Klay Thompson says improved shooting is directly tied to social media break
"I have so much more time on my hands," Thompson said. "I learned if you lurk you’re going to get hurt."
SAN FRANCISCO — After strong shooting over his last three games, Klay Thompson’s shooting percentage is steadily climbing closer to his career average heading into Friday’s game against the Utah Jazz.
A few weeks ago, Thompson decided to stop scrolling the comment sections on his social media platforms.
Coincidence? Not at all. Thompson says there is a “direct correlation” between his social media strike and his improved play.
“I have so much more time on my hands,” Thompson said after the Warriors’ shootaround on Friday. “On social media looking at the comments, I learned if you lurk you’re going to get hurt.”
A mind clear of internet trolls paired with a more patient approach has him playing a lot more like his pre-injury seof. Over his first 12 games of the season, Thompson was shooting a career-low 33 percent from 3 on a career-high nine 3-point attempts per game. Since last Friday’s game against the New York Knicks, he’s shooting over 50 percent from 3 on the same number of attempts.
Around the time Thompson decided to take a social media break, Draymond Green took him aside to set his longtime teammate’s mind right. He reminded Thompson, in essence, to play within the team rhythm and to quit searching for an easy fix to his slump.
Thompson seemed overly anxious to silence outside noise. Publicly, he called out TNT’s Charles Barkley for saying he was “not the same guy” anymore after tearing his ACL and Achilles in consecutive years. In a few Instagram posts, Thompson promised social media doubters who he’d stumbled across in his notifications that he would return to his pre-injury form.
“We’re all human and we care what people think of our game,” Thompson said. “We take pride in our game… Our strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes it hurts when you put so much effort into being great and people criticize you. So that is the nature of the beast when you’re a professional athlete.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, my 12th year in the league. I’ve been through this before. But I had a moment of weakness. But learning to focus on the games and days, not looking too far ahead. You’ll enjoy the run so much more. That’s what I’ve been doing the last couple weeks rather than after a game, going on social media and checking your mentions.”
Mental blocks are breaking down. Notably, so are some of the physical blocks. Thompson admitted that he was not in “great” shape during the season’s first weeks. A mental block kept the 32-year-old from playing pick-up ball during the offseason because it was during a pick-up game in Los Angeles during his ACL surgery recovery two years ago that he tore his Achilles.
Thompson sat out for the entire preseason to manage his injuries and played on a minutes restriction for the Warriors’ first four games. A good chunk of Thompson’s 3-pointers hitting the front rim indicates that he hasn’t had the same lift under his legs to go with his picture-perfect shooting form.
“That first week, I thought I was in great shape, but I was in good shape, not great,” he said. “Now I’m not getting tired. Making an impact on both ends and I just think I’m getting my legs in my shot.
“I’m trying to play with great force on both ends and take great shots. The first couple weeks I was a little trigger-happy. Any daylight, any little inch of space was open. Now realizing I have great teammates, let’s play off them. Let’s get great shots, and the good ones will go in, too.”