Klay Thompson's grueling road back from two serious injuries

By Melissa Rohlin
FOX Sports NBA Writer

Klay Thompson's inner circle has a tough time describing the last two-and-a-half years.

There are a lot of sighs. A lot of head shakes. A lot of long pauses.

When Thompson suffered a torn ACL in June 2019 that would sideline him for the following season, it was upsetting. When he then sustained a ruptured Achilles tendon before his expected return — a second serious injury that would keep him out another eight-to-12 months — it was crushing.

The Golden State Warriors guard was robbed of prime years of his basketball career. His passion was stripped from him. There were periods when he couldn't even walk. He had to endure two grueling rehabs. It seemed never-ending.

Thompson has tried to make the best of it. 

In an Instagram Live post earlier this week, he alluded to his struggles making him even stronger.

"Smooth waters never made a skilled sailor," Thompson said while wearing a sailor's hat as he steered his boat around the bay in San Francisco.

But there's no sugar-coating what Thompson has been through.

"Until you experience it, it's hard to understand," said Zaza Pachulia, who won two championships alongside Thompson in 2017 and 2018 and is now a consultant for the Warriors. "It sounds awful, but to experience it, it's even worse."

To describe the psychological pain of it all, Pachulia likened Thompson's ordeal to an experiment known as "chicken cage syndrome," in which chickens that were kept in cages for half a year were set free — but immediately returned to their cages because that's where they were comfortable.

"In this case, Klay has been in a cage not playing basketball," Pachulia told FOX Sports. "Klay couldn't get back to basketball. Basketball stops. The door of the cage was closed on him. So what do you do? You don't know. While you're figuring it out, there's a lot of dark days."

Thompson is finally on the verge of breaking free of his metaphorical prison.

After being plunged into the depths of uncertainty, his long-awaited return is expected to happen Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

*** *** ***

After a Warriors shootaround earlier this season, Thompson took the court with longtime assistant coach Chris DeMarco and requested the song "To Live and Die in L.A." by Tupac. He then did what he does best.

Stoic-faced, he shot from different spots on the court. Sometimes he took a dribble; sometimes he just caught and released the ball. There was a meditative nature to it. He loses himself in the rhythm, and it's transfixing to watch.

It was a glimmer of the last time he was on the court, a reminder of the magic that existed before Thompson's career took a swerve.

The last time we saw Thompson play was Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors, when he had 30 points in 32 minutes. The Warriors trailed the series 3-2, and Thompson seemed poised to keep his team alive, as the five-time All-Star often did in Game 6s.

But fate took a turn when Thompson was fouled by Danny Green late in the third quarter as he elevated for a dunk on a fast break. Thompson landed wrong. He clutched his left knee. He writhed on his stomach. He rolled over grimacing.

He was helped to the locker room and returned a short time later to shoot free throws amid a thunderous standing ovation. He checked out three seconds later and left the arena on crutches.

It was an incongruous image.

Thompson was titanium. There was a season when he didn't miss a single game, another one when he missed only one and a third in which he played all but two. How could this have happened to him?

Thompson was as tough as they come. He played through injuries that would sideline other guys. He refused to miss any time that wasn't absolutely medically necessary.

Now he was going to miss an entire season?

"The most difficult thing is how competitive he is," DeMarco told FOX Sports. "He's an intense competitor, and he wants to win so badly. You take that away from somebody, it's just really hard."

At least it wasn't that long. He could accept this. He was still young. He'd be back soon.

There was light at the end of the tunnel … or so he thought.

*** *** ***

Pachulia sat next to Warriors general manager Bob Myers the day of the 2020 NBA Draft. Everyone was dressed in fancy suits. There was a palpable sense of excitement. Thompson was on the verge of returning, and the Warriors had the No. 2 overall pick.

After missing the playoffs in 2020 for the first time in seven years, the team was sure it'd be a contender again. Myers' phone rang constantly as agents and GMs inquired about potential deals, players and opportunities.

But one phone call turned the room frigid.

"The difference was his facial expression," Pachulia told FOX Sports.

Myers walked out of the room. Everyone knew something was very wrong. A few minutes later, he reemerged and told everyone the devastating news. While Thompson was playing a pickup game in Los Angeles, he heard a pop. It was his Achilles tendon.

All the energy was sucked out of the room. Pachulia likened the feeling in the room before Myers took that phone call to a child trembling with excitement as they're about to fly a balloon. 

"After he got that call, the balloon exploded," Pachulia said.

In the middle of the second round of the draft, Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Dr. Rick Celebrini flew to Los Angeles to be by Thompson's side. Pachulia and Myers went on to join them at the hospital when Thompson had surgery.

Pachulia isn't sure how much Thompson remembers from that day. He was groggy from the medication. His parents took him home after the surgery to help take care of him.

But the pain that followed is forever emblazoned in his memory. After a 10-month rehab from a torn ACL, Thompson had to relearn how to walk. He had to start over from square one with an injury that's infamous for ruining careers.

Thompson spoke to the media for the first time in March 2021, and he didn't hold back. He called it the worst year of his life.

"The mental toll is not very fun," he said. "You always guess if you're going to be the same player you once were."

*** *** ***

DeMarco and Pachulia tried to be there for him.

Thompson is very tight with DeMarco, with whom he has worked for 10 years. They'd shoot together. They'd share meals together. Over the years, they've become family.

And he has a very close friend in Pachulia, with whom he shared countless laughs as teammates. They loved competing against each other. They'd keep tabs on who tallied the most jams in a season. Pachulia says he has a framed article in his office from when he once outscored Thompson in a game 7-6.

Pachulia said Thompson has a very rare and likable quality — he's equally good at dishing out jokes as he is at laughing at himself. Pachulia couldn't help but make fun of Thompson every time he'd yell "shortbread" when someone's shot was short. And they had an inside joke that Thompson should never attend shootarounds because one time in 2016, he missed one after he overslept and proceeded to score 60 points in 29 minutes (with just 11 dribbles).

Most people don't really know Klay. He keeps a low public profile. When you think about him, you think about his love for his bulldog, Rocco. Or you think about some of the funny one-liners that he cracks without irony in his postgame news conferences.

But DeMarco and Pachulia know the real Klay.

Pachulia, who was in his home country of Georgia celebrating the new year with his family, was planning to fly to San Francisco on Saturday so he wouldn’t miss Thompson’s return.

Pachulia describes Thompson as an incredible friend, son and brother who truly cares about his loved ones. "That's why I love him so much," Pachulia told FOX Sports. "Not because of Klay as a player but Klay as a person."

DeMarco says that while Thompson is often a man of few words, don't let his silence fool you. He's as intense as they come, a bubbling cauldron of effort on the basketball court.

"You can see his competitiveness in how hard he guards the basketball, how he pressures defensively, how he never stops moving offensively," DeMarco told FOX Sports. "You can see it in his actions and all these other ways. There's no doubt about it: He's the most competitive person I've ever been around."

Without basketball, Thompson lost his outlet.

He turned to video games to release his competitiveness. He poured himself into other hobbies while he wasn't mobile, such as boating and swimming in the bay.

In many ways, Thompson had to reinvent himself. His capacity for empathy grew. He developed new parts of himself.

"I think it made him a better person," Pachulia told FOX Sports.

*** *** ***

Thompson's return will be emotional Sunday night.

There's so much anticipation. Everyone is anxious.

Thompson recently called Pachulia and asked him to play 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 pickup games so he could feel the joy of the game. "He wanted me to be on his team to bring back the memories of the 2017, 2018 [championship] years where we were playing together," Pachulia said.

As his return has crept closer, fear and happiness and sorrow have been pouring out of Thompson. In an interview with NBC Sports in November, he opened up about what he described as the darkest days of his life.

"I love basketball so much," Thompson said. "It’s my source, really. Just like the ocean, basketball has been my source since I was a child. That was a big test of my mental health. I learned a lot about how to stay mentally healthy through my rehabs. If there was a silver lining, that was it."

After a recent game against Portland, his silence was just as powerful.

Thompson sat on the bench for more than 30 minutes with a towel over his head, sometimes wiping away tears. His teammates and coaches took turns sitting with him.

Thompson is almost out of his cage. He's finally about to be set free. He's ready to step out of the abyss, refusing to let the claws of fear hold him back.

Kerr has spent the past month going over plays with him. Stephen Curry is back to ribbing him, jokingly telling reporters after Thompson made a game-winning shot during a G-League scrimmage, "Thank God he still remembers how to shoot the ball."

Thompson is returning to a different team, playing alongside different players. The Warriors have the second-best record in the league at 29-9, and he will soon be under all the scrutiny that comes with playing for a top team — an unforgiving reality for a player coming off an extended absence.

But honestly, none of that matters.

Thompson is coming back. One of the masters of his craft will be back where he belongs. The world can't wait to see it. Tickets for Sunday's game are listed on Ticketmaster for as much as $25,000.

It's all a dream come true for Thompson. After two-and-a-half years away from basketball, he's finally going to be reunited with his passion.

For this sailor, the storm has finally passed.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.