Just Klay things: former and current teammates share their wild stories about Thompson / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: AFP – Scanpix Credit AFP – Scanpix

The upcoming NBA season is getting closer and closer, and so does the anticipated return of the Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson.

The Athletic staff gathered former and current Thompson coaches and players, who shared their favorite interactions with Klay.

Matt Barnes recalled the unusual Thompson’s celebration after the Warriors won in the Western Conference final.

“We had just won the Western Conference Finals. Everyone was enjoying everything, talking and eating and having a drink. And here’s Klay with two 9-year-olds at his locker, teaching them how to make paper airplanes and flying them across the locker room”, said Barnes.

Meanwhile, the very first Steve Kerr’s impression was that Thompson didn’t like the head coach change when he took over.

“When I got the job, the first thing I did was I called every player. Klay wasn’t responding to me. So I called Bob (Myers) and said, “Bob, I’m really worried that Klay, maybe he’s angry about the coaching change. He won’t call me back.” Bob just started laughing. He just said, “Welcome to Klay’s world,” shared Kerr.

Festus Ezeli also revealed how Thompson let him know why is he getting paid.

“One game, I think we were up three with about 15 seconds left, and somebody threw the ball to Klay. At this point, you just hold the ball, right? As soon as it touches his hands, Klay shoots it.

I can’t remember if he made it or not, but I remember his conversation with Draymond afterwards. Draymond was like, “Yo, what were you doing?! Why would you shoot that?” And Klay said, “Dog, they pay me to shoot the ball,” Ezeli told.

Meanwhile, the assistant coach Chris DeMarco shared his and Klay moment when Thompson became a New Yorker.

“We had a road practice, got back to the hotel, and he wanted to take a lap because it was New York City. He wanted to walk around, grab something to eat.

We went to lunch, and then on the way back, a reporter stopped us as we were walking by and asked us if we wanted to do an interview on scaffolding. I was in the middle of saying “No, we don’t live here,” and Klay just goes, “Yes,” DeMarco recalled.

And, of course, no one can imagine Klay’s life without his best buddy Rocco, so you can safely assume that there are plenty of stories about Thompson and his dog.

“When I got drafted and started hanging out with Klay was when he first got Rocco,” Ezeli said. “He would always want to spend time with the dog. He didn’t even really like hanging out with people. I’d be like, “What are you doing?” He’d be like, “Hanging out with Rocco.” I thought it was (a person) at first before I met the dog. I was like, “For real?”

Apparently, Rocco had a green light even during the playoffs.

“We were in the playoffs. I think we were about to go to the conference finals,” Kevon Looney recalled. “Rocco just walked into the locker room. He went into the shower while everybody was showering, just walking around.”

“I’m like, “We just let dogs just come into the locker room, walking around, chilling, wandering into the showers during the playoffs?” I remember (Anderson) Varejao telling me, “Hey, nowhere else in the NBA could this happen. Only Klay”, finished Looney.

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