“Like a piece of us is gone”: Klay Thompson gets real about Draymond Green missing games through ejections, suspensions

Over the years, Klay Thompson has proven himself to be one of the backbones of the Golden State Warriors franchise. Now, at 34 years of age, that facet is still there, but he is no longer immune to the ever-evolving game of basketball.

Just like him, Draymond Green is another character of the Warriors’ dynasty who does not find age on his side anymore. To worsen the scenario, his time-to-time habit of reckless on-court practices deepens the wounds of the post-season chasing Warriors. But still, Draymond remains the leader of their defense and Klay Thompson acknowledges the fact and discusses how his absence affects them.

Klay Thompson explains impact of Draymond Green’s absence

During his recent appearance on “The Draymond Green Show”, Klay Thompson revealed how the host’s multiple ejections have impacted the Warriors squad this season.

In one of the segments of the podcast, when Draymond Green asked his teammate how he feels about Green’s ejections, Klay stated, “When you’re not out there, it’s like a piece of us is gone. And me and Steph are really nice guys, probably too nice. We could never be ourselves and have the freedom we do on the court without you. So when you’re not out there, it’s kind of like a huge kink in our armor.” Explaining what it means to Thompson, he added, “our muscle’s gone, our enforcer, the heartbeat of our team is not out there.”

Both the Warriors veterans, along with their leader, Stephen Curry, have been a strong trio for twelve seasons, adding some glittery accolades to the franchise’s cabinet. If one of them is missing at a crucial time, it mentally affects the others.

Green has been brutally criticized for missing a chunk of games this season because of his frequent on-court altercations, however, Thompson’s kind words might bring about a change in the former DPOY winner’s attitude.

While talking about the other aspects of the NBA, the two long-term teammates recalled their time with former head coach, Mark Jackson.

Klay Thompson, Draymond Green lavish praise on former HC

From their rookie days, both Green and Thompson played under Mark Jackson, who had a positive impact on their playing careers. While Thompson stated that the HC did a lot for him, Green hailed the coach for believing in young talents.

After spending three seasons at the Warriors, Jackson was fired in 2014 and replaced by Steve Kerr and, ever since, he has not been associated with any other franchise. Thompson felt it was strange considering how the HC led the foundation of the Golden State team, which dominated in their title-winning years.

Thompson went ahead to spill that had Mark not let Curry and him shoot the 3-pointers, they wouldn’t have been scoring so many of them. Klay concluded by wishing for a better future for Jackson under whom he enjoyed playing, to which Green agreed.