Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson has made “really good progress” in his recovery from Achilles surgery, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link), who said during an NBA Countdown appearance that Thompson could even be a little ahead of his previously-reported timeline.
“I’m told if he continues on his current course in rehab that a target date for his return will be set probably within the next couple weeks and there’s optimism it could be as soon as December 20th, December 23rd,” Wojnarowski said, noting that the Warriors have home games on those dates. Christmas Day was previously identified as a potential target date.
“The plan for Klay Thompson is to continue to ramp up,” Woj continued. “The Warriors will go on a road trip in mid-December, and at that point, if Klay continues on this track, he’d go down and play with the Warriors’ G League team. And the idea is – and the hope is – they’ll have him back perhaps prior to Christmas.”
Thompson has missed two full seasons due to ACL and Achilles tears and the Warriors are off to an NBA-best 10-1 start in his absence, so there’s no pressure to rush him back before he’s 100%. On ESPN’s NBA today earlier this week, Brian Windhorst (video link) suggested Thompson’s getting close to that level.
“The whispers going on around the league right now about Klay Thompson, people are watching him, people are talking to people in the Warriors’ organization, and they say he looks good,” Windhorst said. “Now I’m not saying he’s coming back and he’s going to be (scoring) 40 points in his first quarter. But he looks good working out and there’s a real confidence that – especially by the end of the season – Klay’s going to be BACK back.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Draymond Green left Wednesday’s win over Minnesota in the third quarter due to a right thigh contusion, as Nick Friedell of ESPN writes. Head coach Steve Kerr called it a “pretty nasty” contusion and said Green would be questionable to play on Friday, but added that Green’s knee didn’t appear to be affected at all. “When he came off the floor he said it was a bad thigh, muscle bruise,” Kerr said. “Like he just got kneed in the thigh, but it was close to the knee. But I have no reason to believe it has anything to do with a joint contusion from what I understand.”
- Andrew Wiggins said on Wednesday that the Timberwolves have turned over their roster so much since his time in Minnesota that it’s “basically like facing a whole new team” when he faces his former club, per Rusty Simmons of The San Francisco Chronicle. Wiggins also remains appreciative of the trade that sent him to Golden State. “Something had to be done, just the way everything was going,” he said. “The way things were, we knew changes were coming eventually. I feel like it worked out for both teams.”
- Kerr provided a minor update on James Wiseman on Wednesday, hinting that the second-year center could begin scrimmaging next week with Santa Cruz, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (video link). Wiseman continues to make his way back from knee surgery.
Draymond has to play tomorrow, otherwise the East best team Bulls will win
Warriors have a deep bench this year so they can win without Green on the floor. Green is the best defensive plater in the NBA
If the Lakers could beat the Bulls without LBJ, the Warriors can win without Draymond.
Not this season’s bulls.
Ws at home and Vuc out with DG a maybe Ill take GSW on that one.
How’d that go?
Edwards very much impressed me last night like he did last year. He will be the best player from that draft. He can carry a team on his back unlike Ball. T-wolves need to rebuild around him.
T-wolves are now regretting the D-lo trade. D-lo can score but his defense is very bad. Wiggins is the better player of the 2.
I heard that 76ers only target unavailable players for trade
Simmons for Edwards and any salary
Yeah they wanted Steph or Klay for Simmons lol
Edwards was a -3 last night, he can score for sure, if that’s what floats your boat, but its empty gameplay otherwise because he’s providing nothing on D.
Steph Curry has been minimum +10 in 8/11 games and the 3 that weren’t he had +4, -2 and -1. He’s very clearly the MVP this year. People who were claiming that he was not playing well weren’t watching games, just points total. See, thing is, now Steph truly is a top 5 defender in the NBA this season, everyone really needs to watch him going crazy on D this year, its like a whole new player out there – yep, get used to lockdown 2-way Steph, he’s going to be here at least another 5 years! Oh yeah and one more thing: what I just said for Steph, also goes for Jordan Poole, who is a top 10 defender in the NBA this year! Haha #owntheleague
Defense you can improve on. Having DLo on the court makes all the other players having to rotate more. Like I said I would build around him. Even Townes defense looked shaky during the game. When Dlo was on GSW he made the whole team worse on defense. Edwards defense was good coming out of college it as his offense that had a question mark.
Dlo was straight up garbage last night and was locked thoroughly by Steph and Poole. I don’t think Wiggins is that great (why does he ONLY play well vs the Wolves and whoever team Lebron is on?), but I sure am glad GSW destroyed MINN on that trade.
The problem with +- is it is team play dependent. The Problem with Ant/KAT/DLo is that they are all usage dominant ball stoppers so when one goes off the other 2 shut down and do nothing. At the end of the game before the Ws put it out of reach he got stripped on multiple cluttered drives to the basket where he should have drive and kicked. KAT shooting 50% 3s but not getting enough opportunities.
10-1 GSW is best team in NBA (or at minimum best in the West) this year, and for the next few years. Such a bummer to be a Rockets fan, it doesnt even matter that they’re rebuilding, they will still never touch Steph even if they put a playoff team together. Must suck just knowing that is a fact and having to pretend like maybe you will beat us someday is something that might actually happen, when it never, ever will. lol
Preemptive strike?
Sorry but this is just never not funny.
More like obsessive insecurity and being stuck in the past worrying about a former rival, instead of a team like Utah whom the Warriors should really be concerned with. Obviously the Rockets were the biggest obstacle for Golden State during their championship run, despite the one time they lost to Cleveland in the Finals. But I wouldn’t overlook the Jazz right now, who have a much better case for being the best in the West this year (and for the next few years).
With 70 games still left to play it’s way too early to crown anyone.
HOU was always claiming they were better but burned by circumstances, and yet they lost 4 years in a row while building an entire roster designed to stop the Ws.
And the Rockets would have won at least a title or two during that period if the Warriors hadn’t built one of the most dominant teams the NBA has seen in a very long time. If you look at all of the teams Golden State beat during the playoffs, no one played them closer than Houston did during their 5-year run. Cleveland ran a close second because the only reason they beat the Warriors in the 2016 Finals was due to the Draymond Green suspension. Every other time the Cavs faced Golden State, they were totally dominated.
They designed a team to stop the dubs and couldnt GTFO that they were closest.
The Rockets were by far the closest team to Golden State in the West, just look at the playoff records from 2015 to 2019. The Jazz were 0-4 against them, the Blazers were 1-12, the Pelicans and Spurs were both 1-8, the Grizzlies and Clippers were both 2-4, while OKC was 3-4 against the Warriors. Those seven teams were a combined 10-44 against Golden State while the Rockets were 7-16. The Cavs were 7-15, with the help of Dray’s suspension. While the Raptors were 4-2 against the depleted Warriors who were without KD and Klay during the Finals. So who was closer than Houston?
Warriors are not going to Finals this year. They’ve beaten Lakers, Clippers,Kings, OKC, lost to Grizz, OKC, NOP, Rockets, Hawks, TWolves. 9-1 who have they really beat. Warriors are playing well. But playoffs are a long ways away.
Dude you gotta live in the present. Enjoy the rebuild. Rebuilding thru draft. Is one of best things ever. From the ground up.
@knickerbocker Al oh gawd. Marty is just trolling you.
@Marty
Dude.. be happy but let’s use context. Best record this early in the season doesn’t mean best team. The combined won/loss records of the 9 teams they’ve beaten (played OKC twice) is 41-71 including the Rockets and Pelicans that are 2-21 combined. Let’s see where they are when they face better competition.
They are still number one when factoring in SoS, and are only 1 win above the projected 9-2 record.
@Marty McRae
I’m not a Warriors fan per say. I just like watching good basketball. Steph and Klay are two of my favorite players to watch in the league. I love to hate Draymond. I’m always defending Wiggins because I believe he went from overrated to truly underrated when he joined the Warriors. The motion offense is truly a beautiful thing to watch when all the pieces are humming.
Because of fans like you though I almost want to cheer for anyone the Warriors are playing against. (Except the Lakers I could never do that.)
There used to be a Warriors fan named Dave Wight who posted at least 20-30 times a day back when ESPN’s website still had message boards there. Marty may almost make you want to cheer for the Warriors opponents, but I guarantee that Dave Wight definitely would have. That dude was 10 times worse, believe it or not.
He might be on twitter now as “the_rock_oracle”. But I don’t tweet.
@Greenwood Porter. What makes you think you are any better than Marty?
Klay is basically a Kris Middleton type. Nice to have him most nights but not as good as he thinks he is
LOL