Klay Thompson has quietly lost one skill that once made him special

Klay Thompson developed into one of the best 3-point shooters in historical past on the Golden State Warriors, main him to 5 All-Star appearances and serving to the franchise to 4 championships.

But as Thompson prepares to face his former crew once more at American Airlines Center on Monday, the veteran guard enters having lost one particular skill that separated him from a lot of the league for many of his profession.

While Thompson’s 3-point share has remained largely the identical since his return from two devastating leg accidents in 2022, it is his free-throw taking pictures that’s unusually fallen off a cliff this season.

Klay Thompson’s free-throw taking pictures has quietly dropped dramatically

For a lot of his profession Thompson has all the time been a deadeye on the free-throw line, though he is by no means essentially received there a ton. In his ultimate 12 months with the Warriors in 2023-24, he really led the league in free-throw share at 92.7%. Even now, regardless of a dip this season, he ranks 59th all-time in profession free-throw share.

For some motive or one other, Thompson is all the way down to 73.8% from the free-throw line this season. This is simply the second time in his profession he is been underneath 80%, having shot 79.5% from the charity stripe in his third 12 months means again in 2013-14.

Perhaps it is merely an absence of rhythm for the 36-year-old. Thompson is averaging an simply career-low 22 minutes per recreation, and is subsequently averaging a career-low 11.9 factors per recreation. It’s due to this fact not notably shocking that he is trying simply 0.7 free-throws per recreation — the primary time he is been underneath one in his profession.

Nevertheless it is nonetheless a weird growth and one other signal that Thompson is not fairly the identical participant he was once, though his 38.5% taking pictures from past the arc on practically eight makes an attempt remains to be nothing to sneeze at.

Klay Thompson will enter newest Warriors recreation with some confidence

Thompson may also take some confidence into Monday’s assembly with the Warriors, having loved two strong video games after a short two-game absence. He went for 17 factors on 4-of-10 3-point taking pictures in opposition to the Atlanta Hawks, earlier than following that with 12 factors on an ideal 4-of-4 from past the arc in opposition to the LA Clippers on Saturday.

It will probably be a vastly completely different Warrior crew to what Thompson is accustomed to, with long-time teammate Draymond Green, together with Gary Payton II, Gui Santos and Brandin Podziemski, the one seemingly rotation members that he once shared the ground with.