The Golden State Warriors are the reigning NBA Champions and a big reason why they have been successful is their ability to hit in the NBA Draft. It started with Stephen Curry, then Klay Thompson and finally Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green.
-== 8 Moves That Paved Way for Warriors’ NBA Title ==-
The Warriors have shown that you can build a contender through the draft as long as you do your due diligence and select the right players regardless if it’s a high or low pick.
It’s safe to say that the Warriors would not be in this position if it wasn’t for their excellent drafting ability. Today, we found out that the Splash Brothers almost didn’t happen. According to Mychal Thompson of ESPN 710 LA, the Cleveland Cavaliers tried to move up to the 7th pick in 2011 to draft Klay Thompson:
“They were trying to move to the seventh pick in that same draft after getting Kyrie and Tristan to try to draft Klay. Imagine they would have pulled that off.”
As you all know Mychal is Klay’s father, so he obviously knows more than the rest of us and this is definitely a surprising fact. The Warriors beat the Cavaliers because of their depth and that is exactly what Cleveland lacked in the NBA Finals. With Klay in Cleveland, they easily would be a much better team with him as the starting shooting guard.
Who would have the Warriors selected with the 11th pick that year with Klay off the board? Kawhi Leonard was still available, but it’s hard to say if the Warriors would have even gone in that direction. Would the Warriors be in this position without Klay Thompson as their starting two guard? Probably not, but luckily it didn’t happen.
Klay in a Cavaliers jersey? It wouldn’t look good. Besides, he probably is happy it turned out this way. He is a World Champion and the Bay Area is a much nicer place to live than Cleveland.