Warriors' Klay Thompson 'Crushed' to Sit out Season After Surgery on Knee Injury

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr opened up about how difficult it has been for guard Klay Thompson to sit on the sidelines as he recovers from the torn ACL he suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals loss to the Toronto Raptors.

"It's been a really, really hard season for Klay," Kerr said, per Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. "He loves to play basketball so much and just not being able to play has crushed him. And so he was, unlike Steph, over the last couple, few months, he hasn't been around as often as Steph was. I was OK with that just because it was so frustrating for Klay just to be at practice watching and not really being able to do anything."

The Warriors ruled out Thompson's return for the end of the season in February, although that was before the NBA suspended its current campaign because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

There was never much reason to rush Thompson back in 2019-20.

Golden State has the worst record in the league at 15-50 and has been eliminated from the playoff race if and when play resumes. While there is value in the 30-year-old shaking some of the rust off in a live-game setting, it is not worth the injury risk for him to return to play out the string of a lost season.

It is not difficult to envision the Warriors returning to competitiveness as soon as the 2020-21 campaign with a healthy Thompson playing alongside Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and any other notable player the five-time defending Western Conference champions add this offseason.

That player could be an impact rookie, as the Warriors are guaranteed a top-five pick in the 2020 NBA draft if they finish with league's worst record. 

Golden State will need a healthy Thompson draining three-pointers and shutting down the opponent's best wing players like he did during five straight trips to the NBA Finals if it is going to challenge in the daunting Western Conference as soon as next season.