SAN FRANCISCO — At 4:19 p.m., Klay Thompson walked into the Chase Center with his teammates and ran into to about 400 Warriors employees forming a tunnel and donning captain’s hats.
Thompson had downplayed the significance of this night, saying his first game against the team he spent the first 13 years of his career with was just another game. But at that moment, it hit him as cameras flashed in his face. He put his hands together as a sign of gratitude.
“To be one who hangs four banners and does it in a way that captures the hearts of the fans,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said pregame. “It’s not just the skill with Klay, it’s not just the commitment to the organization, the competitive desire. There’s just something, there’s an aura about him that connected our fans to him right away. That’s what it takes. That’s pretty rare, for someone to do all of that and have that kind of impact Klay had.”
Roughly three hours later, the real festivities began.
A sold-out Chase Center crowd, all wearing white captain’s hats, erupted when the Warriors’ public address announcer declared Thompson back. They saluted their caps after a 45-second video montage played, ending with a “Thank You, Klay” message. Both the Warriors and Mavericks players and coaches craned their necks to watch the tribute.
When it ended, Thompson, the four-time champion and Bay Area legend, felt the love. Warriors fans gave a raucous standing ovation for at least a minute.
Never one to hide his emotions, Thompson took a moment to himself in the far corner of the Chase Center court. He clapped his hands over his head to thank the crowd and threw up a left-handed fist pump.
Steph Curry had planned to take the microphone and address the crowd, but he and Thompson talked about it Monday night and decided it wouldn’t be necessary.
Thompson has been at the center of several emotional nights in Warriors history. Perhaps most memorably, when he returned to the court in 2022 after injuries forced him to miss 941 days.
“That was a welcome back,” Kerr said. “We knew there were a lot of good times ahead. In fact, there was a championship six months later. This one is obviously more of a goodbye. The first time we’ll have seen him…It’ll feel very strange, but it will be a different vibe, I think. More of a thank you and a goodbye.”
Andre Iguodala, Festus Ezeli and Zaza Pachulia were among former Thompson teammates in attendance to say goodbye. They were some of more than 18,000 people in the building to shower Thompson with appreciation.
Thompson left the Warriors over the summer to seek a fresh start with the Mavericks, who won the West last year. Even though he performed well for the Warriors after returning from his career-threatening injuries — helping win the 2022 title and leading the league in 3s the next year — Thompson wasn’t the same player as he was before his Achilles and ACL injuries and had to mentally deal with that.
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He had to grapple with his basketball mortality, Kerr said multiple times last season. The Warriors moved him to the bench for stretches last year and didn’t guarantee him a starting spot if he chose to return.
“What he overcame is almost unprecedented,” Kerr said. “Being out for two years in the prime of his career was devastating for him. I think the last couple of years after he came back, he struggled reconciling all that. Losing those prime seasons. We all saw that. We saw him struggle with it emotionally. We saw him fight to get his game back.”
“We wished that this had gone forever, that Klay would finish his career with us,” Kerr added. “But circumstances always dictate these things. In the end, I think he made the right choice. I think he needed a fresh start. I think he needed a new set of surroundings. That was apparent last year. He was not happy, and that was hard to see. Because he deserves to be happy. At his core, he’s a very happy person, so it was tough to see him struggle with the repercussions of those injuries.”
He sure seemed happy at the reception. He got what everyone wanted.
Then on the first possession of the game, he went right at Curry in the mid-post, drawing two foul shots. Shortly after, Curry nailed a 3-pointer over Thompson’s late contest. Then Green nailed a corner 3 over his former teammate. Game on.