Christmas Day wasn’t Klay Thompson’s first time playing at Chase Center as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, but each time the Warriors legend returns is a special occasion for Dub Nation and his former teammates.
That admiration was on display during a moment in warmups, hours before Golden State’s eventual 126-116 win Thursday, when the ex-Warriors guard and Steph Curry met up for a pregame handshake — an interaction that elicited cheers from the Bay Area crowd.
The moment wasn’t lost on Curry, who won four NBA championships with his fellow Splash Bro over the course of 13 years before Thompson departed for the Mavericks in a sign-and-trade following the 2023-24 season.
“Yeah, [Warriors fans] don’t miss a thing for sure, especially the Splash Bros out there,” Curry told reporters after the game. “Very sentimental moment, I’m sure, any time we’re in the same space, Draymond [Green] included, so that was cool, for sure.”
The reunion came just one day after Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted Golden State is a “fading dynasty.” Both Curry and Thompson were key to those golden days, but facing each other on different teams at ages 37 and 35, respectively, certainly puts things into perspective for the Warriors point guard.
But Curry knows both he and Thompson still are capable of accomplishing more, no matter how quickly Father Time is ticking.
“It will never be normal, you know, seeing [Thompson] somewhere else, but it’s also — we’re all trying to deal with the here and now,” Curry said. “And we’re such competitors that no matter what position you’re in or situation you’re in with your teams, you still feel like you can win and you have a lot to accomplish. So, it’s a great reminder of the journey, but you don’t really put too much extra emphasis on it.
“That time will come down the road.”
There’s no saying for sure when Curry or Thompson will hang up their sneakers. But the memories they’ve made together — and the memories Dub Nation has made watching them play with and now against each other — certainly will live on forever.
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