Klay Thompson has achieved several goals this year, as he made his triumphant return in January and helped the Warriors win another NBA championship in June.
Now that Thompson has started an NBA season healthy for the first time since 2018, he has a personal goal in mind for the rest of 2022 and the early part of 2023.
"I want to be an All-Star again," Thompson told former Warriors Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the latest episode of "All The Smoke," which debuted Friday. "I'm used to what I know and to be able to make those games and be considered one of the best in the world, like, it's the coolest. No better feeling. I just want to be able to experience that again.
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"All-NBA is always great, but I don't want to put that pressure on myself, so if I play like I know I'm capable of, I should be an NBA All-Star. To go through what I did and to be able to accomplish that, that's a big goal of mine."
Before tearing his left ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals and then tearing his right Achilles on Nov. 18, 2020, Thompson was selected to five straight All-Star Games.
The Warriors and coach Steve Kerr are easing Thompson back this season after he didn't play any basketball over the summer. He was held out of Golden State's first four preseason games but made his debut in the finale.
In the Warriors' first two regular season games, Thompson has been limited to just under 20 minutes and just over 23 minutes, respectively.
Golden State Warriors
In those two games, he's averaging 17.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 21.5 minutes per game, while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.
But Thompson's Per 36 numbers, albeit in a small sample size, might signal that he's ready to return to All-Star status once he's allowed to play a full allotment of minutes later in the season. Basketball Reference has his Per 36 averages at 28.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists, which are higher than any previous Per 36 averages he had during his NBA career.
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Thompson was playing the best basketball of his career when he got hurt for the first time in June 2019. And after a full summer to rest, recover and ramp up, the 32-year-old is confident he can return to that level. The early returns this season show he might just be able to get there, and possibly exceed it.
If he does, Thompson will find himself in Salt Lake City on Feb. 19, 2023 for his sixth All-Star Game.