Golden State Warriors: Does Klay Thompson Deserve An All-NBA Spot?

With NBA awards season approaching, does Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson deserve All-NBA honors?

When Klay Thompson dropped 40 points for the second game in a row a few nights back, it was tempting to go through with writing this piece about his All-NBA candidacy I’d been planning for weeks.

He had scored at least 32 points in three consecutive games, was on an absolute tear since the All-Star Break and it would have been all too easy to make some bad “Forgot About Dre” pun with Klay’s name substituted in.

The timing had never felt more right, but for the sake of not getting caught up in the moment, I decided to wait. After all, perhaps the argument for Thompson being deserving of an All-NBA spot will carry more weight after the Golden State Warriors sharpshooter posted a pedestrian 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting Tuesday night?

Make no mistake about it though: Timing aside, there’s a very strong case for Thompson to be the third Dubs player occupying one of those 15 All-NBA spots in this historic 2015-16 campaign.

The first two — Stephen Curry and Draymond Green — are obvious locks. Curry is heading for his second consecutive MVP Award, averaging 30.0 points, 6.6 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game on .505/.453/.903 shooting splits. He’s leading the league in scoring, plus/minus and is on pace to set the highest Player Efficiency Rating in NBA history.

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Green, meanwhile, is on pace to join Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, Grant Hill, Magic Johnson, John Havlicek and Fat Lever as the only players in NBA history to average at least 13.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game for a full season — all while doubling as the Warriors’ most versatile defender and heart and soul of a potential 73-win squad.

Both Curry and Green should be considered top MVP candidates and locks for All-NBA spots. But what about Klay Thompson, the second member of the fabled Splash Brothers who has somehow become underrated in the midst of Curry’s unprecedented season and Green’s meteoric rise?

On the season, Thompson is averaging 22.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting a scorching 47.2 percent from the field, 43.2 percent from three-point range and 87 percent from the foul line. Other than three-point percentage (off by 0.7 percent) and free throw percentage (short by 0.9 percent), those numbers are ALL career highs.

Klay Thompson’s recent shooting barrage certainly doesn’t hurt his All-NBA case either, as he’s ramping up his production at just the right time. Despite the Dubs coming out of the All-Star Break a bit flat, Thompson has been a walking flamethrower, averaging 25.3 points, 4.8 three-pointers and 4.4 rebounds per game on .475/.484/.964 shooting splits.

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All that unstoppable scoring earned Thompson Western Conference Player of the Week honors Monday, adding another award to his trophy case after winning the Three-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend.

Not only is Thompson leading the entire NBA — yes, even including Steph Curry — in made three-pointers for the month with 76, but he’s draining a blistering 48.4 percent of his 9.8 three-point attempts per game in that span. He’s reached the 30-point mark in five of the Warriors’ 16 March games, including four of his last seven.

Of course, this conversation is never just about how deserving a player is, because in this day and age, there are plenty of elite players who fit that description. The bigger question is, will Thompson secure a spot among so many talented peers?

With only three All-NBA teams made up of five players — two backcourt spots for guards and three frontcourt spots for forwards/centers — there’s a chance Thompson’s superb season could be overlooked.

Curry and Green will take up two spots, though Green’s status in the First Team or Second Team All-NBA remains to be seen. Triple-double machine Russell Westbrook and MVP candidate Kevin Durant form an Oklahoma City Thunder dynamic duo that could both earn First Team honors.

The San Antonio Spurs’ historic season will undoubtedly get Kawhi Leonard into the First Team category, and since LeBron James is still LeBron James, it’s hard to see him sliding to the Second Team.

Assuming the First Team is made up of Curry, Westbrook, Kawhi, KD and LeBron, Green will be dropped to Second Team honors. From there it gets more difficult to differentiate tiers, but suffice it to say there will be plenty of deserving candidates.

The Sacramento Kings won’t be playoff bound, but DeMarcus Cousins has been an absolute monster, averaging 27.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while knocking down 33.7 percent of his three-pointers.

Anthony Davis has been a beast as well, and though his New Orleans Pelicans have been one of the league’s most disappointing teams, it’s hard to argue with the 24-10-2-2-1 stat line he’s produced — not to mention the $24 million incentive voters have to give him his due.

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Paul George‘s comeback would be a bigger story if it weren’t for everything that all the guys in the First Team are doing, with the Indiana Pacers’ franchise star averaging 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game and basically carrying his team’s offense to the playoffs.

The Chicago Bulls are flirting with disaster, but Jimmy Butler has been sensational this season, averaging 21.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Likewise, while the Houston Rockets are teetering on the edge of the playoffs, James Harden is putting up Kobe Bryant-in-his-prime-esque numbers (28.6 PPG, 7.5 APG and 6.4 RPG).

Then there are the guys who have put up monster numbers while leading their teams to more impressive records, like Kyle Lowry (21.6 PPG, 6.5 APG and 4.8 RPG, with the Toronto Raptors being second in the East) and Chris Paul (19.8 PPG, 9.9 APG and 4.1 RPG, with the Blake Griffin-less Los Angeles Clippers sitting at fourth in the West).

We also can’t forget Damian Lillard in that same category, since his 25.4 points, 6.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game have improbably led the Portland Trail Blazers to the playoff picture.

We could go on and on. Isaiah Thomas is the leading scorer of a surprising Boston Celtics team; DeMar DeRozan is instrumental to Toronto’s success; Paul Millsap and Al Horford continue to be highly underrated; John Wall has been sensational after a lousy start; Carmelo Anthony is leading his team in points, rebounds and assists; Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki could be given lifetime nods considering their teams’ success; and you could even make a case for Karl-Anthony Towns on the Third Team.

Bearing all these names in mind, there are a grand total of 23 possibly deserving candidates for only 15 slots. However, Thompson also has an advantage over players who may have missed too many games (Davis, Butler), players lacking in the team success department (Boogie, Davis, Butler, Harden, Melo, Wall, KAT) and players who simply haven’t been as good with defense and perimeter shooting factored in (Thomas, DeRozan, Harden).

Thompson also has another advantage at his disposal: the positional versatility to be slotted on an All-NBA roster as a guard or a forward. Even if CP3, Lillard, Harden AND Butler received All-NBA nods at the guard position over Thompson, he’d still have a shot to get in with the frontcourt selections.

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Thompson may “only” wind up with Third Team honors, but even in a year with so many deserving stars, his two-way value and the Golden State Warriors’ historic success makes the situation ripe for Klay’s second All-NBA selection.