Klay Thompson

Klay Thompson: biography

Klay Alexander Thompson, an American professional basketball player, performing for the Golden State Warriors, in the NBA, is thought to be one of the most successful and talented sportsmen worldwide. The player has got lots of awards and nominations. Let's know more about his personality and career!

Childhood and youth

Klay Thompson was born on February 8, 1990 in Los Angeles, California. Klay's father, Mychal Thompson, is the former NBA player. Being a college student, he played for the college team. In 2011 the Golden State selected him in the first round of the NBA draft.

His mother, Julie Thompson, was also keen on sport: in college, she played volleyball.

One of the most popular questions about Thompson is: what are Thompson's race and ethnicity? Considering that his mother comes from Europe and father has American-Caribbean roots, Klay is of mixed-race.

Thompson has two brothers: the elder one's name is Mychel, he was the player of the basketball team for the Pepperdine University and has played in the NBA Development. Klay's younger brother, in his turn, today is playing for the Chicago White Sox.

When Klay was 2, the family changed the place of living: they moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon. There boy met a good friend who would later become his NBA colleague - Kevin Love. 12 year later, at the age of 14, Klay with parents moved to Ladera Ranch, California. There Thompson entered Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita and graduated in 2008. Being a student, he played basketball and showed astonishing results. The player got the titles of Division III State player of the year, League MVP, first-team Best in the West.

Having entered Washington State University, Thompson joined the university basketball team. He recorded 12,5 points on average.

Being a sophomore, Thompson was the leader of the Cougars team. He helped the club play successfully in the Great Alaska Shootout Championship and managed to set a record of 43 points per game. It was the remarkable moment of the WSU history. Then Klay Thompson reached 1000 points and subsequently entered the All-Pac-10 team. He was noted by the team's government and was nominated for the John R. Wooden Award. At the end of the season, Thompson improved the average results to 19,6 points per game.

In the next season, Thompson was the head of the All-Pac-10 team and led it to various awards and nominations. Klay became the third junior player to win first-team all-district honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches twice in his career.

Moreover, he became the first player in the Cougars club who has ever been called Pac-10 Player of the Week three times. In this season Klay averaged 43 points and 8 three-pointers. In general, in the season Thompson recorded 733 points.

Professional basketball career

After that season, Thompson applied for the participation in the NBA draft in 2011. The Golden State Warriors chose him. The club's general manager Larry Riley noted that Thompson has a talent for shooting.

Unfortunately, the NBA didn't choose Thompson as a participant of the 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend Rising Stars Challenge. However, due to it, the player started improving the results and then recorded 12,5 points, 2,5 rebounds, 1,5 assists, steals, and turnovers per game. So, in the next season, in the match against the Boston Celtics, he made high results: 26 points. One week later, the results became better: 27 points. It was the match against the New Orleans Hornets. At the end of the season, the first NBA team NBA All-Rookie chose the player to join them.

On January 29, 2013, in the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Thompson set a record of 32 points. The team's coacher Mark Jackson called Thompson and his mate Stephen Curry to be the best shooting duo in NBA history. In the season these two players recorded 483 points together, becoming the first NBA duet to do it. The Golden State Warriors won the match against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs. So, on May 8, 2013, the team faced the San Antonio Spurs. In the game, Thompson set a new career record of 34 points and 14 rebounds.

However, his team later lost six matches against the Spurs.

In the first match of the 2013-2014 season, the player improved his results: he got 38 points, including 5-of-7 three-pointers. Together with the colleague Stephen Curry, they set a new record, breaking the one they had established a year before. So, they recorded 484 combined threes on the season. In the season Thompson recorded 18,4 points, 3,1 rebounds and 2,2 assists on average. The player helped the Warriors enter the 2014 NBA playoffs. They faced the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round but lost seven matches.

On October 31, 2014, the Golden State Warriors signed a four-year contract with the player. The next day, Thompson showed the best career result: he recorded 41 points in the winning match against the Los Angeles Lakers. On January 23, 2015, the record was beaten again: Thompson set a result of 52 points. Due to his perfect game, the player became a reserve for the 2015 Western Conference All-Star team for the first time in career.

On March 8, 2015, Thompson made 3 three-pointers in the game against the Los Angeles Clippers and passed head coach Steve Kerr on the NBA's all-time list. On March 17, the player got injured: the doctors stated a sprained ankle. After the recovering, Klay got back to games and finished second in league with 239 three-pointers. By the way, his mate Curry also improved his results and set a new record of 286 three-pointers. Together they managed to score 525 three-pointers. On June 7, Thomspon made 34 points in the playoff game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The next six matches turned out to be successful for his team: the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers and won the Championship. The Warriors had not had such results for already 40 years.

The 2015-2016 season was one of the best seasons for Thompson in terms of his results. On December 26, Klay recorded 27 points in the win over the Phoenix Suns. On January 8, Thompson showed the third game where he recorded more than 30 points: in this match against the Portland Trail Blazers he made 36 points. On January 27, the player astonished the spectators again: he recorded 45 points in the win over the Dallas Mavericks. He was noted and later called a Western Conference All-Star reserve for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. In the next match, on March 25, he recorded 40 points. Two days later the sportsman made 40 points again: it was the fight against the Philadelphia 76ers. On April 7, Thompson scored 14 points in the game with the San Antonio Spurs. As a result, the Golden State Warriors became the second team in the NBA history to win 70 matches of a season.

In the Western Conference, the first Warriors' opposers were the Houston Rockets team. There Thompson became the first NBA sportsman to record at least seven three-pointers in playoffs. The sportsman's skills led the team to the second round. However, later they had to play without Curry who had got injured.

The second round marked the Thompson's team's victory: they defeated the Portland Trail Blazers and reached the Western Conference Finals. There they fought against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Warriors beat them with the score 108-101. Unfortunately, the team lost the NBA final match to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The next, 2016-2017 season also became successful for Thompson.

So, on December 5, 2016, the player recorded 60 points in 29 minutes and led the team to the win over the Indiana Pacers. Also, as a result of such a perfect game, Klay was called the first NBA player to record 60 points in less than 30 minutes of fighting. In this season Klay made the highest results in the career: he became the first Warriors' player to record 60 points since Rick Barry did it on March 26, 1974. On March 26, the player took part in 2017 NBA All-Star Game, but was excluded in the first round. On April 4, 2017, Thompson recorded 41 points in the match against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was his 10th game where he has managed to score 40 points.

At the end of the season 2017, Thompson helped the team win the Championship. In the final game, they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers and defeated them with the score 4-1.

The next season the sportsman started with scoring 29 points in the match against the Detroit Pistons. As a result, he became the 11th person in the Warriors to have 9000 points. On January 17, 2018, Thompson made 38 points in the game against the Chicago Bulls. Later he was called the 10th player to score 10000. In March he got seriously injured: he broke right thumb. His fans from around the globe were looking for news about the injury update. The sportsman underwent surgery and got back to playing on March 31, 2018.

Today Thompson is still playing for the Golden State Warriors on the position of shooting guard. Because of his perfect skills, the team does not think about a trade. Thompson's current salary is $18,988,725.

Personal life

Klay Thompson has a long, complicated dating history. So, Thompson's betrayal became the reason for breaking up with his ex-girlfriend Hannah Stocking, Internet star. She has several millions of followers on Instagram and Youtube and is famous for funny videos and sexy photos.

The woman dated with Thompson in 2015, but their relationship wasn't so long. Although some sources reported that Hannah was his wife, the truth is that Thompson has never been married. The couple broke up when Stocking caught the sportsman in a bed with another girl. She wrote it on her Twitter but later deleted the post. Their break-up was noisy; people from other countries commented and discussed it on the Internet.

After splitting up with Hannah, he went on a dinner date with college basketball player Tiffany Suarez.

Several months later, the media published articles about the affairs between Thompson and Abigail Ratchford, an American model and actress. However, the sportsman didn't confirm the rumors. The story started when the girl published a photo where she was in Thompson's bedroom with his dog.

The next Klay's “girlfriend” became Cherise Sandra, Los Angeles Rams cheerleader. When she published a photo with the sportsman in his house with the words: “You & Me Baby,” the Internet was exploded by people's curiosity. Nevertheless, Thompson denied that they were dating.

Another gossip said that Thompson dated with Chris Brown’s ex, Karrueche Tran. The woman shared with media that the sportsman had been spying on her trying to make love. Thompson denied all the information, saying that he had no idea who this girl was.

Career stats

NBA:

1. 2011-2012 season. 66 played games, 2.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, 12.5 points per game.
2. 2016-2017 season. 78 played games, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists per game, 8 steals, 5 blocks, 22.3 points per game.
3. 2017-2018 season. 73 played games, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 8 steals, 5 blocks, 20.0 points per game.

Accomplishments and awards

Klay Thompson has got lots of awards and nominations, such as:

• 3× NBA champion: 2015, 2017, 2018;
• 5× NBA All-Star: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019;
• 2× All-NBA Third Team: 2015, 2016;
• NBA Three-Point Contest champion: 2016;
• NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2012;
• NBA regular season record for most points scored in a quarter;
• NBA regular season record for most three-pointers made in a game;
• NBA record for most three-pointers made in a single playoffs;
• NBA playoff record for most three-pointers made in a game.

Interesting facts

• Interestingly, the player couldn’t take part in a regular WSU season cause he was accused of marijuana possession.
• After the winning of the NBA Championship in 2015, player and his father became the 4th duo of son and dad to win the NBA title. Other duets were Matt Guokas, Sr. and Jr.; Rick and Brent Barry; and Bill and Luke Walton.
• Thompson has an unusual, sometimes strange sense of humor.

• He has a favorite pet - an English bulldog named Rocco.
• Also, Thompson does some charity work. So, in 2017 he donated $1000 to Northern California wildfires, for every point he scored in home games against the Washington Wizards.
• Thompson is keen on playing chess. He has even met with the chess world champion, Magnus Carlsen.
• Today the jerseys and shoes with Thompson's name are trendy. If you are Klay's fan, you can buy it in every online sports shop.

• There is a popular Internet meme about Thompson's look alike. On October 17, 2017, YouTuber BigDawsTV attended the Golden State Warriors' opening game against the Houston Rockets dressed as Warriors star player Klay Thompson. Quickly, Twitter users noticed and a shot of BigDawsTV holding a camera went viral on the website.
• Klay's net worth is $38 million.