Warriors: Bill Simmons disses Klay Thompson with insulting...

Warriors: Bill Simmons disses Klay Thompson with insulting Joe Harris comparison

In a recent podcast interview with Rob Mahoney, veteran sports analyst Bill Simmons wasn’t holding back while criticizing Golden

State Warriors star Klay Thompson.

For the most part, Klay Thompson has had a difficult 2023–24 season. Even if his numbers from his first 20 games with the Dubs this

season have improved over the past several weeks, he is still not as productive as he once was.

One of the better two-way players in the NBA during his prime is Thompson. He was a dangerous player because of his ability to get

hot quickly from deep, and opponents had more trouble dealing with him because of his defense. Thompson is still a reliable 3-point

shooter, but Simmons asserted that he has lost ground in other facets of his game and that’s all he is at this moment.

Simmons even went so far as to claim that Thompson is now merely the Warriors’ Joe Harris on the Brooklyn Nets, a guy whose only

responsibility is to shoot threes. Simmons persisted in his parallel, despite Mahoney’s defense of Thompson.

This season, Klay Thompson has averaged 17.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. His percentages are 42.3 percent overall and 38.7

percent from long range. In all honesty, this is only the second time in Thompson’s career that he has shot less than 40 percent; the

first was in 2021–2022, following his injury-plagued two-year sabbatical.

Although Thompson’s 17.4 points are only marginally higher than his averages from his first two NBA seasons, it is also his third-

lowest scoring performance of his career.

It’s true that Thompson has drastically declined. The Warriors have also had difficulty competing with the best teams in the conference alongside it.

However, Bill Simmons’ remarks seem a touch harsh. Thompson has, after all, previously demonstrated his ability to execute on a

large platform. And the Dubs need him in order to routinely contend for a postseason berth,

and that experience alone makes him a valuable addition.