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I recently got the chance to witness Klay Thompson in an Achilles-specific rehab. Now, Thompson doesn’t like to be filmed when he’s rehabbing and made it known once again, ergo I was not able to get video. In the 2019-20 season he yelled at an NBC Sports Bay Area cameraman for filming him pregame. You know, the one with the headband. The cameraman filmed him from a distance anyways and when I saw that, I also did the same. But all in all Klay doesn’t like his workouts to be recorded, so it’s not that he hates me, although that’s definitely what the Kool-Aid bullies on #WarriorsTwitter will tell you as they continue the assassination on my character on that app.
In any case, I do believe I’m probably one of only maybe two dozen people on the planet to have seen him run through a workout that specifically stress-tests that right Achilles’ tendon and I wanted to share as much as I could with my subscribers. I might also eventually make this article free after some time has passed, as Shams Charania tweeted late last week that Klay is now cleared for “full practice”. We’ll see. Btw I got confirmation from a source that Shams’ tweet does, indeed, mean Klay can go 5-on-5 full contact in scrimmages.
I’ve mentioned before that most of LGW’s content goes on our YouTube. Our near-daily output of videos from workouts and practice and morning shootarounds are really popular right now and that’s been my focus, so apologies for the delay between website posts. I have also been posting my “notes & quotes” compilations from interview sessions on our Discord server, not having the available time to copy-and-paste them or run a live thread here, unfortunately. Like the Warriors themselves, we’ll figure that one out as we go; I might be able to do more interview live threads on this site.
1v1 to catch-and-shoot to full-court sprint
I was the only media member last Monday, October 11 waiting for the gym doors of Oracle Performance Center to open that day. With the COVID protocols, traditional reporters have been opting for the Steve Kerr interviews first and foremost, as they should be. However, with all the concerts happening at Chase Center and stricter security on such days, often times that means the backup location for those Q&As is all the way up at Sky Bar, the lounge on the ninth floor of Chase Center which can be rented out for weddings and corporate events as it has a patio and a gorgeous view of the Bay Bridge and downtown skyline. This also means that the interviews are further away and harder to get to.
When I was let in, no Warriors players were on the court except for Klay, in his old No. 1 Washington State Cougars reversible practice jersey. After all, the plane was scheduled to leave at 2:00PM for Los Angeles and the team was already pushing on 12:45PM as they concluded workouts. I had waited about an hour to get in, which is actually pretty standard fare in sports journalism (the old adage of “hurry up and wait”).
So upon entering, as I mentioned before, in the near-empty gym I lifted my iPhone to film Klay as he appeared on the near court the moment the doors were opened, but he immediately yelled, “Don’t record me!”