SAN FRANCISCO — The sentimentality barely registered this time. The warmth decreased. The moments dwindled to a few. A pregame hug from Steph Curry. A respectful ovation from the Chase Center crowd. Quick postgame hugs.
The NBA designed Thursday as a holiday reunion, an intentional strumming of vibes. But not even acrimony showed up. Klay Thompson felt far from the Golden State Warriors in this, his fourth game in the Bay as a visitor with the Dallas Mavericks.
On Christmas Eve, Steve Kerr called the Warriors a fading dynasty. Then Klay returned, and it felt like one of the pillars of the dynasty was disappearing from the family photo.
He was the quintessential Warrior, the embodiment of the era’s aura. It made him beloved in these parts. His legend, his love, seemed inextricable from Golden State’s ethos. But on the day when the sappiness turns all the way up and affection takes center stage, only remnants remained between Thompson and the Warriors.
“They are an opponent,” Thompson said. “Why would I look at any other team other than the Mavericks like that? It’s just the nature of the business.”
The internet floated the idea of Thompson and the Warriors reuniting. The Warriors need shooting. The Mavericks need to press the reset button. Klay went to Dallas to play with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. He’s now backing up Naji Marshall and running with Brandon Williams in the second unit.
Klay’s salary is workable at $16.7 million this season and $17.5 million next. The Warriors have pieces to move. The stage seemed primed for a homecoming.
But the Warriors’ 126-116 win over Dallas provided little in the form of desire from either party.
Curry — who’s turned his sneaker free agency into an episodic storyline — played in Thompson’s KT 11 Anta shoes. He’s been using his shoe selection as odes, to cities and players and memories. So honoring his Splash Brother meshed with Curry’s podiatric fashion trends.
It ended the day as the only overt gesture of Thompson’s enduring place in Golden State lore. Yet another reminder of how the Warriors’ grandeur keeps shrinking in the rearview. What once felt permanent now feels archived.
“I’ll never get used to seeing Klay on the other side,” Kerr said. “I miss Klay. I wish he was still here.”
This day was supposed to be about Klay. Instead, the mending between Klay’s former teammate and coach took precedence.
This week unfolded with a heated exchange between Draymond Green and Kerr, a throwback clash. Early in the third quarter of Tuesday’s win over the Orlando Magic, Green left the bench and marched himself to the locker room to cool down after an argument with Kerr in the huddle. He didn’t play the rest of the game.
Kerr took the blame for the exchange and said they both apologized to the team. Perhaps fueling the rift, at least in part, was the urgency. The Warriors look to, again, punctuate their historic era. And the frustrations of their struggles to start the season fed the angst that bubbled over.
Expectations can be heavy. The past can haunt as much as it helps.
“I like that,” said Jimmy Butler, who sat in the huddle and seemed to not react to the exchange. “Y’all yell at each other. Turned me on a little bit. I’m not gon’ even lie. I like that. I like the confrontation. It’s good for us.”
The Warriors chase what they had, motivated by what they built. But even if they make their way back to the mountaintop, it will be as much because of what’s next than what was. Perhaps the closer they get to embracing that, the better their chances of getting where they want to go.
This day was supposed to be about Klay, but the determination of De’Anthony Melton mattered more. The veteran guard represents the turn of the page from Thompson. Melton’s ability to play both ends makes him invaluable.
Melton joins Brandin Podziemski as the Warriors’ secondary playmakers. Their penetration and shotmaking prove crucial against defenses that concede driving lanes in the name of chasing Curry. Melton, who missed most of last season with an ACL tear, had been struggling mightily with his offense. But he kept attacking the paint, putting up 14 shots, refusing to leave the game without something to feel good about on offense.
His final 3-pointer with 50.2 seconds remaining served as a dagger for the Mavericks. Melton raised his hands to the heavens. Melton missed 26 of his 30 attempts from behind the arc before that make.
“I’m just tryna keep working through it,” Melton said. “I think, definitely, my conditioning has gotten better. Before, in my first five minutes of the game, I feel like I’m ready to pass out. But now, I feel a lot better, I feel like I can play a lot longer.”
No, this day was not about Klay, or the memories he delivered, or the greatness he poured into the foundation of this San Francisco edifice. Seeing him back in the boat on the Bay, with his girlfriend, Megan Thee Stallion, drummed up the nostalgia. But perhaps it highlighted the degree to which it’s different now. Formerly the visual shorthand for the essence of the Warriors, with his shooting and stoicism and flair for the spectacular, he only exists as a Warrior in the gloried past and the ceremonious future. Not even the impotence of his Mavericks tenure could revive the nostalgia.
The return was framed as a moment. Last season, Thompson’s first game as a foe ended with Curry screaming at the camera. His next visit, Thompson caught fire and burned the Warriors for 29. But for this visit, Thompson’s only one this season, the sparks already died. He scored seven points off the bench, going 1 of 4 on 3s. What remained wasn’t longing or tension. But acceptance.
The Warriors’ concerns now revolve around settling their lineup and upgrading the roster by the trade deadline. No longer preserving what they were but managing what they are. Thompson’s history remains foundational but no longer informs the present. It no longer reopens wounds or generates energy. Because the next version of the Warriors can’t be built by revisiting the past ones. Not even for Klay.
“Probably all the good times,” Thompson said when asked what he thinks about when visiting his old home. “Record-breaking nights. Championships. All that good stuff.”
This Christmas, it felt much longer ago.