The three-time NBA champion was playing with other NBA players when he reported a pain in the calf area, as per ESPN and The Athletic. There are fears the five-time All-Star could have suffered an Achilles injury, but the picture remained unclear.
Warriors general manager Bob Myers told reporters on Wednesday night that Thompson will undergo an MRI scan on Thursday morning in Los Angeles to determine the full extent of the injury, indicating the team remained hopeful the problem wasn’t as serious as feared.
“It’s one of those deals where you don’t really know until you know,” Myers said as he spoke after the NBA Draft.
“You can be hopeful, you can be concerned. I’m probably all those combined, and until we know more tomorrow, I’ll just hope for good news. […] We’re just hoping that we hear something good, and until then I’m going to try and keep his spirits up and support him and hear what we hear tomorrow and go from there.”
Speaking on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski echoed Myers’ message.
“There is concern about this injury and concern about the severity of it, but they [the Warriors] don’t know yet how severe it is,” he said.
“There is still some hope they’re going to get a result tomorrow that’s not significant. […] There is still some optimism that Klay Thompson may not miss the entire season. Nobody is quite sure about that.”
Thompson’s teammate Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James were among the NBA players wishing a speedy recovery to the 30-year-old.
“Stay strong,” Curry wrote in an Instagram story, while James said he hoped Thompson’s injury was minor: “Praying a lot Klay Thompson is cool. Like it’s super minor,” the four-time NBA champion wrote on Twitter.
Thompson’s latest setback could be a major blow for both him and the Warriors, particularly should the team’s worst fears be confirmed.
The All-Star guard, who averages 19.5 points per game while shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range in eight seasons with the Warriors, missed the whole of last season after suffering a torn ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
Thompson was fouled by then-Raptors guard Danny Green as he went up for a breakaway dunk and almost immediately clutched his left knee in pain.
Four games into last season, the Warriors then lost Curry for four months after he suffered a hand injury. Myers acknowledged the emotional rollercoaster of serious injuries to key players had taken its toll on the franchise.
“Dealing with some of the injuries we’ve dealt with in the last couple years, it doesn’t harden you, it doesn’t make it easier,” he added. “I was hoping that we were through all that and maybe we are—maybe there’s good news coming.”
Without Thompson and Curry and with Kevin Durant—who had suffered an Achilles injury in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals and missed the whole of last season—having departed in free agency, the Warriors finished 15-50 last year.
In winning percentage terms, it was the team’s worst record since they went 17-65 in the 2001-02 season.
The silver lining for Golden State was it got to pick with the second overall pick of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night, with which it selected 7-foot-1 center James Wiseman from the University of Memphis.
In the second round, the Warriors selected point guard Nico Mannion from the University of Arizona and shooting guard Justinian Jessup from Boise State.
