Six championship rings, one father-son duo and a new city to prove himself in. Klay Thompson, the four-time NBA champion who just signed with the Miami Heat, has his sights set on something his dad already knows well.
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Father of four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson, Mychal Thompson, who won two NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, revealed the one piece of advice that he had told his son before he signed with a team with a reputation for discipline.
“Klay is Pat Riley’s type of player. Very mature, very adult, only cares about winning. But I did warn him. I said, ‘Listen, son. I don’t know how other teams handle it, but you cannot be late. If you’re a Pat Riley player, you got to be on time. And being early, I should say being on time is being late. You got to be early,'” Mychal said via 104.3 WQAM.
That caution holds credibility because of Riley’s many years of making his players in the Heat accountable to be on time and to be professional. It hurts even more because the introduction of Thompson himself into the city of Miami was delayed an hour due to traffic.
That issue of punctuality ties in with another story involving Thompson’s comfort level with Miami’s style of play. Draymond Green, who played with Thompson for years winning three championships together in Golden State, questioned Thompson’s suitability.
“I found it interesting when I saw they said Klay going to Miami. I was like, oh, that Heat Culture thing. I don’t know how that’s going to work for Klay, because Klay moves to the beat of his own drum. It’s no maliciousness to it, it’s just who Klay is,” Green said on his own show.
Green’s doubt is rooted in his personal experience. On one occasion, Thompson was caught sleeping during a practice session in December 2016. The next day, however, he scored 60 points in 29 minutes after dribbling the ball only 11 times; Green refers to this strategy of Thompson’s as the unorthodox method that helps get back on track.
Nevertheless, Thompson is ready for the challenge. In the interview published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel by Ira Winderman, Thompson talked about what lies ahead of him physically in Miami.
“A lot of players warn me about how tough it is, but I like hard stuff like that. Coming back from those injuries was harder than any conditioning drill or game I had to play,” Thompson said.
In the midst of playing for the Dallas Mavericks for two years while posting career lows of 11.7 points per game at just 39.3 percent shooting, Thompson opted for a two-year contract worth $11.5 million in Miami.
The second part of the advice from his father might clarify why. Mychal Thompson also talked about the urgency of his son’s decision as being part of a larger competition among his contemporaries.
“He loved basketball. He still has deep love and affection for the game. That’s number 1. Number 2, 4 rings. He’s desperate to get that 5th ring. So is Steph, so is LeBron,” Mychal said, via 104.3 WQAM.
The comparison is also statistically valid. Both Stephen Curry and LeBron James have won four rings, although Curry did it in one team, the Golden State Warriors, whereas LeBron did it in three different teams. Thompson is now trying to become an exception by attempting to win a fifth ring in a third team together with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.