The crowd at the Chase Center welcomed 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer with thunderous applause and a standing ovation on Saturday. The tennis icon was in the Bay Area to unveil the location of his brainchild event, the 2025 Laver Cup. The eighth edition of the international event will be held in San Francisco, at the home of the Golden State Warriors. A victory for the San Francisco team would have been the perfect way to cap off his first visit to the Bay. However, despite Klay Thompson’s 27 points, the shorthanded Spurs outplayed the Warriors 126-113 at home.

After the game, Klay Thompson expressed his remorse for not being able to secure a win in the presence of the Swiss legend. “I met him [Roger Federer] in Shanghai in 2018 and he’s just super down to earth, especially with all the success he’s had, he doesn’t have to be and he’s just a really cool guy. I watched him my whole life growing up. It was awesome to have him in the building. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a win for him, but it was just cool to be in the presence of greatness,” said the Warriors star.

As Klay mentioned, he had previously met Roger Federer in China in 2018 during the Warriors’ preseason visit. After that meeting, Klay playfully challenged the tennis icon to a ping-pong game.

While we are not sure whether they settled that debate, the mutual respect between two of the best players in the world is evident. When asked to pick a favorite Golden State player, Federer did not miss a beat before replying, “I mean, Curry, Klay Thompson, I think they’ve been amazing.”

The Warriors feel Stephen Curry’s absence

The Warriors’ offense was expected to dip in Stephen Curry‘s absence, but no one anticipated a drop-off of this magnitude. With this recent setback, the Warriors are now 0-4 without Steph in the game and have now lost three of their last four. Despite Klay Thompson and Jonathan Kuminga combining for 53 points, they were no match in front of the bottom-ranked Spurs.

Interestingly, the Spurs were without two of their best players, Wemby and Devin Vassell, on Saturday. To put things in perspective, the Spur’s 23rd-ranked defensive rating of 118.7 plummets to 124.6 without Wemby in the game. This figure is worse than that of the worst defensive team in the league. Moreover, Vassell, one of the best scorers and playmakers on the Spurs team this season, was also ruled out due to a hip injury. To add to it, the Spurs are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league. Yet, they went 17-for-33 from beyond the arc for this game.

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Despite the loss, Klay Thompson holds an optimistic attitude. “Tonight was unfortunate; I got myself in foul trouble and had three turnovers. That’s inexcusable, and I’ll be better Monday,” said KT. With just 19 games remaining and no set timeline for Stephen Curry’s return, the Warriors need a concrete plan as they try to snag a playoff spot.

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