Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson is climbing out of form slump
Klay Thompson got the Golden State Warriors off to a quick start in Wednesday night’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers, pouring in 15 first-quarter points on 4-for-5 shooting including 2-for-3 from three-point range. It helped the Dubs build a lead they never relinquished from there on out.
While he only scored three points for the rest of the game, he finished with an efficient shooting night by hitting 50% of his field-goal attempts. He even showed greater aggression by earning six attempts from the free-throw line.
After starting off the season ice cold, Golden State Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson is finally trending in a positive direction.
Thompson’s efficient performance is the start of an upward trend over his past three games, all of which have resulted in wins for the Warriors. Over these three, Thompson is averaging 26.3 points per game on 55% shooting from the field, and is dropping in threes at a scorching 57%. This includes an impressive 41-point performance against the Rockets where he hit ten threes for the sixth time in his career.
Dubs fans have to be optimistic about his recent play, especially when contrasted against his lackluster start to the season where he’s shot an atrocious 39%. Of the 130 players who have taken at least 200 field goal attempts this season, Thompson’s shooting percentage is third worst in the league — only Dillon Brooks and Terry Rozier have fared worse.
One positive takeaway is that despite his struggles and inefficient shooting, Thompson has had a positive impact on game outcomes — the Warriors outscore their opponents by 5.3 points during his minutes.
The Warriors’ starting lineup –- Stephen Curry, Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney — is the highest-rated five-man lineup in the league that has played at least 75 minutes together, outscoring opponents by 26.3 points per 100 possessions.
While you could argue that Thompson has hindered the performance of that lineup, you could also counter that there is a large enough sample size to show that his contribution is no fluke. It’s actually rather impressive that this lineup has been able to perform as well as they have with his abysmal shooting. It shows that the 32-year-old still possesses intangibles — IQ, defense, gravity — that adds value aside from his shooting.
Prior to the back-to-back injuries that caused Thompson to miss two seasons, he averaged more than 20 points per game in the previous 5 seasons, never shooting worse than 46% from the field and 40% from three.
Next. Major hindrance with Golden State Warriors’ reported trade interest in trio. dark
The recent burst is perhaps over delivering on what can be expected of him after recovering from a torn ACL and achilles, but if the Warriors hope to contend for a title this season, they’ll need Thompson to look closer to the version they’ve seen as of late — that’s a player trending towards his career averages, rather than the inefficient version we’ve seen for the majority of the season thus far.