Klay Thompson doesn’t think his comments about LeBron James during the 2016 NBA Finals were a catalyst for Golden State’s eventual defeat.
In light of the scuffle between Draymond Green and LeBron James at the end of Game Four, Thompson said he was surprised that James took Green’s trash talk so personally. The rest is history, as Golden State went on to lose three straight after taking a 3-1 series lead.
A little over six months later, Thompson doesn’t think that his comments contributed to the Warriors blowing the series.
“I don’t think LeBron really went to sleep, pinned that up and used that for motivation. But if he did, it’s all right,” Thompson said, via Chris Haynes of ESPN. “We still had three opportunities to close it out, and we didn’t. So, I don’t think that was the game-changer.”
Thompson doesn’t have any regrets about how he handled the situation.
“No. Not at all,” Thompson said. “Because, at the end of the day, you have to go out there and do it on the court. It doesn’t matter what was said. We lost. We moved on. We’re excited about this year.”
To be honest, Thompson’s remarks were probably pretty low on James’s list of motivators. Bringing a title to Cleveland was probably atop the list, and what transpired with Green in the first place was probably a bigger deal to him than anything Thompson said.
