Serge Ibaka (DR) / NBA (DR)
Not sure that we will ever see a doublet like the one composed of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, as this one is exceptional. However, everything was not necessarily obvious from the start, as the rear confided recently. The story he told ESPN is quite fascinating.
Impossible to approach the last 12 years in the NBA without mentioning the duo formed by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, let alone on the Warriors side. Between them, they have simply revolutionized the game practiced in the big league, bombarding opposing defenses with three points. All with success, since they won three rings between 2015 and 2018. A legendary duo, called the Splash Brothers by the basketball community.
However, more than their crazy performances, it is the unique nature of their association that marks the spirits. The two men do not just find each other with their eyes closed on the pitch, they also evolve in total osmosis and are great friends. When Killa Klay broke his teammate’s three-point shooting record in a game in 2018, it was the two-time MVP himself who stuffed him with caviar to make it happen. The sign of a deep understanding between these two men, both drafted by the Dubs.
Klay: “We didn’t talk to each other for the first 3 years”
Arriving in the NBA in 2009, the Chief saw his backcourt partner arrive two years later, and that’s where it all started. However, as the number 11 recently admitted, the chemistry outside the courts took a little time to develop. In fact, it wasn’t on the Bay side that it happened, but on a trip with Team USA to the Orange Ball Worlds on the Iberian Peninsula, which the Americans won :
« We really didn’t get to know each other until about our third year in the league. … That summer of 2014 kind of glued us together. »
Klay Thompson spoke with @malika_andrews on his bond with Steph Curry pic.twitter.com/PKTCG6cfnM
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 13, 2022
We didn’t really get to know each other until our third year in the league. We were both very quiet. And I think that trip with USA Basketball to Spain helped, we played a lot of golf, we drank sangria in Barcelona. I think he’ll say the same thing, but that summer of 2014 kind of stuck with us and we just became good friends after that.
There are a lot of things we do on the pitch that just seem to be in sync with each other. We don’t even think about it, it’s like second nature.
The least we can say is that hanging out together for a few weeks had exceptional effects on their results afterwards. It is indeed following this competition that they won their first title, coach Steve Kerr also landing in California. The birth of a dynasty of which they are still at the head today.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson didn’t necessarily click right away, but it didn’t take them that long to become inseparable. The Warriors can rejoice, having one of the best duos of all time.