Klay Thompson, who has been seen in a running shoe for the first time since undergoing surgery on his torn Achilles in November, told fans at the end of the year that he and the Warriors’ have so much amazing basketball ahead ‘.
Thompson wishes fans well after 2021 in a video posted on Anta Sports’ Instagram page on Thursday. The 30-year-old has been signed to the Chinese shoe brand since 2014.
“I miss you, and unfortunately, in the circumstances of 2020, I could not have made the KT tour happen,” Thompson said in the video posted on New Year’s Eve, sitting next to his bulldog Rocco. “But hopefully it will happen in the near future and I will be 100% healthy after my full Achilles recovery. 2020 was also difficult for me and suffered another injury that happened while I was doing what I love, and the game I love, basketball, and unfortunately I can not play this year.
“But you give me so much love and so much inspiration for the video you made for me. It really meant a lot to release it. It made me quite emotional, especially after the surgery, and it inspires me to keep, what I will.There is so much good basketball that can be played not only for myself but also for the Warriors and championships [for] and hopefully won. And with that, I want to say goodbye to 2020, and we are so welcome in 2021 for a fresh, fresh start. ‘
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Hours before the Warriors selected former Memphis center James Wiseman in the 2020 NBA draft, Thompson suffered a torn Achilles while playing pick-up basketball as he prepared for the start of the NBA season. Thompson missed the entire 2019-20 campaign and recovered from a torn ACL he sustained in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Although Thompson was not physically with the Warriors, his presence was felt. He texted coach Steve Kerr during the Golden State loss to Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, and Kerr cites Thompson’s own setbacks to Kelly Oubre Jr. giving hope to break his. The Warriors are hopeful that Thompson will be more in the team as soon as he can really start his rehabilitation.
“It’s important to all of us, as well as Klay himself, that he be around this season,” Kerr told reporters ahead of Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers (Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle). “Because of last year’s absence and the pandemic, and just the whole year and a half it has done for him and our concession, I want him up here as much as possible.”
It sounds like the fresh, new start that Thompson is hoping for.