The time has come: Klay Thompson will make his long-awaited return with the Warriors on Sunday, January 9, when they host the Cavaliers.
Thompson has been out of the game for two full seasons after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament in the 2019 NBA Finals and his right Achilles tendon just prior to the 2020-21 season. The leading guard joins a Golden State team that already owns the best record in the NBA, hoping to surpass it as a title contender.
This means that Fantasy Basketball GMs who have used an IR point, a very valuable IR spot, given all the COVID-19 absences, in Thompson up to this point in the season will finally be rewarded for their patience.
While the Warriors have already announced that Thompson will not play back-to-back as part of his injury management plan, the three-time NBA champion will still add a lot of value to his team during the final stretch of the fantasy season and into the seasons. fantasy playoffs.
How will Thompson’s return affect his team and other Warriors players in Fantasy Basketball?
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Fantasy Basketball: The Impact of Klay Thompson’s Return
What can you expect from Thompson?
Although Thompson will not play consecutively, the Warriors only have six games on consecutive days for the remainder of the season. That means he should be a lot more available than, say, Kyrie Irving, who also recently returned.
MORE: What’s the fantasy impact of Kyrie’s return?
During Thompson’s last full season in 2018-19, he averaged 21.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals, in addition to scoring 3.1 3-pointers per game. Unsurprisingly, his shooting divisions were efficient, converting 46.7 percent from the field, 40.2 percent from 3 and 81.6 percent from the free throw line.
While it would be unfair to expect Thompson to return from a two-year absence and immediately average more than 20 points per game, I think he will eventually hit that mark this season.
If you play in a points league, you will make enough contributions across the board to add overnight value beyond just scoring. If you play in a head-to-head category league, it will be even more valuable as you can expect it to contribute to points, 3s, steals, field goal percentage, and free throw percentage. He also hasn’t averaged more than two turnovers per game during any season in his career, so he’ll help keep that number low as well.
It will be interesting to see how many minutes he’s capped at at the beginning of his comeback, but don’t let the first few performances discourage your perspective on Thompson. Once he’s back up to game speed, he’ll be a valuable cog in your playoff career.
Should you try changing Thompson?
If someone is willing to part ways with a player of equal or greater value with whom you won’t have to worry about rest nights or minute restriction, why not?
Thompson is a fan favorite – the kind of player anyone would love to have on their fantasy team. As mentioned above, I think it will have a strong impact on fantasy GMs during the final stretch of the season and will really catch up during the playoff push, but you may be able to trade him for a player who has no restrictions.
MORE: Fantasy Basketball: Time to part ways with injured stars like Zion and Kawhi?
With that being said, you’ll probably want to trade Thompson before he makes his debut to make the most of his true value. If not, you will likely have to wait until he is comfortable back on the pitch without limitations, which may not be until after your league’s trade deadline.
Which Warriors players are most affected by Thompson’s return?
Stephen CurryThompson’s fantasy value shouldn’t be affected at all by Thompson’s return. The same goes for Dramond Green, which is not on your list anyway due to his scoring production.
The two players who will be most affected by Thompson’s return are Andres Wiggins Y Jordan Poole.
While Wiggins is undoubtedly still worth listing, his score may suffer. As of this writing, he’s averaging 19.1 points and 2.3 triples per game, but he may not see 14.5 field goal attempts every night once Thompson takes the floor. Wiggins will still have his moments as a scorer, and he catches enough rebounds and records enough defensive counting stats to remain relevant to fantasy. I also don’t expect his playing time to take a hit, which bodes well for his production.
Poole, however, will be worth monitoring closely during Thompson’s early games.
Poole has been a microwave scorer for the Warriors all season and will be the number one choice to score on their second unit. Should you expect him to continue averaging 17.5 points and 2.6 3s per night? Probably not. But I still hope he has opportunities to make a fantasy impact as a scorer and 3-point shooter that also increases his free throw percentage and adds some assists and boards here and there.
Don’t drop Poole right away just because Thompson is ready to return. Wait and see how your minutes are affected, and then make a decision based on your production.
