Warriors welcome Klay Thompson back to Chase Center with tribute video, captain hats

SAN FRANCISCO — The salute to “Captain Klay” was emotional, punctuated with white captain hats and featured perhaps an unprecedented celebration for a former player who chose to leave a franchise.

Klay Thompsonan original author of the Golden State Warriorsreturned to the Bay Area on Tuesday night for the first time with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks. The Bay Area’s welcome home was extensive, but so were Thompson’s contributions to the team that drafted him and its legions of fans.

“You have to be one who hangs four championship banners and does it in a way that captures the hearts of fans,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who coached Thompson during his Golden State career.

The Warriors passed out captain hats to fans at Tuesday’s game to celebrate an original Splash Bro who used to drive his boat to home games. The Mavericks were introduced first as the visiting team, and after Dallas’ other four starters were announced, a standard video tribute celebrating Thompson’s wildly successful career with the Warriors played.

The video, dubbed “Salute to Captain Klay” concluded and was followed by a roof-raising intro of the captain himself, who walked alone (as in, sans teammates, he was surrounded by a horde of cameras) around the court showing his appreciation for the outpouring of support. Fans took off their white hats and waved them in Thompson’s direction.

Klay Thompson is forever a legend in The Bay. pic.twitter.com/vuVGpTwTYg

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 13, 2024

The hats were out in full force nearly 2 1/2 hours before tip-off when dozens of Warriors employees wore them while greeting Thompson as he got off the Mavericks’ bus.

Cheers could be heard from outside the building and again when Thompson walked through the loading dock and into the visitors’ locker room. He smiled, nodded and placed his hands together in appreciation of the gesture.

Klay Thompson arrives at Chase Center to a line of 400 employees in captain hats pic.twitter.com/hAtHSspAJu

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 13, 2024

Still, all the love for Thompson in San Francisco didn’t seem fit for a relationship that ended in divorce. That’s what happened after Thompson, 34, joined the Mavs on a three-year, $50 million contract as part of a six-team sign-and-trade deal over the summer after his relationship with the Warriors faded last season.

“In the end, I think he made the right choice,” Kerr said. “I think he needed a fresh start. I think he needed a kind of a new set of surroundings. And I think that was apparent last year. He was not happy. And that was hard to see because he deserves to be happy.”

Thompson made five All-Star appearances and six NBA Finals trips with Golden State, missed two years due to devastating leg injuries that stemmed from a torn ACL during the 2019 finals and was a pillar of the Warriors’ dynasty with Curry and Draymond Green. Thompson set an NBA record with 37 points in a quarter in 2015, set a record with 14 3s in a 2018 game and scored a career-best 60 points in a 2016 game.

Thompson still averaged 17.9 points on 38.7 percent shooting from 3-point range last season but fell out of the starting lineup. He was not on the floor in crucial moments at the end of games as the year wore on, which led him to choose free agency over negotiating a new deal with Golden State.

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Thompson declined to speak to reporters Tuesday morning. When he last spoke publicly, after Dallas’ loss Sunday to Denverhe said facing the Warriors for the first time would be “just another regular-season game in November.”

If you believe that, well, the Golden Gate Bridge is for sale.

“We all try to downplay what we’re going into, especially playing against our former teams,” said Thompson’s Mavericks teammate Kyrie Irvingwho knows a thing or two about reunion games. “But as competitors, we all feel it. It’s emotions that are high end, but it’s basketball at the end of the day. (There are) a lot of things that happen behind the scenes no one will ever know about but (Thompson) was still ultra, ultra successful here. And I just want it to be a warm reception for him and all of us.”

Thompson is averaging 13.8 points and shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point range in 10 games — all starts — alongside Irving and perennial MVP candidate Luka Dončić this season.

“I think he’s happy (now),” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “As an athlete, your career has a start and has an end. And as you get older you get closer to the end. That’s just the nature of being an athlete. And so for Klay, I think he’s happy. Sometimes change is better for both sides. Both sides win — Klay wins, the Warriors win and you move forward.”

This story will be updated.

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(Photo: Cary Edmondson / Imagn Images)