Warriors: Klay Thompson’s Mentality Unveiled Amid Diminished Role via Coach Kerr

Klay Thompson is the fun guy in the Warriors. His light-hearted demeanor and quirky acts are what bring the Dubs family full circle. But this season hasn’t been kind to him. And his dismal performances forced Steve Kerr to close games without him and relegate him to the bench. Although Thompson wasn’t happy with the whole scenario initially, he looks to be quite comfortable in his ‘Manu Ginobili’ role.

Talking to the press ahead of the Warriors vs Bucks game, Kerr further enlightens us on Klay’s mindset despite his reduced role. “Klay’s Klay. He loves the outdoors, loves boat, loves his dog. He’s always been kinda quirky but right now he seems very much at peace.”

Klay was moved to the bench for the first time in 12 years last month. Coach Kerr was very clear about his reasons for the sudden change. The team needed wins, and he was willing to start and close with whichever group gave that. If that meant moving a veteran player to the bench, then that was the way it was going to be.

Rookie star Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga saw themselves in the starting and closing lineups with this change. With Podziemski and Andrew Wiggins out, Klay had once again found himself as a starter. But with their comeback tonight, he will be coming off the bench.

Klay Thompson has embraced the bench role

Thompson coming off the bench has yielded some of his best performances of the season. On his first night as a bench player, he dropped 35 points. And until then he was averaging some of the lowest numbers since his rookie days. The 4x champion did admit that it wasn’t easy to suddenly be dropped from the list when one has been the best player on the team for a long time.

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Thompson also paid special attention to the fact that it was of ultimate importance to not let the ego get in between. And that’s where Ginobili comes in. He spent the majority of his NBA career as the Sixth man and made a name for himself. It seems like Klay Thompson will continue to follow the Spurs legend’s footsteps until he retires. It was clear when he said, “You can pout, or you can go out there and respond.”

Kerr pretty much confirmed the same when he said that Klay was in a great frame of mind as is the whole team!