We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.

After today’s Warriors practice, Klay Thompson posted to his Instagram a video clip from Space Jam, and used the caption to announce that he would be officially making his return to the court tomorrow night versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This will be Thompson’s first game since his devastating ACL injury in the 2019 Finals against the Raptors, where he had put up 30 points through three quarters before an unfortunate play by Danny Green sent him careening to the floor.

Thompson also tore his Achilles in the preseason of the 2020-2021 year in a freak accident which occurred during a workout in Southern California. With these two injuries, the Warriors all-star was sidelined for over two seasons, and is coming up on almost his third year of not stepping onto an NBA court.

That all changes tomorrow. There’s been little discussion on how many minutes Thompson will play or how this minutes will be staggered, but he’s been able to run 10-12 minutes straight in scrimmages. By all accounts, he looks pretty good too, as teammate Juan Toscano-Anderson said that he rattled off 12 points in 43 seconds during one of the scrimmages.

There was never really a question of whether his shot would be back, but the main concern with his lower body injuries lies in his defense. He tore his left ACL and his right Achilles, meaning an injury on each leg. Luckily, because he was almost fully rehabbed from his devastating knee tear, he was able to rehab his Achilles injury on its own and was not hindered by lacking mobility in both legs at the same time.

It may take Klay some time to readjust to the NBA pace, at least on the defensive end, before he starts to look like the game-changer he was on that end of the floor. Because the Warriors can also field Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II, both excellent perimeter defenders, Thompson’s workload will likely not include minutes on a guard like Darius Garland in his first game back. Thanks to Steph Curry’s own defensive improvements as well, he can be eased back into the defensive scheme, although there’s little doubt in the minds of many fans that he can come back and be that same two-way stud he was.

With his return should be a return to form for Steph Curry too. If he can shoot the ball like he once did, defenses will not be able to sell out as hard on Curry lest they give it up to probably the second greatest shooter of all time. This additional wrinkle in the spacing should give Steph some more room to operate, as the only seasons he’s seen significant traps and double-teams have been these last two. Not to say he wasn’t familiar with them before, but having both Thompson and Kevin Durant certainly will do that for you.

Warriors-Cavs tips off at 5:30pm Pacific tomorrow, and will be nationally televised via NBA TV. Due to Thompson’s return, the Warriors were also flex-scheduled into a few other national TV games later in the month. This game has been long-anticipated by Warriors fans and NBA fans alike, and should be widely-celebrated as one of the game’s best makes his return, finally, to the court.

(Photo credit: National Basketball Association)