The four-time NBA champion with Golden State, Klay Thompson, had one reason to smile even though his team’s five-game winning streak came to end this Sunday against the Lakers. The shooting guard scored 22 points in Los Angeles and climbed to the 192nd position in the NBA all-time scoring list.
The 33-year-old, who also added 5 rebounds, three assists and one block in the Warriors 113-105 defeat on Sunday, has now dropped a total of 13,819 points throughout his 700 career games in the league.
With this new stat, the Golden State player overcame three-time NBA All-Star Deron Williams who has 13,804 points to his name. Now the following player on the list in Chuck Person with 13,858, meaning he’s only 39 points away and should surpass the former 1987 Rookie of the Year in the next few games.
Even though the five-time All-Star scored 22 in his 32 minutes of playing time, he wasn’t his squad’s highest scorer, as the Stephen Curry finally returned from injury this weekend and hit 27 points in the same amount of minutes.
The point guard star had missed 11 contests due to his injury as his team registered a 7-4 track during his absence. Thompson couldn’t be happier to have him back in action. “It’s so great to have Steph back out there,” he said.
“Oh, it’s awesome. Every time those two are on the court, especially together (referring to Jordan Poole) it’s just a beautiful thing,” Klay assured.
“As the season progresses, he just can become his MVP self,” Thompson finally said as he recognized how vital his teammate is if they are to aspire for winning the title for a second consecutive time.
The former Washington State star was the 11th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and has spent his 10 seasons of his professional career playing for the Warriors.
Klay Thompson is the 1st player in NBA history to make 12 3-pointers in multiple games in a single season. Both have come in February.
He now has 3 career games with 12 3-pointers, passing Stephen Curry for the most such games in NBA history. pic.twitter.com/Uqa2JVfwxf
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 25, 2023
The Warriors guard is not only a franchise star, but lately he keeps proving he’s one of the NBA greatest players ever. Thompson is currently averaging 22.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per match in 53 contests so far (while shooting 43.0% from the field and 40.9% from the three-point range).
As the 33-year-old recently became the first NBA player to score 12 3-pointers in multiple games in a single season, he shrugged off the attention and said that he hopes to maintain his quality through his last years as a veteran. “I don’t like to talk about vintage me or am I my old self?” he said.
“I just think I’m being myself and I was capable of these things in the past and as long as my wrists still work, my feet work, I’ll forever be able to shoot the rock… It was one of those nights I had the hot hand. It felt great, I can’t lie to you all.”
Golden State has one of the league’s worst road game records
Golden State now hold the 5th position in the Western Conference with a 34-31 record over 65 matches this season. According to a few NBA betting sites, Klay Thompson and the Warriors possess the eighth-best odds to conquer the NBA title this year.
As they are 6-4 in their last ten contests, the reigning champions live two completely different realities when they play home as to when they are on the road. At the Chase Center, the Bay Area team are 27-7, which means they are just 7-24 playing outside of San Francisco.
If the Warriors are to land the last guaranteed spot for the next Playoffs, they must improve their performances on the road in this last push of regular season.
With Curry healthy and back in the starting lineup, they hope to return to winning ways on Tuesday, as they play their next game visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder.
