Klay Thompson after rewatching his poor playoff performance vs. Lakers: I learned that I was fried, I was tired

But it all went splat in the second round of the playoffs. Thompson only made 34 percent of his field goals against the Lakers and went 3 of 9, 3 of 9, 2 of 6 and 2 of 12 from 3 in the final four games, three losses. He took a few ill-advised jumpers late in the gut-punch Game 4 loss and finished 3 of 19 in the elimination Game 6, the last taste of failure he’d get before a long summer. “Stings bad,” Thompson said. “Bad. Because you want to win against a team that is a division rival, you want to beat your hometown, you want to beat your friends who are fans of the team, you want to beat LeBron (James) obviously. We have such a deep history with him. Kudos to him. He’s still out here playing at the highest level he possibly can. So, yeah, it stings. Any time you come up short of your goal, and we have many times, it’s just motivation. It’s fuel. You think about it the whole summer. How could you have prepared better?” -via The Athletic / October 11, 2023

But two things are clear. One, the Warriors are committed to Thompson. Part of the Jordan Poole trade was about freeing up long-term flexibility to keep Thompson around. That remains the intention. Two, Thompson’s eyes are not wandering. He is committed to the Warriors. “Yes,” Thompson said. “Absolutely. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. To play for one franchise, man? That’s so rare. In any sport. Football. Baseball. Basketball. Australian Rules Football. To play for one club is insane. It’s some real legendary stuff. Even what Udonis Haslem did. He’s revered in Miami. Locally. That’s what I cherish. Going around the country, going around the world and people from Northern California or Warriors fans in general are just so prideful about the Warriors. And I was here before banners were hung up. So in a way, it’s our baby. You want to ride it out. I’ve just been so lucky to be a part of this franchise. It’d be so hard to envision myself in another uniform.” -via The Athletic / October 11, 2023

“I played this game because my dad played. I idolized him. My favorite athletes were hoopers. Kobe (Bryant). Clyde Drexler and Rasheed Wallace, guys I was able to watch growing up. Reggie Miller. I just wanted to do something I loved for a living. It happened to be basketball. The fact I’m doing it for a 13th straight season is amazing. “I don’t need to go into this year and … I know if I just do my job and I’m in shape and I compete at my highest level, I’m going to make money in this league for a long time. So I don’t worry about it. I’m blessed beyond measure. Obviously you want to make the most in the window you have as an athlete. But I’m not going to let that get in the way of winning a championship. When you win, everything else will be taken care of.” -via The Athletic / October 11, 2023