Klay Thompson revealed Sunday he tore his Achilles shooting a two-dribble pull-up jumper in November, attempting the shot like he does "100 times a day."
It was a typical workout for the Warriors star, and he said the normality of the day made his painful reality even harder to process.
"In my mind, I knew it happened, but I wasn't even that emotional because my heart wouldn't accept it at the time," Thompson told reporters in a video conference Sunday, prior to the Warriors' win over the Utah Jazz at Chase Center.
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"I was hoping for a calf strain or something, but I was just doing what I do every summer. I was in the weight room. I was getting shots up. I was doing two-a-days, and the stuff fans don't see. I was so eager to come back to the court after a year away."
Thompson was working out in anticipation of returning to the Warriors this season, after missing the entirety of the coronavirus pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season while recovering from a torn ACL. The 31-year-old sustained that injury in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, as Golden State lost the series and the final game at Oakland Arena to the Toronto Raptors.
Prior to that injury, Thompson had missed no more than 10 regular-season games in a single campaign. Thompson has missed only one playoff game with the Warriors, appearing in 120 straight before not playing in Game 3 of the 2019 Finals.
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Golden State Warriors
Thompson said Sunday he's able to keep that run in perspective after missing so much time, using it as a motivator rather than a reminder of how far he still has to go.
"Basketball for me, it's been my life," Thompson continued. "And to be without it for two years, it makes me appreciate the iron-man-like career I had up to this point, and hopefully I can get back to that."