Warriors’ Klay Thompson yelled at Steve Kerr after getting benched, then apologized – Sports Dimond

Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson – four-time champion, five-time All-Star, gold medalist at both the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup, and future Hall of Famer – seems to be adjusting to his sixth-man role just fine. He exploded for 35 points in his first game off the bench since his rookie season, and over his past two games, he scored a total of 48 points in 58 minutes on 16-for-31 shooting (and 11-for-24 shooting from deep). 

“Just being able to still be out there playing with these guys, that in itself is amazing,” Thompson told ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. “It’s been a season of evolution.”

This is as healthy an attitude as the Warriors’ coaching staff could have hoped for when they made the change two weeks ago. That doesn’t mean, however, that Thompson welcomed it.

From ESPN:

Thompson initially didn’t take the news well. Kerr told ESPN that Thompson yelled at him and some of the assistants. Later, he came back to apologize to the coaches.

“It was not an easy conversation,” Kerr said. “This is maybe the hardest part about getting further away from our prime. It’s just, after 12 years [of Thompson starting], it wasn’t easy.

“And still moving forward, it’s not going to be easy. But I told him, ‘If you really embrace it, you can help your team win.’”

Kerr said the timing of the discussion ahead of the All-Star break would help Thompson process the news — a decision that he agreed with.

Thompson told ESPN that the All-Star break allowed him to have “a complete reset, a huge mental reset.” Kerr told ESPN that moving Thompson to the bench was “about finding the best version of our team.” All season, Kerr has been tweaking the rotation based on injuries, suspensions, and simply needing to find lineups that work together. Chris Paul, for the first time in his 19-year career, is coming off the bench. Kevon Looney lost his starting spot and has seen his minutes diminish. Andrew Wiggins was the sixth man for the better part of a month. Kerr said it has been “this big experimental phase,” which can be challenging for any team, let alone one full of battle-tested vets.