Klay Thompson

Thompson's goal to play ‘as many games' as possible this season

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Nearly three years removed from a significant injury, Warriors guard Klay Thompson hopes to completely shed the restrictions placed on his playing time over the last couple of seasons.

After Friday morning shoot-around at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Thompson explained that he has lofty aspirations for the amount of games he aims to play in during the 2023-24 NBA season.

"That's the plan, to play as many games as possible," Thompson said. "Hopefully, that's towards the high 70s. That would be a goal of mine. 82 might be hard, but why not shoot for high 70s. I mean, I'm healthy, the healthiest I've been in so many years. So I'm just going to do everything I can to play in as many games as possible, try to make up for lost time."

Thompson has not played in over 70 regular-season games since the 2018-19 NBA season, when he appeared in 78 before tragically tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

After appearing in just 32 games during the 2021-22 NBA season, Thompson more than doubled that number last season, suiting up for 69 games while averaging 21.9 points for the Dubs.

While Thompson didn't light up the scoreboard in Tuesday's season-opening loss to the Phoenix Suns, his defensive effort earned high praise from coach Steve Kerr.

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The 36 minutes Thompson played against Phoenix led all Warriors players, an encouraging sign that Thompson's desired workload is a realistically attainable goal.

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