Home Entertainment Draymond Green Breaks Silence on Klay Thompson’s Warriors Exit Strategy

Draymond Green Breaks Silence on Klay Thompson’s Warriors Exit Strategy

Entertainment — 07/03/2024

The Warriors star talked about finding out about Thompson’s departure from the group.

Warriors Draymond Green reaction Klay Thompson Mavericks free agancy trade

The Golden State Warriors have had a successful week. The trio of Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green, who had been together since 2012, was shattered when Thompson made the decision to play for the Dallas Mavericks and leave the Utah Jazz.

Green is now talking about how he found out that Thompson was quitting the Warriors:

Regarding Thompson’s exit, Draymond remarked, “I’m not sure how I feel about it.” Tell us last week, Klay. I’m not sure who he told everything to, but I do know he spoke with me. I believe he spoke with Steph the previous week. He then kind of said, “Yeah, man, like, you know…” and on to tell me over the years how wonderful everything had been and how unique what we had accomplished was. I was only able to listen when Klay informed me, you know—it wasn’t like, “Hey, we could finish like this,” or “You should reconsider this.” It was as simple as “whoa, okay.” Congratulations, dude. I mean, I’m glad for you. That’s really awesome.

“You know, to reassure us obviously that that doesn’t change anything.” It’s like, the basketball court is visibly altered. However, the relationships remain as they are. They endure eternally. I believe I may have shed a tear or two.

Curry, Green, and Thompson made up the backbone of the Warriors, who went on to win four NBA Championships and six NBA Finals.

Warriors bolster the coaching staff led by Steve Kerr

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr gestures from the bench against the Washington Wizards in the first half at Capital One Arena

The Warriors have added Terry Stotts as the lead assistant and Jerry Stackhouse as an assistant to Steve Kerr’s coaching staff amidst the turmoil of the past week.

Stackhouse, a basketball legend from Kinston, North Carolina, who played in the mid-1990s for North Carolina and then became a two-time NBA All-Star during his 18-year career as a physically gifted wing in the league, has spent the last five seasons as Vanderbilt’s head coach. He finished with an overall record of 70-92.

After his 2023–24 team’s disappointing 9–23 season, which marked the program’s eighth consecutive season without an NCAA Tournament invitation, he and the institution parted ways in March.

After a brief assignment as a Bucks assistant last season, Stotts, a former NBA head coach with the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, and Portland Trail Blazers, joins the Warriors. After a confrontation with head coach Adrian Gryphon, who was subsequently fired, he submitted his resignation in the middle of October.

Following yet another disappointing postseason campaign that resulted in a first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets, Stotts and the Trail Blazers split up in the 2021 summer. Portland advanced to the second round in both the 2013–14 and 2015–16 seasons, losing to the Warriors in the West Finals in 2018–19.