The Top 11 Klay Thompson Moments, Ranked

In the spring of 2014, when I was a freshman in high school, Klay Thompson was booked to speak at an event on campus. The event consisted mainly of a panel of people in sports discussing how students can best balance academics and athletics. The panelists included Marc Spears, but even though Warriors mania hadn’t yet reached its peak in the Bay Area, it was pretty obvious who the main draw was. Thompson was one of the best players on a playoff team and it didn’t hurt that he’d hit a last-second shot to beat the Indiana Pacers in a recent game. He wasn’t officially confirmed as a speaker until the day of the event, but there had been rumors for a couple of days and word spread pretty quickly. The theater was packed and people were excited.

Then Klay showed up late, after the event had already started. One of the panelists had to stop in the middle of an answer she was giving to introduce him. Then he displayed very little emotion or personality while answering questions. Then he told a bunch of high school students that they should only spend an hour a night on homework. This was before Dub Nation had really gotten to know him, and I’m fairly confident he misspoke when he said the homework thing, but at the time it just seemed like he was a little off. Of course, it’s now obvious that this was just Klay being Klay: laid-back, unintentionally hilarious and living in his own world.

It’s the kind of way of living that’s behind so many things he does. Most recently, he garnered attention for his explanation for all the different reasons he wears No. 11 on his jersey. It turns out that 11 has been a prevalent number in his life, so today I’m offering up one more: the 11 most iconic Klay Thompson moments. The 11 events, anecdotes and narratives that best define and explain who Thompson is, ranked in order of just how Klay Thompson-esque I find them to be. Let’s start the countdown.

(Honorable mentions to Sideline Reporter Klay, Interview Beer-Drinking Klay and Dog Owner Klay, among others.)

11. Ocean Swimming Klay

During the first round of the 2019 playoffs, Thompson struggled for the first three games of the series. He’d failed to break 17 points or hit more than two threes in any game and he needed to figure it out. So he went for a swim in the Pacific Ocean during a beach excursion and scored 32 points while making six three-pointers in a close Game 4 win. After the game, he indicated he’d consider doing it again if the situation called for it. From a laid-back guy with roots in the beaches of Southern California and the Bahamas, it made perfect sense.

10. Google Klay

What would you do right after winning your third NBA championship in four years? Jump up and down and scream with joy? Talk to your friends and family? Silently reflect on your journey? Well, if you’re Thompson, you Google yourself during the postgame press conference to see if the internet is already referring to you as a three-time NBA champion. Not many players, nor people in general, would be self-assured enough to do something like that. Most people wouldn’t even think of it, much less ignore the potential to be judged for doing so. Thompson is not most people.

9. Smiling Fouled Out Klay

In Game 6 of the 2015 NBA Finals, Thompson had a tough time. He scored just five points and fouled out in less than 25 minutes of play. He didn’t appear to care. He was about to be an NBA champion for the first time and nothing about his personal performance mattered in that moment. The image of him smiling on the bench immediately after fouling out serves as one of the defining photos of that game. He was just going with the flow, far happier that he was about to be rewarded than he was disappointed with how he’d played.

8. Scaffolding Klay

If you watched the 10 o’clock news on Fox 5 NY in New York City on Nov. 20, 2017, you saw Klay Thompson. But not as a basketball player. As a random person on the street talking about scaffolding. Out of all the things on this list, this one is probably the most absurd. A reporter, who apparently didn’t know who he was, stopped him and asked him if he was willing to be interviewed. He agreed, and the video went viral. When a sportswriter asked Thompson about the incident during a post-practice media availability session, he talked about it as though it was something he had done hundreds of times. It just felt like it was one of those things that could only happen to him.

7. Toaster Klay

In March of 2017, Warriors fan Ronnie Reyes asked Thompson to sign his toaster. Thompson was as visibly confused as any other player would have been, but went ahead and signed it. After that day, the Warriors went 31-2 the rest of the season, including the playoffs and won the NBA title in one of the most dominant postseason runs in sports history. Now, hypothetically speaking, could any Warrior have signed that toaster immediately before that stretch of success? Sure, but there’s something about Thompson’s energy that just makes it feel like he’s more likely to do it. It’s hard to put your finger on why this stuff happens to him, but the way he conducts his life somehow gives you the sense that these circumstances find their way to him on purpose. He’s a magnet for brilliant weirdness and this was no different.

6. Headband 14 Threes Klay

As far as I know, before Oct. 29, 2018, Thompson had never worn a headband during a game. That night, he wore one — and broke the NBA record for threes in a game. It just made too much sense that he’d made a headband iconic.

5. 37-Point Quarter Klay

I opened this article with a personal story and I’m gonna tell another one here. On Jan. 23, 2015, I was watching the Warriors game at home with family members and early in the third quarter, after an extremely rough first half for Golden State, my dad went to take a shower. Shortly after he left, it happened. Thompson just couldn’t miss. No one could totally believe what they were watching him do. Regardless of what shot he took or who was guarding him when he took it, it went in, and everybody knew it was going in. My dad missed the whole thing. Our conversation after I knocked on his bathroom door went something like this:

“Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“You know how the game was tied when you stopped watching?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the Warriors are up 24 now and Klay had 37 points in the quarter.”

“You’re kidding!”

You don’t always remember every great sports moment in a way other than, “Yeah, I watched that live and it was really cool.” For this one, I do, and that’s awesome.

4. China Klay

You knew this had to make the list. During the 2017 offseason, he traveled to China to promote Anta, the sportswear company he endorses, and the legend of China Klay was born. From missing fancy dunks to making difficult trick shots to missing routine in-game shots to dancing in ridiculous costumes and so much more, he had the time of his life in the funniest way possible. And thanks to the internet, we got to enjoy it too. 

3. Game 6 Klay

None of the others on this list have gotten their own Oracle Arena chant. There was Game 6 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals, when he scored 35 points including 21 in a dominant second half. There was Game 6 of the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals, where he scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half to almost singlehandedly keep the Warriors in the game before Stephen Curry’s second-half explosion. And, of course, there was Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals. He scored 41 points, including a playoff-record 11 threes. Every time it felt like the Thunder might run away with the game, he’d make a shot and give the Warriors just enough hope. The fact that the Warriors ended up winning that game and series has proved to be a major turning point in NBA history. Klay Thompson, by way of his Game 6 magic, impacted the Kevin Durant free agency decision, the subsequent seasons of NBA basketball and the current scope of NBA offseasons in a way he couldn’t have possibly imagined. He just has the power to do that. But you can’t tell the story of his Game 6s on numbers alone.

2. Torn ACL Free Throws Klay

Underneath all that humor and hot shooting is as gritty a competitor as you’ll find in the NBA. In Game 6 of the 2019 Finals, Thompson tore his ACL while getting fouled on a dunk attempt. He then got up, made two free throws, jogged back on defense and jumped up and down to try and prove he could stay in the game despite having one of the most brutal injuries imaginable. He put basketball above all else, and it was incredible to watch.

1. 60-Point Game Klay

This one has everything one could possibly look for in a Klay Thompson moment. A hilarious pregame story? Check. An absurdly hot shooting night? Yup. A moment in which his Splash Brother was reduced to a cheerleader? Of course. A connection to the number 11? Why not. A legendary postgame interview? You bet. It was the most Klay Thompson thing that has ever happened. It was perfect, and it will be hard for him to come close to it anytime soon.