Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson would prefer to play LAC in West’s first round
The Golden State Warriors star shooting guard Klay Thompson wants to play the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
However, the reason Klay Thompson would rather the Golden State Warriors take on the LA Clippers over the Utah Jazz or any other potential opponent is rather interesting. It has nothing to do with the actual team that he’d be playing.
It has everything to do with the team’s location which assumes Thompson could care less about the difference in skill among the teams that could secure the last spot in the West.
The Warriors are currently the No. 1 seed in the West, and if the regular season ended today, they’d be taking on the LA Clippers. To maintain their current matchup, they’ll need the LA Clippers to be the worst of the four teams that are all theoretically locked into the postseason in the West.
The bottom four seeds in the West’s playoff run are separated by a game and a half. The No. 8 seed Clippers are seven games above the No. 9 seed Kings, so the five through eight seeds are all locked into a playoff berth unless something extraordinary happens.
That said, who the Warriors play is up in the air given the small margin. Although it is most likely narrowed down to the Clippers, Utah Jazz, OKC Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs, if Thompson got his wish, they’d be taking on LA.
He wants LA because they’re the closest to the Bay, per a report from the Mercury News.
"LA would be nice because we don’t have to travel far."
The drive, although they’d likely fly, between LA and Oakland is just over five hours. As for on the road, San Antonio is almost 24 hours away, Salt Lake City is almost 11 hours away, and Oklahoma City is just over 12 hours away from Oakland.
That said, Thompson does technically have a point about the travel time.
Although an airplane would drastically reduce the travel time for the Warriors, Thompson might also be craving an LA first round so he can take a trip home. Thompson was born and raised in Southern California.
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Thompson wanting LA makes all the sense in the world. However, who they get to defeat in the first round will largely be out of his control.