Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson Attends First Full Exercise After ACL and Achilles Injuries

SAN FRANCISCO – Golden State Warriors swingman Klay Thompson took part in the entire team practice on Tuesday for the first time since he tore his left ACL in the sixth game of the 2019 NBA Finals and his real Achilles in November 2020.

“It’s so exciting,” Thompson said. “Just running on the field and playing basketball is really a blessing and makes getting to work so easy. Boring things are behind me and now it’s just getting back to play – I have to be patient because I can be too eager to get out to play, but I’m just incredibly grateful for it that I’m there. The work the coach and I have done over the last two years is really worthwhile and it’s hard to put in. I said how grateful I am to be able to play basketball again. “

Thompson, who got a 5-5 job with Warriors support staff members last week, has been in a good mood as he got back to the game a cent closer. While the Warriors have been hoping Thompson could return to Christmas time, coach Steve Kerr reiterated on Tuesday that no return date has been set and they want Thompson to continue to increase his strength and endurance after he had been off the floor for so long.

“We don’t have a target date,” Kerr said. “We have several weeks ahead of us for sure where we’re going to play it, and let him fight as often as he can to build that endurance. And I think in a few weeks we can finally get some sort of target day, but we don’t have it right now.”

For her part, Thompson looks pleased to continue her rehabilitation work and lets her body tell her in consultation with the Warriors medical staff when she will be ready to play games again.

“I don’t want to come back and be a shell of myself,” Thompson said. “I want to come back like I played last time and I was one of the best players in the world.”

Teammate Kevon Looney pointed out how much “joy” Thompson’s first full practice in more than two years brought to the team.

“Klay looked good,” Looney said. “Especially for someone who’s been away for so long. You can still say he has a job to do and he’s worked hard, he looks good, he looks like an NBA player, he already looks like a top athlete. I’m excited to see him return to the field “She’s getting better every day, every week, so I’m excited to see the next step she takes.”

Thompson knows he has a minute limit every time he returns, but he also realizes he’s joining a team that has exceeded early expectations and is driving the league’s best 15-2 record in Wednesday’s match against the Philadelphia 76ers. . He didn’t hesitate when asked if the Warriors could win the championship this season.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “We’re 15-2. That’s a great show [championship readiness], and our defense, I think it’s the top three in the league, as well as our attack – and I’m not even there yet. Think about it. Think about it really. I am also more motivated than ever. I want the championship so much. More than anything.”

Kerr continues to preach patience as Thompson begins to step up what he can do on the floor.

“The biggest thing is that he hasn’t played in 2½ years,” Kerr said. “So while Achilles is structurally healthy, there have been no side effects; it’s just a matter of increasing strength and endurance, especially the part of endurance, it only takes time. It takes a while. So even though he’s playing to the fullest we have to do this over and over again every day, really blow it up. Restore his condition, his stamina back. So we’re going to be very patient with Klay too. “

Thompson, who said he was “not afraid to get hurt again” because of the “freak” nature of his two previous injuries, said he was motivated by critics who doubt he and the Warriors could get back to the top.

“I wanted to be on top [75 list]. I wanted recognition. I did not understand, and good so. Do you know how to get recognition? You go to win. I just want to go win again. I want to win the fourth ring, “he said.” When I haven’t been able to compete in the last two years, I feel like I have a lot of energy to prove – not to anyone else but to myself. I’m still one of the best. ”

In a side note on Thompson’s return to rehearsals, Kerr said second-year center James Wiseman has still not been allowed to participate fully in rehearsals because he is still recovering from a meniscus of his right knee.

“An injury, a meniscus rupture, is an injury where it’s really nothing more than a linear improvement, like ACL or Achilles. You know, you can kind of map it out,” Kerr said. “Going to a rupture, you can’t map it as easily because there’s more room for variation in how long it takes to recover. So James is doing well. There’s no structural problem and we’re just very, very careful. He’s doing personal things, 2 against 2 things, drill, but [the medical staff] it’s not nice yet to let him get drunk. So we’re just trying to stay patient and do our best for James – he’s such a young guy. We just want to be very careful about injury. “