” Curry said. “With his Dockers on, whatever outfit he had on. He just had a presence about him, a lightness when he came into the room. And his one-liners were always great. … [I’m] talking about him like he died, [which is] super weird.
“… Life throws a lot of curve balls in sports. You’re used to seeing people change places and teams. [However] up until but a week before he decided to sign Dallas, we never really thought it was going to end.”
Klay Thompson Struggling to Adjust in Dallas
Thompson’s shooting struggles continue to haunt him in Dallas.
Through his first three preseason games with his new team, Thompson just shot 24.1% from the field and 33.3% from the 3-point line.
In his second game with the Mavericks against the Los Angeles Clippers, he went scoreless on 0 of 9 shooting.
But Thompson isn’t worried at all, especially after hitting 3 of 7 3-pointers in his third preseason game as the Mavericks won 109-84 over the Milwaukee Bucks, who rested their starters, on October 17.
“I haven’t played since April,” Thompson told reporters after the win. “So, I can’t really simulate live play, no matter how much you practice. So, at the end of the day, it is preseason, and that’s what it’s for, to get your legs under you and just find a good rhythm. I thought I was able to do that in three preseason games.”
