Draymond Green ‘Might’ve Dropped A Couple Tears’ When Klay Thompson Told Him He Was Leaving Last Week

Klay Thompson’s departure from the Golden State Warriors in free agency wasn’t shocking, but it was a true end of an era moment. Thompson spent 13 years in the Bay, helping the Warriors to four titles alongside Stephen Curry and Draymond Green and forming one of the most formidable and longest tenured core groups in the NBA.

However, injuries derailed the past five years for Thompson and he has been open about his struggles to navigate a new role in Golden State, not yet being ready to cede his starting role to Jordan Poole, Brandin Podziemski, or whomever else it may have been. The result was some tension, and when the Warriors made clear they weren’t willing to pay him big money, he opted to find someone that wanted him a bit more. The result was a sign-and-trade with the Dallas Mavericks in which the Warriors netted a whole two second round draft picks and a trade exception.

On Tuesday, Thompson’s longtime teammates made their first public statements on the matter, with Stephen Curry posting a ton of photos to Instagram along with a touching message to Klay, ending it with “Splash Bros 4 life my guy.” Draymond Green, unsurprisingly, used his podcast to discuss Thompson’s departure, and noted that Klay talked with him (and Curry, separately) last week and let them know he was leaving the Bay.

As Green notes, he still isn’t sure how he feels about it. He said they reminisced about the good times they had and all they accomplished, and noted that some tears were shed. Green also stressed that he just tried to listen to Klay and let him know that he’s happy for him, and that this doesn’t change anything about their relationship, noting that’s “forever.” Now, he and Curry have to process it all and figure out how to move forward on the court with a different looking team around them, while Klay gets a bit of a fresh start in Dallas after some tough years and can perhaps find some clarity in what he’ll be for the last chapter of his career in a new place.