Some separations just sting deeper. That was the case when Klay Thompson decided to leave the Golden State Warriors a few days ago. The sharpshooter decided to join the Dallas Mavericks, ending a 13-year stint in the Bay. He took a truckload of memories along with him as he would forever be associated as a Warrior. Yet the most hurt from his trade were probably two people – Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. The trio had suffered, grown, and created history altogether. A brother going his way was a difficult sight to process.

Green, who landed a four-year extension with the Bay last season, spoke about these final days at length. The former DPOY remembered Thompson ringing his phone a week before the news was made official. There was no animosity or hatred toward his long-time teammate. But the Michigan product was evidently emotional.

The phone call, though, wasn’t the last time Draymond Green communicated with Klay Thompson as a member of the Warriors. Before his move to the Mavericks was announced. Thompson was in Denver. The news sparked rumors of a potential move to join Jokic and the Nuggets. Coincidentally, Green was there too for Nas Morrison’s concert at Red Rock. When speaking about the incident, Green detailed how he ran into Thompson after feeling some strange behavior from a driver in a truck.

“I am standing outside the FBO and, like a truck, pulls up. Our driver hadn’t arrived. The truck pulls up and it’s honking and it looks like an Uber driver. It’s like a black SUV and honking and I look and I know that’s not our driver late and honking at me so I just turn back. Then it honks again and I look, and he turns a little bit because there’s a glare on the windshield and it’s Klay Thompson. I bumped into Klay Thompson like a day or two after… this is Sunday, so he called me. And I bumped into Klay, randomly outside the FBO in Denver. I don’t know. He couldn’t really look at me and it was a very odd situation. It was a really odd situation,” Green revealed on The Draymond Green Show.

The awkwardness is understandable. Even though it’s not taken shape yet, it is the first time Thompson and Green were looking at each other as rivals. For over a decade, they had been brothers in arms, fighting for the same cause and rewriting history. Now it was all going to change. After 639 games together, they will be on opposite ends for the first time when the next season rolls in.

Nothing has changed between Draymond Green and Klay Thompson

Even though a rivalry will ensue soon, Draymond Green or Klay Thompson can’t just forget their dynamic and relationship. Their bond was so profound that they knew each other’s family and kids. They would spend much of their time together going through their season plans or just speaking about life.

Of course, Klay couldn’t notify Green and Steph Curry of his trade after the announcement. He forwarded the news to them a week before anything on a phone call. At the time, Draymond Green remembers having to go to his daughter’s recital. While the news did onset sadness, he wanted the three-point specialist to know that nothing was going to change between them.

“The connection, the bond, even as far as all of us being mentioned together — that is forever. That will never change, but it’s — I don’t know. I haven’t really been able to process the feelings … Earlier today, I think I might have dropped a couple of tears, a tear or two, just kind of sitting there and thinking,” he admitted on his podcast. But at the same time, Green constantly kept repeating the fact that he only wants what’s best for him. He wasn’t enjoying basketball anymore, especially in a tiring 2023-24 season. Green loves him, and wants to see him happy, playing and really enjoying basketball, no matter where he is.

Next season’s sight will be difficult for both. Curry and Green will be compelled to look at Thompson as their enemy as rightful servants of the badge. On the other hand, Thompson will leak out his brothers’ secrets to help the Mavericks overcome their allure. A lot is going to change, and not a good deal of might be prepared for it.