Warriors’ Klay Thompson is reaching a breaking point

Klay Thompson is just not himself anymore.

Thompson made the rounds on social media Monday when he gave a surly response to The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami over a question about Steve Kerr’s patience with the second Splash Brother amid his early season struggles. 

“What, do you want me to bench me?” he said, despite Kawakami not saying those words at all.

“I mean, you can suggest it, that’s fine,” Thompson added. “But, I mean, thank Steve, I guess, I don’t know. Sometimes you earn these things, like patience and time to find yourself. I think history is on our side when it comes to that stuff.”

But even last year, Thompson was still the nonchalant, fun-loving Warriors star who would have entertaining moments with reporters between classically Klay responses to questions, and accidentally hitting someone with a paper airplane. This back-and-forth appears to be the antithesis of that. When Kawakami followed up about outside noise regarding whether he should be benched, Klay gave the prototypical answer of a guy who is definitely not mad.

“I don’t care what people say,” Thompson said. “It’s like, they don’t do what we do. They can’t do what they do. That’s why they talk. Why would I? Like, come on. I don’t care what people say at this point in my life, ha! Next question.”

While this might have shocked many who are used to seeing a calm, cool and collected Klay speak to reporters, this was a clear continuation of whatever emotions he’s dealing with at the moment to those who have seen him in action lately.

During Friday’s win against the Spurs, Thompson was visibly frustrated after picking up his second foul, throwing his towel on the bench. He followed that up by walking into the locker room before halftime. Even in the games he’s scoring 20 points or more, he appears agitated with his on-court performance. Perhaps it’s a reflection of what’s happening off the court too, as ESPN reported Tuesday that Thompson’s stalled contract negotiations are “weighing on him.”

It makes sense that a four-time NBA champion who was in the conversation as one of the greatest 3-point shooters in NBA history earlier in his career is upset that he’s not replicating the athletic feats which brought him to global prominence. Long gone are the days of his devastatingly efficient 3-point shooting nights with a dribble total you could count on one hand. Shots that were once automatic clank off the rim and fall harmlessly to defenders, and it feels as though those clanks get louder as Thompson’s frustration with himself builds. Now the only constants are slumped shoulders and a head hanging low in response to shots he used to see go in with regularity.

From the moment that Thompson tore his Achilles just one year after he tore his ACL, it was obvious that he would never be the same player he was during the Warriors’ first three championships. No player could possibly be the same after consecutive ordeals like that, not to mention that, even if he hadn’t suffered those injuries, there would be an eventual physical decline through the natural process of aging as a professional athlete. What almost no one predicted was that there’d be a decline in the personality that made him the character people loved for years to go with that. Losing Thompson’s on-court talent is one thing, but losing Thompson’s off-court persona is so much worse.