© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
OAKLAND – The final two games of the 2019 NBA Finals included two of the most shocking injuries to two of the NBA’s best players. In Game 5, Kevin Durant tore his right Achilles, and in Game 6, Klay Thompson went down in the third quarter on a dunk attempt with what looked to be a serious knee injury.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the injury Thompson suffered was as serious as it appeared. According to Thompson’s agent Greg Lawrence through Wojnarowski, Thompson tore his left ACL.
Golden State’s Klay Thompson has suffered a torn ACL in his left knee, his agent Greg Lawrence tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 14, 2019
After tearing his ACL, Thompson limped down the tunnel and into the locker room. He came back minutes later to a rapturous applause from the Oracle Arena crowd to take two free throws:
Klay Thompson just came back out of the locker room and Oracle exploded pic.twitter.com/Lv8FoqimMn
— KNBR (@KNBR) June 14, 2019
According to head coach Steve Kerr, Thompson told him he’d only need “two minutes” of rest before he would be OK to come back. He was then ruled out for the night.
Steve Kerr says Klay told him he only needed “two minutes” of rest after walking off with a knee injury pic.twitter.com/KCJ0kT8AGa
— KNBR (@KNBR) June 14, 2019
The injury news is devastating and likely keeps Thompson out for most, if not all of next season, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
Eight-ish months for an ACL tear, on the very low end recovery wise, is mid-February. Gotta figure Klay Thompson is out until at least the All-Star break, if not all next season.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 14, 2019