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The guy who got Klay Thompson to sign his toaster got invited to the Warriors parade

Dan Devine
Senior NBA writer

Droves of Golden State Warriors fans packed downtown Oakland on Thursday to attend the parade and rally celebrating the team’s 2017 NBA championship victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. One hilariously special fan, though, got himself an invite to ride on one of the parade floats … and all it took was a toaster.

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Cast your mind back, if you will, to the long long ago of March when, during a signing event in San Francisco, Warriors fan Ronnie Reyes asked Thompson if he’d do him the honor of autographing his toaster.

A fan confounded @klaythompson with a @warriors toaster at an autograph session.

A post shared by Ball Don't Lie (@yahooballdontlie) on Mar 15, 2017 at 10:01am PDT

Reyes explained the thought process that led to the toaster becoming an autograph book during an interview with Katie Dowd of SFGate.com:

“The inspiration started when I received a Warriors-branded toaster from my cousin for a Christmas gift exchange in 2013,” Reyes said. “But the thing is, my family already had the same Warriors-branded toaster that I had originally given to my sister the year before. I thought to myself, ‘Well, what am I going to do with two toasters?’”

Reyes learned that then-Warriors center David Lee would be holding an autograph signing. Lacking any Lee merchandise, Reyes thought he’d bring along the toaster.

“It’s so absurd that it’ll be memorable to him,” Reyes said.

And it was.

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Of course, Reyes wanted to bring Klay into the toaster fold, too. Thanks in part to Thompson’s confused look at the request, Reyes’ Reddit post went viral. A funny thing happened after the autograph, though: From the day Thompson put his Klay Hancock on that kitchen appliance, the Warriors were nigh-on unbeatable.

They ripped off a 31-2 finish to the season post-signing, winning their second NBA title in three years. After Golden State finished off the Cavs in Game 5, Thompson fielded a question during his post-game news conference about the toaster. Naturally.

Q. Klay, 31-2 since you signed the toaster. So will the team will be getting toasters, and will you invite that fan personally to the parade?

Thompson: I’ll invite the fan, but we were supposed to go 16-0 for everyone to get toasters.

Green: I got a toaster at home. I don’t want one. I’m good.

Thompson: Yeah, come on.

Green: I’m good.

As it turns out, Klay wasn’t just blowing smoke.

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Come Thursday, Reyes was, indeed, on a parade float.

Like, with actual real-deal Bay Area sports legends Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds.

And with Too $hort.

Thompson told CSN Bay Area’s Ros Gold-Onwude that he hadn’t gotten to check in with Reyes, but that he did offer a brief sign of respect.

“I gave him a little wave and, like, a little chest pound,” Thompson said. “Kudos to the Toaster Guy. What were we, 32-2 with it all? I don’t know. Something crazy. So, yeah. Good to see him.”

Back when this snowball started rolling downhill, Reyes made sure to let us know he was keeping it all in perspective.

“It’s pretty surreal to be ‘popular’ in the Dubs community, especially Reddit,” he told Dowd of SFGate.com. “I’m still a bit overwhelmed by the ‘fame,’ but then I realize that it’s not really me that’s famous. It’s the toaster.”

If it gets you on the float, though, there are worse things than being the toaster’s plus-one.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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