Klay Thompson on his All-Star candidacy: “We’re in first place. I think I deserve to be there…If I don’t make it, not the end of the world. Go to a beach, enjoy myself.” pic.twitter.com/DPY2czsv6j
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 24, 2019
Have you ever seen Klay Thompson bothered? It doesn’t happen often. The man is almost always cool, calm and collected, even when he does things like make 10-straight 3-pointers, like he did in his 44-point (on 17-of-20 shooting) performance against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.
Thompson has been an All-Star in each of his last four seasons, starting with the 2014-15 season and the beginning of the Warriors’ prolific title run. But Thompson’s rough start to the season has left his All-Star roster spot within a talent-heavy Western Conference. In terms of voting, Thompson sits fifth (1,120,675 votes) behind Russell Westbrook (2,090,432 votes), James Harden (2,315,093 votes), Derrick Rose (2,712,938 votes) and Stephen Curry (2,979,080 votes) according to the latest returns.
The reserve players (seven from each conference are voted in by NBA head coaches. That would almost certainly be Thompson’s path to the All-Star Game.
Despite the slow start, Thompson has been on a tear as of late and has raised his 3-point percentage back to 38.2 percent, which, if held through the end of the season, would be a career low, and the only time in his career that Thompson will have shot less than 40 percent from 3-point range on the year. Still, Klay said he deserves to be included on the All-Star roster.
“We’re in first place, I feel like I deserve to be there because our performance the last five years at the top of the standings, that’s not easy. I don’t know how many times that’s been done,” Thompson said. “If I don’t make it, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll go to a beach and enjoy myself.”
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