Steve Kerr Openly Calls For Klay Thompson to Return to Warriors

The Golden State coach says the team "desperately" wants Thompson back in uniform.

Oct 21, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and guard Klay Thompson (11) / John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Klay Thompson may not be the most impactful name who may switch teams when free agency begins on June 30. But he is definitely the biggest. It is rare to see a player who won multiple championships with the team that drafted him choose to move on. Yet arrows are pointing that way with Thompson and the Golden State Warriors.

Steve Kerr appeared on the Jim Rome Show on Tuesday to discuss all things Warriors with the NBA draft on Wednesday and made an open plea for Thompson to stay in the Bay Area.

"What I do know is Klay has been such an integral part of everything around here," Kerr told Rome. "Obviously he's a multi-time champion, but even more than that, just someone who has such a great connection with the Bay Area, with the franchise, with his teammates. We want Klay back desperately, I want him back desperately. And we will have our conversations and he's gotta make whatever decision he makes, but yeah, we really want him back. He's Klay Thompson."

“We really want him back. He’s Klay Thompson.”

Warriors HC Steve Kerr on resigning the 5 time all-star. pic.twitter.com/RfYVWhEWgN

— Jim Rome (@jimrome) June 25, 2024

That last line is key. It's Klay Thompson, one of the great homebrewed success stories in recent NBA history, a multi-time All-NBA nominee and the most consistent two-way force for one of the league's greatest dynasties. The accolades go on and on and on.

But the Thompson of today is not the Thompson of yesterday. He is just not the same guy. The Warriors guard shot below 40 percent from three for only the second time in his career last season and was below average defensively. Most worrying was Thompson's performance in Golden State's last game of the season; he shot 0-for-10 from the field against the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament. Quite the change from even a few years ago, when Thompson a force of nature unto himself in elimination games.

Thus, the two sides are at an impasse. Thompson's willingness to space the floor and veteran pedigree makes him an appealing target for teams who are not in the same position as the Warriors, so he'll have suitors. Golden State has to do what it can to capitalize on the final years of Stephen Curry's greatness and will be reticient to kowtow to whatever Thompson is asking for.

Where Thompson goes won't tilt the NBA title race, but it will mark a period of transition for one of the greatest cores the sport has seen. And that makes it fascinating, no matter what happens.