Klay Thompson finished with 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting, including 3 of 8 from 3, in the 19 minutes of action.
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Klay Thompson’s return to the NBA on Sunday, after two-and-a-half years rehabbing a torn ACL and ruptured Achilles tendon, was, by any estimation, a rousing success. In the Warriors’ 96-82 win over the visiting Cavaliers, Thompson finished with 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting, including 3 of 8 from 3, in 19 minutes.
He also passed 12,000 points and 1,800 made 3-pointers for his career.
Only Stephen Curry has reached the latter mark faster.
Klay Thompson has made history in his return. With his two 3-pt FG, he became the second fastest in NBA history to 1.8k career threes.
Thompson reached this milestone in 615 games, and the only person who’s done it faster is Stephen Curry (545 games). pic.twitter.com/n5VbiaoLwv
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 10, 2022
It didn’t take Thompson long to get on the board. Less than 40 seconds into the game, he curled around a screen and turned the corner downhill for a tough double-clutch floater on his first attempt.
In his second stint of playing time, Thompson erased a lot of doubt as to whether he’ll be the same athletically after these injuries by throwing down a monster dunk off the dribble.
OMG KLAY pic.twitter.com/2iD3h6mgyC
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 10, 2022
Moments later, Thompson hit his first 3-pointer to surpass the aforementioned 12,000 career-point barrier.
Thompson finished the first half with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting, then immediately came out and hit a pair of self-created midrange jumpers and another 3 to start the second half.
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Just before he was removed from the game for good, he hit another 3 and left to a raucous standing ovation. The takeaway here is pretty simple: Thompson looked a lot like the player we remember. He moved well off the ball. He made plays off the dribble. That dunk and those plant-and-pull midrange jumpers were incredibly encouraging in terms of where Thompson’s legs are, and he was effective when tested defensively.
Warriors’ Klay Thompson: “I’m just so happy right now. I didn’t shoot as well as I wanted to, but I’m so happy I can even look at the stat sheet and see my name there.” pic.twitter.com/Kfov2RNKol
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 10, 2022
The Warriors became the second team to reach 30 wins (joining Phoenix) and they did it without Draymond Green being in the lineup and Thompson merely getting his feet wet. Give Thompson a month to get into full condition and rhythm and this team is going to be a serious problem come the playoffs.
