Klay Thompson's departure from Warriors was hiding in plain sight

The friction between Klay Thompson and the Warriors didn’t just start this summer when negotiations got tough. It couldn’t have.

While Thompson maintained close relationships with some of the most important figures in the organization — Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr — it’s clear that things were off all year. So much so that the four-time champion reportedly decided to join the Dallas Mavericks.

Thompson will still have his No. 11 jersey hung in the Chase Center rafters. He’ll still one day have a statue outside the arena alongside Curry and Green. He’ll always mean so much to the franchise; the clutch playoff performances, the fighting through injuries, the unique personality, and the embracing of the Bay Area won’t be forgotten.

Without him, there is no Game 6 Klay. No Splash Bros. No banners.

Yet after 13 years Thompson left for less money than the Warriors once offered him and for as uncertain a role in Dallas. For a fresh start.

All the history couldn’t mask what crystallized, bit by bit, as his Warriors tenure winded down: Thompson was no longer the hand-in-glove fit in the organization he was for more than a decade.

Only Thompson could know when the real issues started, and when they reached a breaking point. Since 2019, when he blew out his ACL — and tried to play through it — in the NBA Finals, he and the Warriors have been strapped next to each other in an emotional roller coaster.

No one would be the same after recovering for a year from knee surgery only to suffer a torn Achilles, the most damaging injury a basketball player can go through. More than two and a half years separated his last moments in the 2019 Finals from his return to the court in 2021, when he snarled after dunking over the Cavaliers.

In those 941 days, there were long days alone. Heat and ice and stretching and therapy. A mental hurdle of playing full five-on-five and self-doubt.

Thompson’s character and toughness were never in doubt. Golden State gave him a five-year, $190 million extension while he was sidelined. Thompson returned and played a key role in Golden State’s 2022 title, but at some point between then and now, things started to erode.

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