-
Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN Staff Writer
LAIE, Hawaii — Draymond Green was driving his wife and kids to an assembly for his daughter on a late June day in California when his phone rang.
Klay Thompson‘s name flashed on the screen.
In the 12 years they’d been teammates, Green had never known Thompson to make “small talk.” Green knew something was up.
Thompson rarely calls, Green told ESPN, let alone to ramble about “nothing” for close to five minutes. He turned toward his wife, Hazel, who was sitting in the passenger seat anxiously asking what Thompson was saying, knowing that free agency was set to begin within a week.
“He gone,” Green told her. “He didn’t say nothing yet. But he gone.”
A few minutes later, Thompson began to talk about everything that he, Green and Stephen Curry had accomplished with the Golden State Warriors and how nothing will ever change their special bond.
Thompson said he was going to leave in free agency.
Green asked Thompson where he was going.
“Texas,” Thompson replied.
Thompson explained he had his mind on the Dallas Mavericks and was looking forward to discovering a new city after spending his career in California. Green was happy for his friend and longtime teammate, and knew Thompson wanted a fresh start after a frustrating end in Golden State.
And Green abided by Thompson’s wish that his star teammates not go to Warriors’ management to fight on his behalf. Though it was hard for Green not to intervene, he remembers pondering his own future in the summer of 2023, when Thompson and Curry gave him space before he signed a four-year, $100 million extension.
For Curry, honoring Thompson’s request wasn’t so easy. When Thompson called Curry to tell him of his decision, the NBA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter was still hoping there was a half-court heave he could launch to keep the Splash Brothers together.
“Put it this way,” Curry told ESPN. “He can ask. But I don’t got to listen.”
Though Curry never thought the day would come, life without Thompson began last week at Warriors training camp in Hawaii. After 518 wins, 23 playoff series wins and four NBA championships together — tied with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker for most titles by an All-NBA trio over the past 50 seasons — Curry and Green took their first steps without Thompson in over a dozen years.
Buddy Hield, De’Anthony Melton and Brandin Podziemski are among the candidates who began their auditions last week to help fill Thompson’s role. Curry and Green were excited about the possibilities that lie ahead with a new group.
But they also know there is no one-to-one replacement for a five-time All-Star who buried 2,481 3-pointers, helped the Warriors reach six NBA Finals and was one half of perhaps the greatest shooting backcourt the game has ever seen.
And as the Warriors reported to Chase Center for media day on Sept. 30, officially signaling the end of the offseason and the start of training camp, it hit Curry that Thompson would not be suiting up alongside him this season.
“[Klay] would usually enter the practice facility coming off of his boat,” Curry said. “With his Dockers on, whatever outfit he had on. He just had a presence about him, a lightness when he came in the room. And his one-liners were always great. … [I’m] talking about him like he died, [which is] super weird.
“… Life throws a lot of curve balls in sports. You’re used to seeing people change places and teams. [However] up until but a week before he decided to sign Dallas, we never really thought it was going to end.”
0:37
Kerr stresses establishing Warriors’ identity through competition
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr discusses the importance of competition for the Golden State Warriors in training camp.
IN LATE AUGUST, Green walked into the Warriors locker room at the Chase Center for an offseason workout when reality hit him.
Green was shocked when he looked at Thompson’s old locker and saw two names sharing the stall: Daeqwon Plowden and Jackson Rowe.
“Oh wow!” Green said. “When I left this locker room, [that locker] was Klay Thompson. And then it wasn’t. It was those guys.
“That’s where I was like, ‘Oh s—, this is real.'”
Of course, neither Plowden, who is now with the Atlanta Hawks, or Rowe, who played in the G League last season, are going to replace Thompson on the court. There are several new faces, as well as young players ready to step into bigger roles this season.
The Warriors acquired Hield, a career 40% 3-point shooter, and Kyle Anderson in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Thompson to Dallas. Golden State hopes Hield can slide right into Steve Kerr’s offense.
Melton signed a one-year, $12.8 million deal to help provide versatile two-way play. And the Warriors are high on second-year guard Podziemski.
“One of the reasons we are excited to get Buddy Hield is because we will run some of the same stuff that we ran for Klay for Buddy,” Kerr told ESPN. “Draymond and Steph will be looking for him on the perimeter when they’re playing with him. And then the other new guys, Melton, Kyle Anderson — there’s a reason we targeted them too. They fit any lineup, such smart tough players that they’re easy to play with.
“So I don’t anticipate a really difficult transition basketball-wise. It’s more just the emotional void of Klay being gone after being so close with him and going through so much with him. That part is really sad. But you have to move on.”
The Warriors inquired about adding proven veterans such as Lauri Markkanen and Paul George over the summer but ultimately did not want to part with a ton of assets. Golden State will now be counting on its young core to help keep the championship window open for Curry and Green.
Andrew Wiggins, whose two-way skill set helped the Warriors win a title in 2022, will be looking to bounce back after averaging 13.2 points last season. Jonathan Kuminga enters his fourth season looking to add more to his game after averaging 16.1 points last season. Podziemski impressed as a rookie — averaging 9.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists — and is in line for a bigger role. And Moses Moody hopes for more minutes and a chance to improve on 36% 3-point shooting.
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said that while everyone in the organization misses Thompson’s presence — and will miss seeing his dog Rocco around the facility — he is confident the roster can adjust.
“We’re trying to make it as normal as possible and not overdo it, overthink it,” Dunleavy told ESPN. “I think everybody will adapt and move forward and have a nice year. And same for Klay.”
Green says he and Curry have been busy going through the usual rhythm of training camp and that it won’t truly hit them that they’re moving on without Thompson until the regular season starts. Green says he knows he will feel Thompson’s absence when the Warriors’ starting lineup is introduced at the home opener against the Clippers on Oct. 27.
“For us, it’s when you get in the game,” Green said. “It’s when you hear the starting lineup called and before Steph is Klay’s name. And then all of a sudden, you hear a different name called.”
It might also take Green a bit to adjust to the fact that when he has the ball at the top of the key and is looking for a shooter to come off a screen, it won’t be Thompson.
For Curry, passing to Thompson for a 3 was unmatched. His 622 assists on Thompson 3-pointers is the most by any duo in the past 25 seasons, according to ESPN Research. Green’s assists on 611 3-pointers to Curry is second.
“You develop that chemistry over so many years and battles,” Curry said. “The lights of the brightest in the playoffs and championships, we earned that level of trust in chemistry and expectation that if we got out there, if we were healthy, we had a chance to beat anybody. It’s a great feeling every time you got on the court. In the history of the league, it’s very rare that you get a core of three that stay together that long.
“The Spurs [trio of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker are] probably up there, but just thinking about how iconic that trio, what we were able to accomplish. We wanted to keep it together for … forever.”
But Green points to the two seasons Thompson was out because of injuries in 2019-20 and 2020-21 as something that helped prepare them for this moment.
“Lucky for us, we had a little practice when we were hurt,” Green said. “It won’t be our first time.”
0:19
‘Ew!’ Steph tries to stop Klay from talking to new Mavs teammate Lively
Steph Curry has a funny reaction when walking up on Klay Thompson and Dereck Lively II talking at the Liberty game.
CURRY SPENT THE first weekend of September in New York, attending the WNBA’s Aces-Liberty showdown, when he ran into Thompson courtside at Barclays Center.
Thompson was there with new Dallas teammate Dereck Lively II. Curry made sure to playfully amp up the awkwardness for cameras by walking between the two new teammates and yelling out “Ew! Ew!” as he used his hand to shoo them apart so he could walk through.
Publicly, it seemed like an awkward run-in as the two were seated across the court from each other, but the good friends had planned to meet at the game.
They dined at halftime with mutual friends at the Crown Club, a swanky VIP restaurant lounge inside Barclays.
“That was my first time seeing him since I got back from Paris,” Curry said of his golden Olympic summer. “That actually was perfect though. The way we met up again. It was fun. It felt like just seeing your friends.”
Curry knows the date of their first meeting as opponents: Nov. 12 when the Mavericks visit Chase Center. Curry, Green and Kerr know it will be as emotional a night as any they’ve experienced. They say tears will be shed, especially when the Warriors honor Thompson with a video full of memories and when they hear the Golden State crowd roar for the shooting guard.
“Through training camps and practices, we played against each other on opposite teams,” Curry said. “But nothing like an actual competitive NBA game. So they’ll have the ceremony … and I’m going to be fully engaged and present and making sure you celebrate him the way he’s supposed to.
“And then after that, it’s war. That’s how we’re all built.”
Same goes for Green, who says he won’t treat Thompson any differently than he does his good friend LeBron James.
“I’m going to run through his chest,” Green said. “Because I used to run through my older brother’s chest when we played. There’s always this public disdain over me and Bron’s brotherhood. I try to kill him [on the court] more than anybody. I take him out. And vice versa. That’s what it is. I’m more apt to run through his chest than Kyrie [Irving].”
Though Curry and Green will make sure to remind Thompson what he left behind on the court, this split is an amicable one.
“It’s a happy divorce, if there’s a divorce,” Green said. “A lot of divorces are nasty. This ain’t one of them. I don’t even qualify it as a divorce. It’s just the next chapter in all of our lives. It’s an opportunity for me and Steph, see what we can do together.”
Before Thompson left for Dallas training camp, he called Green to see if the power forward wanted to join him for one last summer ride on his new boat in Los Angeles.
Green had a family emergency and couldn’t make it.
Curry, though, never did get to join Thompson out on the water. He always thought there would be time. But life and the hectic schedule of raising a family made it difficult.
“It’s weird, we talked about [taking the boat out] when we first came into the league, stuff that we used to do together,” Curry said. “Then you start having families, me and Draymond have multiple kids and schedules going crazy. But I will get on this boat at some point, even though we’re not teammates anymore.
“You’re friends first, teammates second. And that is how the relationship is and we will always be. I wish it was both. But I love Klay, I respect him for 78 games out of the year. I won’t say I’ll be rooting for him, but I’ll be watching him. The other four games we play him, I’ll be ready to go at him.”