One year ago, Klay Thompson had one of the worst performances of his NBA career with the Golden State Warriors at the worst time possible.
The Warriors were in a must-win Play-In tournament game against the Sacramento Kings and needed Thompson to step up after a tumultuous season. Instead, Thompson scored 0 points on 0/10 shooting from the field and 0/6 shooting from three.
It was a performance that clearly haunted him for the past year.
On Wednesday night against the same Sacramento Kings, Thompson had a chance to redeem himself in another Play-In tournament game with the Dallas Mavericks.
This time around, Thompson put up 23 points on 8/11 shooting from the field and 5/7 from three.
“Man, last time I was here was not very fun,” Thompson said about the Play-In tournament. “It felt really good because I thought I missed it, but it bounced up out of the air and went in, so that kinda lifted the lid off the rim for me, so nice.”
Getting a chance to redeem himself was a huge moment for Thompson. He waited a whole year to prove people wrong, and he succeeded.
“It’s a lot of emotion,” Thompson said. “I thought I did a good job of not forcing it. Human nature, when you have a season end on a sour note like that, you want to come out here & prove people wrong.”
Thompson may not be a member of the Golden State Warriors anymore, but the success he had against the Sacramento Kings is something they can all find joy in.