The Pros and Cons of an Early Return for Klay Thompson

Recently, ESPN’s reporting powerhouse Adrian Wojnarowski went on the pregame NBA Countdown show and reported that Klay Thompson could be making his return to the court before Christmas Day, where the Warriors are set to play the Phoenix Suns. According to Woj, Thompson’s recovery process has been going very well, so much so that the Dubs figure he could return between the games on December 20th and the 23rd.

There’s an obvious desire by not just Warriors fans, but basketball fans globally to see the NBA’s best hot hand back to his old sharpshooting offense and lockdown defense. Assuming that his injury recovery period is going as well as they say it is (which is a safe assumption given Thompson’s renowned work ethic and clear yearning to return to the game), Klay coming back early would be one of the best Christmas presents a Warriors fan could get.

There are, however, cons that go along with the pros. It’s a dream scenario for Klay to come back 100% and early, but the likelihood of that is lower than the aforementioned dream. The Warriors should obviously take every precaution to not rush him back, given how the team has performed so far in his absence with Steph Curry playing at a subpar level to his normal standard.

The pros are cut and simple: Klay Thompson makes the Warriors better no matter what percentage he’s at. He adds knockdown shooting and defensive intelligence to a squad that focuses on those two things in particular. He’s historically one of the greatest beneficiaries of Steph’s gravity (not to say he can’t get his own if he needs to), putting up some ridiculously-high point counts on ridiculously-low dribble counts. Additionally, the more time Klay spends in the season, the more time he has to readjust before the playoffs. His return will be key to the Warriors’ title hopes down the stretch.

The cons, however, are concerning: Obviously, Thompson hasn’t played basketball in a full two seasons. His last outing, he was certainly on fire, but that lack of game experience over two years no matter how good of a player you are can be jarring. He has the drive to come back, but it raises a question of will he try to do too much in returning. This leads to the problem that he could reinjure himself if he’s just pushing through the pain and taking on a larger load than necessary. Any contribution would help: He doesn’t need to be superman when he comes back.

This is obviously a lot of conjecture in terms of Klay’s return, and Woj’s report is not concrete. Recently, we’ve seen Kevin Durant return to his all-world level after spending a season off for Achilles rehab. We’re in a more modern age of medicine where these kinds of injuries are no longer career-sundering, especially with conditioning and strengthening techniques advancing alongside medicine. Whenever he’s ready to come back, Klay Thompson will be welcomed with open arms. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves with this one.

(Photo credit: Tom Pennington / Getty Images)