Warriors keeping Klay Thompson as a reserve - for now

‘Sixth Man Klay’ was an immediate success Thursday night and Steve Kerr plans to stick with it

Klay Thompson killed it in his first game as a reserve since his rookie season. It’s no surprise that the Golden State Warriors plan to keep rolling with their new lineup.

Thompson had started every game of his career since March 13, 2012, near the end of his rookie season. But in a tough year where he’s put up his worst shooting and scoring numbers in a decade, Coach Steve Kerr finally decided he needed to make a change. Thompson entered the game five minutes into Thursday’s 140-137 win over the Utah Jazz, and scored ten points in the first quarter. He proceeded to nail seven three-pointers and put up 35 points in the first three quarters.

He cooled off in the fourth quarter, but then again, so did the entire Warriors team. Thompson did lure Keyonte George into a key traveling violation late which helped the team barely hang on late.

Moving Thompson to the bench makes a lot of sense from a basketball perspective, especially given the emergence of rookie Brandin Podziemski - and Thompson’s own slowing down. He’s functionally a small forward at the defensive end, and the Warriors have Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins manning those positions. Shifting Thompson to the second unit also allows him to shoot more freely, which is a surefire way of convincing the extremely prideful Thompson to take a bench role.

After the game, he was accepting of his demotion to the bench unit, though scoring 35 points and playing 28 minutes certainly softened the sting.

Thompson not only “embraced” his bench role before the game, he acknowledged that “I deserved it really.” He made a defensive blunder Wednesday night when he unnecessarily fouled Russell Westbrook late, and apparently “took it out on the assistant coaches.”

But he seems to see the upside of playing off the bench, referencing Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili’s success. One key to understanding Klay Thompson is knowing he considers himself one of the all-time greats, and rightly so! He’s won four championships. He’s one of the greatest shooters in NBA history. And part of what makes Thompson so successful is the self-confidence to take so many big shots.

It’s also what’s created a crisis this season. His high self-regard makes it difficult for him when Kerr sits him in crunch time, or refrain from trying to shoot his way out of slumps. While he’s talked about his willingness to accept a reduced role and follow the lead of legends like Reggie Miller and Ray Allen, when Thompson’s actually being benched, he gets visibly upset.

Now Thompson has the All-Star break to let his new status sink in while the Warriors make another late-season push for the playoffs. Can he be their Manu Ginobili? The Warriors would settle for him being 2013 Ray Allen.