Warriors' Klay Thompson Believes His 2022-23 Struggles Were 'a Little Overrated'

As Klay Thompson heads into the final season of his contract, he's pushing back on the narrative he's fallen off from his prime.

"I think (my struggles were) a little overrated," Thompson said, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. "The microscope on our team now is insane. You gotta accept that. I didn't shoot the ball well at times. I'm human. But guess what? I still led the league in made 3s and shot 41 percent. That's insane. Over 300 makes. I'm not going to sell myself short. I know how incredible that is. To do that after an ACL and an Achilles, that's hard work."

Thompson, who missed 30 months of playing time after suffering a torn ACL in June 2019 and a torn Achilles in August 2020, played his first full season in 2022-23. He averaged 21.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 41.2 percent from three, numbers that were right in line with his career averages.

However, Thompson struggled with consistency and was a noticeably diminished player on the defensive end. The defensive struggles are more difficult to quantify numerically, but Thompson did not receive All-Defensive team attention after earning second-team status in 2019.

Thompson's 20-point average is also not as impressive in a more uptempo NBA. There were 58 players who averaged at least 20 points per game last season and 36 players who shot at least 40 percent from three-point range.