Draymond will support Klay no matter what in NBA free agency
Draymond will support Klay no matter what in NBA free agency originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Klay Thompson will have the love and support of his Warriors teammates throughout his NBA free agency journey.
And no one has made that clearer than his longtime Golden State teammate Draymond Green.
On Thursday, the four-time NBA All-Star forward used his “Draymond Green Show” podcast to describe his supportive stance on Thompson’s interesting offseason.
“I personally want Klay to come back -- we all do,” Green said. “But if Klay ultimately decides that he wants something else for himself, for his life, [he] got my utmost love and support because what we’ve done together can never be taken away. The brotherhood that we built will not change at all. But we do want to finish.”
Green and Thompson have been Warriors teammates for 12 years. Golden State selected Thompson with the No. 11 overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, whereas they selected Green with the No. 35 overall pick the following year.
During their time in the Bay together, Green and Thompson have helped the Warriors win four NBA championships -- they missed Western Conference playoffs for the first time when healthy after suffering an NBA Play-In Tournament loss to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, which illustrates how dominant Golden State has been over the last decade.
But as Green mentioned, he still believes the Warriors' core has unfinished business despite their ages.
“I ultimately hope that he’s back here, that we can all close this thing out together the way we’ve done it, continue to chase after the things we know are out there for us, which is winning championships, continuing to bring more success to a franchise than anyone can imagine -- besides [Warriors owner] Joe [Lacob],” Green added. “Joe definitely imagined, but nobody else imagined.
“You don’t have the opportunity to finish with the guys you started with, often. And we have that opportunity.”
Green wants Thompson to remain a Warrior. However, Green will not create “beef” with Thompson if he decides to dawn No. 11 in another uniform.
Instead, Green is all for Thompson doing what he must do and has never understood why players are upset with their teammates who leave in free agency.
“It ain’t never going to be that,” Green emphasized. “I don’t understand that. Someone makes a personal decision for themselves, for their family [and] for their career, and then people get mad and go like ‘Aww, I’m mad. F him.’ And that’s wack to me.
“Klay will go into free agency and he’ll look around the market, I’m sure, because that’s how you do these things in any negotiations. That is with negotiating for toilet paper … food … whatever it is. That’s just how you go about it, so [Klay] will do that.”
Green is confident the Warriors dynasty isn’t over.
But if Thompson decides to break up Golden State’s iconic trio of himself, Green and Steph Curry, the veteran forward will not have any hard feelings.
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