NBA: Warriors Never Thought Twice About Re-Signing Damaged Klay Thompson

The Golden State Warriors has plenty of decision-making to do heading into the NBA offseason as far as their personnel is concerned. The Dubs saw some old faces go, led no less by Kevin Durant who opted to take his act to the Brooklyn Nets. When the smoke cleared, team owner Joe Lacob ended up with his original Big Three in Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson.

Of the three players, the case of Thompson was a bit different. The 29-year-old suffered an ACL injury during game 6 of the 2018-19 NBA Finals and critics felt it would play a factor in contract negotiations. It did not alter the Warriors' course moving forward and the Dubs went on to offer the 11th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft a five-year $109 million max contract. Lacob discussed the case of Thompson on "The Warriors Podcast" and said that the idea of not-resigning the three-time NBA champion never crossed their mind.

“There was no doubt in my mind, whatsoever (they would resign Thompson). I, and we, want Klay to be here for a long time. He’s one of my favorite players in the world," he said. “ACLs … not good, ok we know that. But stuff happens and that’s an injury that now people know how to manage. Plenty of people have come back from ACLs and done pretty well. Honestly, it didn’t even remotely cross my mind.”

There is no official word on whether Thompson would be able to return this 2019-20 NBA season. Seeing how this is an investment made by the Dubs for the future, Lacob and head coach Steve Kerr are likely not going to rush him back into action. They did pick up D'Angelo Russell in the offseason and the second overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft will likely fill in that void.

However, the big load will be on Curry and Green as they face a loaded Western Conference. Critics feel that the Dubs will find it tough against teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers who now boast of souped-up rosters. As mentioned in a previous post, the Golden State is fine with the idea but remains bullish that they will still be up there contending in the NBA postseason wars.

"Anybody can say anything about anything nowadays and it can pick up steam. So we’ve had lots of support. We’ve had a lot of criticism on the way that doesn’t change now. Just what they’re saying is different so doesn’t change how we go about our business.”