Gilbert Arenas still in shock over Klay Thompson move from Warriors – ClutchPoints

Despite Stephen Curry’s injury earlier in the week, the Golden State Warriors improved their record to 4-1 with wins over the New Orleans Pelicans, thanks in large part to the defensive prowess of Draymond Green. Although the Pelicans were also trailed in the second of the two game sets, it was still a sustained effort by the Warriors to perform so well without their best player in the lineup.

Of course, the Warriors are in their first year in more than a decade without Klay Thompson on the roster. Thompson defected to the Dallas Mavericks this offseason after a rough end to his tenure in Golden State and is off to a strong start for his new team.

Recently, former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas shared that he is still confused as to why the Warriors chose to let the future Hall of Famer walk, according to the Gil’s Arena Show podcast.

“I feel bad for Clay because last year he shot 38 percent from the three-point line, 43 from the field, 92 from the free throw line, averaged 18 points,” Arenas said. “If you take his name out of his stats, they all line up. “Give it to me.” 30, 40 million per year. Buddy Hield is playing very well right now. If you had Clay’s stats, you’d give that guy 120 (million). When you really want to do what he does, no matter what, you watch what you want to watch.

Indeed, some blamed Klay Thompson’s embarrassing scoreless performance against the Sacramento Kings in the playoff round last season as perhaps sticking too much in the Warriors’ minds because of the solid stats he put up all season.

What is the Warriors ceiling this year?

As Arenas pointed out, Buddy Hield has adapted quite well to the Warriors’ system under head coach Steve Kerr, including an epic fourth-quarter scoring spurt in Game 1 against the Pelicans.

Curry wasn’t necessarily superhuman in the first few games he was healthy, but he didn’t need to be as the Warriors’ depth was on full display in both contests.

Whether all of that will be enough to compete with some of the juggernauts in the Western Conference, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are one of the only remaining undefeated teams in the NBA, remains to be seen.

However, most Golden State fans will probably start the season 4-1, especially if you tell them that Curry will miss two of those games.