Klay Thompson can stand out just as well as he can blend in

It feels like ages ago when Klay Thompson was almost traded for Kevin Love. Thompson was still growing into his own at the time and Love was a perennial All-Star looking for a new home. Back in 2014, the trade was universally supported publicly and was even endorsed by some factions of the Warriors’ front office.

In retrospect, supporters can only side-eye, clear their throats and try to shuffle their feet nervously past the entire idea. Thompson has become such a staple in the Warriors team since then, to the point where it’s impossible to imagine them making history without him. He’s not Stephen Curry, but he is one of the Splash Brothers. He’s not Draymond Green, but his role is just as essential.

Comparisons are often used to demonize one subject without really praising the other but Thompson’s and Love’s relationship is critical here. Are the Warriors the same with Love instead of Thompson? One can never truly answer a hypothetical, but it seems doubtful when considering the challenges Love continues to face blending with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Those challenges should not be viewed as failure of Love’s disposition, but rather a great strength of Thompson’s.

Early on, Love was an outcast in Cleveland. LeBron moved the earth and a promising rookie for him in order to form a Big Three with Irving, but Love didn’t fit perfectly. He was supposed to be their Chris Bosh, but with the other two members of the trio dominating the ball, Love moving away from the elbow (a coaching failure as much as anything) and his defense being comical at times, Love stuck out like a sore thumb. Or, he would have stuck out if he didn’t simply disappear most of the time. He went from being an All-Star starter to having his name thrown in trade rumors in one year.

This season has been better, especially since Tyronn Lue replaced David Blatt. He’s returned (or at least progressed closer to returning) to the devastating form that made him such a valuable player a few years ago. The series against the Pistons belonged to him; in many of those games, he scored the most points out of the three stars of Cleveland. He was practically unguardable.

There was a reason for it, though: Lue made it an objective to consistently get Love the ball so his confidence wouldn’t waver. James and Irving can always get what they want because the ball is in their hands most of the time. That’s not an issue. Love is the one that needed the constant attention. Finally, it appears the rest of the Cavaliers understand that.

But juxtapose that with Klay Thompson, a player that doesn’t need the ball at all. He lets Curry and Green act as playmakers and sinks into the receiver role. The Warriors’ system usually puts him on the move, running around screens and cutting in order to get his shots. When he’s not involved, he’s content to stand idly at the three-point line, knowing that his presence alone creates space by drawing defenders away. They have to respect his range, even if he’s on the periphery.

Despite being the third cog in the Warriors Big Three, Thompson is still deadly. He converts on his shots when he gets them, so there’s no need to feed him. This means that he can go for 30 points or more in such a nonchalant, bland and textbook manner. His scoreline is easily forgotten, hidden within the fervor of Curry, Green and the Warriors in general.

Thompson is the employee that comes into work everyday, does the job set before them with few mistakes and quietly goes home. The approach is heroic in its simplicity, and we know that the simple things are usually the most effective.

That also seems uninspiring, which leads to many making the mistake of discounting Thompson’s ability. The shadow of Curry and Green loom large. Thompson, by choosing to work within and even beneath them, gives rise to a growing suspicion that he’s not as good as some of his numbers suggest. That he racks up points only because the other two are so good at setting him up.

That’s grave miscalculation. Klay Thompson is good. Really good. He plays the quiet third fiddle because he’s capable of being effective without being in the forefront. But when he’s thrust into the spotlight, he shines as bright as a first option should.

He’s played a few games this year without Curry. Earlier in the year, the Warriors faced the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings as Curry was out with a shin injury. They lost to Dallas and won the other two. In both of those wins, Thompson played exceptionally well, scoring 38 points against the Rockets in particular.

Even then, the Warriors didn’t really need Thompson to be the focal point. They can handle teams like the Rockets and Kings without too much hassle in the regular season. It’s in these playoffs, with their opponents ready to feast on a wounded Warriors team and end their season, that Thompson has truly shined in a larger role.

Curry injured his knee right before halftime in Game 4 against Houston. In those four games, Thompson scored 16, 34, 17 and 23 points respectively. That Game 4 performance is pivotal: in the three before that, Thompson shot 28, 40 and 35 percent from the field, as well as 33, 37 and an astonishing 0 percent, respectively from the three point line. In the game that Curry went down, Thompson scored those 23 points in just 31 minutes while shooting 53 percent from the field and 63 percent from the three. He made 7 of 11 three-pointers.

In Game 5 without Curry, Thompson scored 27 points in 29 minutes, went 10-14 from the field and 7-11 from beyond the arc. Again. This despite the Rockets knowing he was the Warriors’ primary scorer without Curry.

The streak continued in the first game against a better Portland squad. Thompson went 7-14 from the three and 14-28 total en route to 37 points in a double-digit victory.

The second contest saw him struggle initially. Going into the half, he was 3-9 for just seven points. It looked as if the Blazers’ adjustment to put Maurice Harkless on him was working.

Looks can be mighty deceiving and incredibly heartbreaking, though. Thompson scored 20 points in that second half, helping the Warriors overcome a 17- point deficit to win another strenuous matchup. His threes in the fourth quarter brought Golden State close and then snatched back the lead altogether.

That performance should silence those that doubt Thompson’s ability to be a go-to guy. With the Warriors facing a large deficit, they needed someone to bail them out. Once again, in the absence of Curry, it was Thompson who did so. Sounds like a go-to guy to me.

If Thompson wanted, he could be the star of his own team. He could be James Harden, a third option on a great Thunder team that outgrew his role and now dominates the ball as the Rockets’ top option. There are only a handful of players in the conversation with Thompson for the best shooting guard in the league. All of them are their team’s primary scorer, while Thompson is not.

The best part for Warriors fans is that Thompson’s unassuming personality extends to his persona off the court as well. He doesn’t have his own team because he’s comfortable with the one that he has. He’s content with being the third-best player on the best team in the world, and not because he lacks of ambition. Because of Thompson’s disposition, Curry and Green can hog the spotlight and be flashy and volatile. That leaves Thompson happily doing what he can to complement both, filling in the gaps if one or the other goes down.

That’s the biggest difference between Thompson and Kevin Love. Whereas Love needs to feel like he’s on equal footing with his co-stars to be at his best, Thompson doesn’t care. If he’s asked to be the third wheel, he can do that in his own natural assassin way. If he’s asked to be the star of the team, he can do that as well in the same casual fashion.

Either way, he can go home and play with his dog.

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