Thompson's Two Years of Injury Could Extend Career
It’s hard to find the bright spots in tearing both the ACL and Achilles, especially for a basketball player. But given his resting time, Klay Thompson could be playing basketball for a few years longer than he initially would have had he not taken a 2-year hiatus.
Associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of California San Francisco and injury insider for 95.7 “The Game” Doctor Nirav Pandya, M.D., seems to think this could be the case. When prompted earlier today, Dr. Pandya expressed his optimism via Twitter that time off could extend Klay’s career by at least a bit.
This is, as the good doctor put it, some excellent silver lining. While it figured that Thompson’s shooting, especially with his size on the wing and basketball IQ, could extend his career by more than most would have theirs extended, the extra rest does seem to have some good to it.
Thompson’s looming return has been a topic of great excitement lately, as he’s predicted to make his return later in December. It could be the case that Coach Kerr and the Warriors staff wants to get him some more rest, but as he’s progressed to 5-on-5 full scrimmages (and is even hitting game-winners) in Santa Cruz, he looks ready to get back on the floor.
It’ll be a lot of fun to see how Klay makes his comeback, especially with Stephen Curry in contention for another MVP award early in the season. With another self-creating playmaker around him in Jordan Poole to tack on to the Warriors’ already-deadly system, Thompson may even get more clean looks that could get him to his old numbers in no time.
While the past two seasons have been bleak, Klay’s return brings a lot of hope back to an already-hopeful team. And it brings even more joy to know that we could be watching the league’s most fundamental jump-shooter and 2nd greatest basketball marksman of all time for even more years to come.
(Photo credit: NBAE / Getty Images)