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  • What was your initial reaction when you heard this?

  • O.

  • J.

  • Williams is here, too good to have you, Jay.

  • That's going on, Jay.

  • You know his father, Michael Thompson, who is a two time NBA champ with the Lakers backing up Kareem was the number one overall draft pick by Portland, was a 2010 2012 guy before he got to the Lakers is does L.

  • A radio, And I used to work the radio a lot with Michael Thompson and eso.

  • I've been watching Clay for a long time.

  • The ups and downs in the hopes and and like as many as is the case with many people who followed certain athletes.

  • I feel like emotionally invested in his career.

  • This is devastating.

  • First of all, the injury that he was coming back from people were like, Oh, thank God, it's not an Achilles, But I think people were a little quick to just assume he was gonna be the same guy.

  • That's a very serious, catastrophic injury that Clay was recovering from.

  • And don't forget, this kid is so tough.

  • He didn't want to come out.

  • He wanted to play on one leg like he is he is 81 of the all time great two way guards in terms of the level of his shooting capable of getting hotter than anyone who ever lived.

  • He once scored 26 points in a quarter, and it was the second highest quarter that he had that season quarter because he went for 37 in another quarter, right?

  • Like the all time record.

  • And he was an excellent defender.

  • And, as I said, tough as nails.

  • Part of what?

  • A big part of what made Golden State so special.

  • So coming back off a catastrophic injury where people are like, Oh, thank God, it's not an Achilles but oh my God, this is really bad to now have something that could be the worst case scenario is a total nightmare.

  • I'm just hoping with everyone else, I'm sure that that that what the news we get back today is not a worst case scenario.

  • We all are.

  • And let me just say this quickly, J.

  • You did an absolute excellent job on the draft coverage last night.

  • Watch the whole thing.

  • So kudos to you.

  • But Stephen A.

  • You always have your ear to the street What are you hearing about this?

  • Well, first of all, I was on SportsCenter last night talking about how the warriors with championship contenders on it, was in a in there.

  • The first it was in the first segment of this show, and by the bottom of the hour they had given me the news about what transpired with Klay.

  • Thompson and I said, This is nightmarish.

  • Their championship hopes of just going out the window.

  • And then immediately after, not not immediately after.

  • But a few hours later that evening I got word that Clay Thompson there was movement with his calf muscle, which is supposed to be a good sign that there's no there's nothing thorn there.

  • There's an M r I scheduled within the next 30 minutes or so.

  • He's having an m r I, and it will be determined whether or not something has been tourney or what have you.

  • And then they'll know definitively.

  • So we should know by right around the time of the end of the show whether or not Klay Thompson is gonna be gone for a significant period of time based on this injury that he sustained yesterday at the end of the day.

  • Here's what it comes down to, with or without clay because of Steph Curry.

  • If you have other bodies that are healthy, the Andrew Wiggins of the world, the James Wiseman, who I think is a good pick up for them, the Draymond green's of the world along with what we saw from other guys that were in the lineup for them last year, I think this team can squeeze into the playoffs, but the championship aspirations out the window.

  • You're not winning a championship without Klay Thompson.

  • Just like you're not winning a championship without Steph Curry.

  • It's the combination of both.

  • That makes them who they are together and healthy.

  • They are the greatest shooting backcourt that I have ever seen in the history of the game.

  • They're the greatest shooting backcourt, as far as I'm concerned.

  • Since mankind, that's how great they are at snipers, as shooters and together you cannot dismiss them.

  • You cannot count them out.

  • But if one of them is missing, it doesn't regardless of which one it is.

  • Their championship hopes go out the window, particularly with not with K d, no longer being there.

  • That's how significant this blow is any championship aspirations that the Golden State Warriors have go right out the window.

  • If Clay Thompson can't play, they could make the playoffs.

  • They could squeeze in there, but championship contention?

  • No way.

  • Hey, I say I've been taking a step further.

  • I mean, Andrew Wiggins is still a really good player.

  • But, you know, then you're asking Stephan Curry to do things at a volume rate.

  • And what we've seen is when stuff has to do things and play a lot of minutes every single night, he's been prone to having injuries as well.

  • I mean, look what happened to him this year.

  • All right, so the the two go hand in hand together.

  • Do you know that Clay Thompson, since 2013 14, has ran the third most miles in the NBA behind Onley Dame Dollar and LeBron James?

  • Like he is such a key cog in that will, because he is constantly moving, they run him off.

  • So maney down screens, flare screens.

  • Um, you know, drag queens.

  • They do so many different things with him that he constantly keeps the defense on their toes, which allows Stefan Curry to then play off of the balls well or on the ball, and you can't abide all your attention to just step.

  • So, look, I agree with you, Stephen A.

  • There's no Clay Thompson on the court.

  • Not only are their aspirations to win a world championship out the window, I don't know if they squeeze to make the playoffs that they're fighting for that Phoenix is coming.

  • Cp three Devin Booker, Miquel Bridges Camera Johnson like they have a lot of the pieces there.

  • Guys like the West is still loaded.

  • I mean, Houston, they still have James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

  • For now, they may be disgruntled for a while, but they still have those pieces that could still fight.

  • Um, it's gonna be interesting to see how that one plays out.

  • This is this is a night like first.

  • I want to just you want to deal with the kind of personal side of it for Clay Thompson?

  • Of course.

  • And your heart goes out to if we're talking about the basketball of it all.

  • Guys, this isn't a total disaster and nightmare.

  • Let me ask you something.

  • Because Steph Curry is a mobile artillery unit, right?

  • His handles.

  • Get him anywhere he needs to go, and his shooting is is like probably the greatest ever when you consider how he's on the move, right, Who else going to shoot the ball on this team?

  • Tell me another shooter on the team was gonna get serious minutes.

  • Wiggins Wiggins will take a bunch of threes.

  • He's a below average shooter.

  • Paschal.

  • There's a nice young player.

  • Doesn't like Thio.

  • Just bastard Wiseman.

  • That's not a shooter, Okay?

  • Draymond green, Draymond green Onley Once or twice shot well from three because Steph gave him and Clay gave him all the space in the world to do it.

  • But he's a below average shooter from distance.

  • They don't have a single other guy who's gonna get significant minutes on the team who can shoot worth a lick.

  • The shootings gone, they needed claim or than ever.

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What was your initial reaction when you heard this?

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