Klay Thompson: The NBA’s Modern Day Iron Man

Klay Thompson has been an iron man for the Golden State Warriors, fighting through injury even through NBA Finals competition.

The biggest story going into Game 2 of the NBA Finals was Klay Thompson’s health. In Game 1, Thompson sustained a high left ankle sprain, courtesy of J.R. Smith, diving into his leg.

The injury looked awful and Warriors fans feared the worst. But remarkably, Thompson returned in the second quarter and was a major contributor to the Warriors Game 1 victory.

Thompson dropped 24 points, hitting 8 of 16 from the field and 5 of 10 from three-point range. As well as Thompson played in Game 1, there was still concern about his availability for Game 2. Thompson walked with a noticeable limp throughout Game 1. His injury only got worse after Game 1.

Thompson has been an iron man for the Warriors. In his seven seasons, Thompson has missed just 21 games, only 14 due to injury. He has been one of the most durable players in the league in the modern NBA.

Thompson compares to the likes of John Stockton, A.C. Green and before all of his injury troubles, Thompson’s idol, Kobe Bryant. These players were models of consistency, playing in over 90 percent of their games with the exception of Bryant.

All of these players were durable and Thompson will join them as iron men if he continues to stay healthy. In the postseason, he had never missed a game and with this pending high ankle sprain, it looked as though Thompson would miss some time.

On average, most NBA players miss weeks if they sustain a high ankle sprain. Warriors’ fans know all about ankle injuries because of Stephen Curry but most of Curry’s ankle injuries were the low ankle variety. This injury was much worse.

Thompson’s game is predicated on movement and having a weak ankle would hamper his movement. Throughout the postseason, Thompson is 4th in the league in distance covered per game at almost 3 miles, making him incredibly difficult to defend. Without his movement, Thompson would be easy to defend, making him a liability in the Warriors’ motion offense.

In a remarkable turn of events, Thompson kept his consecutive postseason game streak alive by starting Game 2. After laboring through his injury during Game 1, showing a noticeable limp throughout the game, Thompson looked like his old healthy self with no limp. He shot 8 of 13 from the field, 3 for 8 on threes in 34 minutes of action in a 122-103 Game 2 victory.

Thompson’s performance was necessary and one of the grittiest in Warriors history. Draymond Green thought there was no way that Thompson would play. He called Thompson one of the toughest players, if not the toughest player, he had ever played with. General Manager Bob Myers said Thompson talked his injury out of existence, constantly reminding himself that he was playing and there was no way he was sitting out.

Curry was also impressed with Thompson’s toughness because of his history with ankle injuries. In a funny moment at the podium, Thompson admitted that he did not realize how much you use your ankles in basketball. This was such a Thompson comment because of his aloof and carefree personality. Curry, who was sitting next to Thompson, interrupted and joked that Thompson should have asked him about ankle injuries.     

Throughout his career, critics have called Thompson a finesse player. He takes most of his shots from beyond the three-point arc and rarely goes to the foul line. But most of the time, Thompson is using his grit and toughness on defense, guarding the opponent’s best perimeter players. He does a great job staying in front of his opponent, a lost art in today’s NBA.   

His defensive ability is incredible because of his constant movement in the offense. Thompson’s constant movement leads his opponents to clutch and grab. His opponent must be physical with him if they want to corral him. You can usually see how physical his opponents are by looking at his arms. The evidence is clear in the form of scratches and cuts.

In a league that is more worried about resting players in the regular season so that team will be ready for the playoffs, Thompson is the NBA’s modern-day iron man. Other players like Karl-Anthony Towns and LeBron James played more games this season but there are not many that exhibit the amount of effort Thompson shows on both ends of the floor.

With Kawhi Leonard out, he is the best two-way player in the game and does not get enough credit for his toughness.

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Coach Steve Kerr calls Thompson a machine. It is hard to argue that statement because who else can recover from an ankle sprain in three days. It might just be Thompson. Let’s hope this machine keeps on moving and propels this team to yet another championship.