Klay Thompson learned a valuable lesson this week: Don’t leave Steph Curry on read.
Former teammate and current Warriors star Draymond Green revealed that Curry pulled a page out of the Michael Jordan playbook and took it personally when Thompson “ghosted him” ahead of his much-anticipated return to the Bay Area in Tuesday’s 120-117 Warriors win.
Curry ran to the other end of the court and held his jersey while posing for the camera after putting Golden State up four late, seemingly yelling “You better stay here.”
“So finally (Tuesday) morning, I text Steph and I text him like, ‘Hey, listen here big dog, I need you to be locked in. Whatever it is you need to do, if that’s watch this tribute video, I said I’m going to do the same,” Green said on the “Draymond Green Show” on Wednesday. “So by the time Steph comes into the game (Tuesday) night, he’s pissed.
“As soon as I text him, he called me right away. So I done tried to stir the pot a little bit baby. So I pissed Steph off because Steph was supposed to speak before the game. He like, ‘Yeah, I called (Warriors senior vice president of communications) Raymond (Ridder) and told him I’m not speaking. I just need to lock in on the game, so I ain’t even speaking. And I talked to Klay about it. Tried to check in with Klay on something and Klay ghosted him, so he got pissed and here we go.”
Tuesday marked an emotional night for the Warriors and Thompson, with the guard returning for his first game as an opponent after spending the first 13 years of his career with Golden State.
Thompson and Curry formed the iconic “Splash Brothers” duo that, alongside Green, helped form one of the NBA’s great dynasties with four recent championships.
But all good things come to an end and Thompson, after a frustrating 2023-24 season, left Golden State for the reigning Western Conference champions and a three-year, $50 million contract.
As Green noted, Curry had been scheduled to talk before the game but he and Thompson decided against it.
Both Curry and Thompson delivered but Curry had the better night, scoring 37 points compared to Thompson’s 22.
Curry dominated at the end of the game, scoring Golden State’s last 12 points to complete a comeback and providing a memorable moment after giving the Warriors a 118-114 lead with 27.1 seconds remaining.
The two-time MVP seemed to be making a statement about his loyalty amid Thompson’s exit while he posed for the camera and held his jersey.
“That’s why at the end of the game — ooh” Green said while watching a clip of Curry’s dagger 3-pointer, “that was almost like the Olympics shot, you feel me? The night-night could not have gone any better, when you talk about NBA scriptwriters as the people say on Twitter and Instagram.
“Klay Thompson played great. Incredible. And they lost. That’s how we needed the night to go.”
The Warriors are doing just fine without Thompson, sitting in second in the Western Conference with their 9-2 record, while the Mavericks have underwhelmed with a 5-6 start.
The teams next meet Feb. 12 in Dallas before Thompson again returns to Chase Center on Feb. 23.