Jalen Rose says West is Wide Open for a Klay Thompson Return
A simple video can be enough to ignite conversation.
And that’s what happened when Jalen Rose, with his co-host David Jacoby, reacted to Klay Thompson’s Instagram story posts Wednesday on their show “Jalen and Jacoby''.
With Thompson’s absence from the court since June 13, 2019, Rose shared his expectations for the former Washington State guard and the Warriors this season after seeing Thompson run from corner to corner along the baseline and knock down jumpers like he has never even left.
“(The Warriors are) the ultimate wildcard in the Western Conference, the ultimate Joker any day,” Rose said. “Because you want Denver to get Jamal Murray back healthy to go with the reigning MVP (Nikola) Jokic, Spida (Donovan) Mitchell is going to continue to improve playing with the Utah Jazz, the Clippers will not have Kawhi Leonard for certain periods of the season.”
Rose seems to believe Thompson represents the ultimate wildcard on the team which he said has the same role in the West. It’s hard to blame Rose for having nuanced expectations, as Thompson will have ACL and achilles injuries sandwiched between his last appearances on an NBA court.
However, given the injuries mentioned previously around the conference, Rose said if all goes well with the five-time All-Star Thompson whenever he returns to the floor this season, Golden State has the chance to capitalize and really maximize its chances.
“So now a team like the Golden State Warriors, who have a championship pedigree with the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green, so many young draft capital equitable players that they picked up over the last couple of years to go with (Andrew) Wiggins, now they become the team that it says, ‘Hey, if Klay’s healthy’, then they have a puncher’s chance, a shooter’s chance versus anyone,” Rose said. “Also if (Thompson’s) healthy, you want the young players that they have drafted to continue to develop and now get some value, so if (sic) you could probably pair a (James) Wiseman or one of your young players with a Wiggins and now go out and get a more established player to make another run at a ring.”
Before considering what a potential mid-season trade for an established star would even look like, it’s important to set a standard for what a successful return for Thompson would manifest itself as. Rose said he will be looking at Thompson’s minutes and amount of games played, as well seeing if he shows enough flashes of his elite-shooting self to warrant shopping around the Warriors’ young assets.
In his last full season (2018-19), Thompson logged 34 minutes per contest and appeared in 78 games. He shot just 40.2% from distance on the campaign – his lowest mark for a season since his second in the league – but that figure should function as enough found money to make a deal in Rose’s hypothetical.
With Stephen Curry’s recent extension, Rose also added if Thompson were to look a little behind in his recovery, Golden State should not make a move this year and wait for a more opportune moment to get a player to use with Thompson and the two-time NBA MVP.
A little less than two months away from the Warriors’ October 19 season-opening faceoff against the Lakers at the Staples Center, Golden State has the second-highest odds to win the conference according to Caesars Sportsbook, and Rose said +450 for the Warriors to make a sixth NBA Finals run with this group is realistic given what has (or hasn’t) happened to other teams in the West.
“They do have the Splash Brothers, and Steph Curry was top-five in the MVP race last year without Klay, and Draymond Green was still one of the elite defenders in the league, they still have Steve Kerr as their head coach,” Rose said. “And when you look at the other teams, they just haven’t done it. You haven’t seen the Dallas Mavs do it … the Phoenix Suns had a terrific run this year, they re-signed Chris Paul, you bring back Booker, you want your young players Ayton and them to continue to take steps. So, those squads are gonna be in the mix, but we haven’t seen them do it. We’ve seen the Golden State Warriors do it. And if Klay’s playing, and the Splash Brothers are remotely a version of themselves, they are in a position to shoot with anybody in the league.”