Klay Thompson's NBA Return; How it Changes Mavs Strategy vs. Warriors
A lot has happened around the league since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals—the last time Klay Thompson appeared in a game for the Golden State Warriors.
Thompson suffered a torn ACL against the Toronto Raptors—putting an end to the Warriors having him available for the remainder of the series. During the rehabilitation process, he suffered torn Achilles on the eve of the 2020 NBA Draft. Fast forward to today, and it's been two and a half years.
Various reports have indicated that Thompson will make his long-awaited return to game action on Sunday when the Warriors take on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"I hate to use the phrase 'can't wait' because I love to be present in my life," Thompson said in a statement to ESPN. "But I cannot wait to play in front of our fans again. I really, really enjoy being a Warrior."
Thompson has impressed his Warriors teammates leading up to his season-debut. Draymond Green described Thompson as looking 'really, really good' when describing how he's looked when talking to Marc Spears of The Undefeated.
"Just playing with him in practice today, which was my first time really scrimmaging with him, it just felt right," Green told Spears.
"Last night I couldn't sleep. I literally had like electrical currents just flowing through my body like I'm sitting on a wire, and when we lined up for the jump ball today and I'm just sitting there looking at him. Wow, I have not lined up next to this man in two and a half years."
The first opportunity the Mavericks will have to face off against Thompson will be on January 25 at the Chase Center. Unless these two teams face off in the playoffs, local Mavs fans will not have an opportunity to see Thompson play live this season, as both remaining matchups are in San Francisco.
It was a struggle for Steph Curry and the Warriors to score against the fifth-ranked Mavs defense on Wednesday night in what was a 99-82 victory for Dallas. Golden State was limited to their second-lowest scoring total of the season while Curry shot the worst clip of his career when attempting at least 20 shots.
With Thompson on the floor, the Mavericks will have to play a more neutral approach against Curry or risk giving up clean looks to not only the other "Splash Brother," but to other highly efficient shooting threats too.
Thompson has put together multiple 40-point outings against the Mavericks during his career, both of which occurred in 2016. However, his most recent performance against Dallas ended with him scoring just eight points while on just 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from the field.
Overall, it will be fascinating to see what the Warriors end up doing with their rotation as they have some tough questions to answer. Andrew Wiggins is having a phenomenal season and will surely remain a starter—moving Jordan Poole to a sixth-man role.
It's safe to say that the Golden State Warriors will be a much different looking team to gameplan for the next time the Dallas Mavericks face them. If you glance at the current Western Conference playoff standings, it's not a stretch to envision a scenario where the Mavs and Warriors meet up in the second round of the postseason this year, given how both teams are currently playing.
