- Programming Note: Watch "Warriors Now" with Zena Keita and Monte Poole at 4 p.m. PT today from Chase Center, streaming live on the NBC Sports app. Watch the show later on YouTube and Facebook.
No matter how deep one dives into the history of the NBA, they won’t find a more decorated teammate tandem than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the twin pillars of the remarkable Chicago Bulls dynasty that won six championships.
Jordan and Pippen were excellent as individuals but incredible as a duo. Though their offense was superb, it was their role as lead dogs in Chicago’s famed “Doberman” defense that formed the backbone of those teams. Michael and Scottie, all arms and legs and sinewy athleticism, spent 691 games terrorizing opposing offenses.
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Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, just as symbiotic, spent 666 games as Golden State Warriors teammates doing the same thing to opposing defenses.
Just as there has never been paired wings as menacing as Jordan and Pippen, there have not been paired guards more perfectly suited to abuse defenses than the pair that earned their “Splash Brothers” nickname.
That is among several reasons why Thompson deserves the warmest of welcomes Tuesday night when as a member of the Dallas Mavericks he takes the floor at Chase Center to face Curry and the Warriors. Curry is Golden State’s undisputed franchise player, No. 1 on the list of distinguished greats, but Klay’s presence was an essential component in Steph reaching that stature.
Put simply, each reached his peak largely due to the existence of the other.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors plan an elaborate celebration of Thompson’s Golden State career that includes each fan entering the building receiving a captain’s cap, as Klay often did on the boat he sometimes used to commute to practice and games. The cap will feature a Warriors logo. Curry will be wearing such a cap, eventually doffing it as a signal to each fan to follow suit.
There will be the perfunctory tribute video, presumably lasting about one minute. Perhaps it should be one minute and 11 seconds – a nod to Thompson’s No. 11 jersey number and when he was selected in the 2011 NBA draft.
Honestly, though, the Warriors easily could fill Chase by producing and screening a full hour of video showing nothing more than highlights from the careers of Curry and Thompson. Their well of symbiotic excellence, set to music, would be met with chills and tears and gilded memories of what was.
And what might never be again, for Curry is a generational talent and Thompson is a picture-perfect shooter whose hottest streaks surpassed even the feats of his longtime partner. Thompson with a record 37 points in a quarter, on 13-of-13 shooting, including 9-of-9 from beyond the arc – another record. Klay owns the single-game record of 14 triples, shattering a record previously owned by Curry – who served up the assist on Thompson’s 14th.
Fans often marvel over the court chemistry between Draymond Green and Curry, as illustrated by Draymond’s 611 assists on Steph’s 3-pointers. The only duo with a higher total as teammates in the 21st century? Curry to Thompson, with 622.
There have been plenty of great NBA backcourts. Detroit’s Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. Boston’s Bob Cousy and Sam Jones. New York’s Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe. Jerry West and Gail Goodrich of the Lakers. More recently, San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Ten men, all in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, and none of them appeared as teammates in five consecutive All-Star games – and landed the NBA Finals in all five seasons.
That feat is unique to the pair of future Hall of Famers from Golden State.
It was 11 years ago that Mark Jackson, then head coach of the Warriors, made a bold statement about Curry and Thompson that raised eyebrows around Planet Hoops.
“In my opinion, they are the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game,” Jackson said in April 2013.
Curry had turned 25 one month earlier. Klay had turned 23 two months earlier – and had only one full season as a starter. They were ridiculously young to receive such lofty praise from someone like Jackson, a point guard who played in the NBA for 17 years, ranks sixth on the career assists list and was an All-Star in 1989.
Jackson’s words, considered by some as manufactured hyperbole, have become gospel. There is no argument. Indeed, the Curry-Thompson backcourts sits alone as the best ever to do it together, and not only offensively. They lifted a franchise from ordinary to iconic and became global celebrities.
Thompson arrived in the Bay Area 13 years ago, coming out of Washington State University. He became a full-time starter, alongside Curry, in his second season. He blossomed into an all-time great, a Warriors legend and a Bay Area sports icon.
Stand for Klay. Salute Klay. Cheer for Klay. As he shares an embrace with Steph before tipoff let him know that despite his thorny departure, he’ll always be loved by Dub Nation.