Golden State Warriors Midseason Awards: Most Underrated Player

Klay Thompson has been an underrated piece of this Warriors team throughout much of his career, and his contributions are being overlooked again this year.

It’s a little difficult to find a player that is “underrated” on a team that is widely regarded as the best in the NBA and heavy favorites to take home the title in June. Even though Klay Thompson will be on the All-Star team again this season, being surrounded by two MVP’s and a Defensive Player of the Year has made him underrated.

Klay Thompson has always been an incredible shooter, but he’s even better this season leading the league and shooting a career-high 45.2% from three this season. He also has career-highs in effective field goal percentage (58.6%) and true shooting percentage (60.2%) this year.

Thompson’s knockdown shooting makes defenders fly out to the three-point line, which opens up the floor for the rest of the Warriors’ offensive stars.

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In addition to his offensive contributions, Thompson is an incredible defender.

It’s difficult to quantify Thompson’s dominance on defense because he doesn’t have eye-popping numbers in steals or blocks, but anyone who’s had to face him will tell you that he’s difficult to score on.

Kyrie Irving has been guarded by Klay Thompson in the past three NBA Finals, and he had some high praise for Thompson’s defense after the Celtics and Warriors played last weekend.

It is surprising that Thompson hasn’t made an All-Defensive Team in his seven-year career even though he’s been defending each team’s best guards each and every night for one of the best defenses in the league.

The combination of being an all-time great shooter and a lockdown defender makes Klay Thompson one of the very best players in the NBA, but he’s often overshadowed by the other superstars on his team. Luckily, Klay couldn’t care less about getting these types of accolades.

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