Klay Thompson, Warriors reportedly targeting January home game for star's return

The Warriors and sharpshooter Klay Thompson are circling January home games for an ideal return date, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Woj specifically mentions two dates as possibilities: Jan. 9 against Cleveland and Jan. 18 versus Detroit. He says a third date, Jan. 3 against Miami, is unlikely, but possible.

This aligns with a report from Thursday that stated Thompson would return after Christmas. Thompson is currently in the process of ramping up his conditioning, so his return timeline remains somewhat in flux.

After missing the past two-plus seasons, Warriors don’t want to put any pressure on Thompson to return before he’s 100% ready, and there’s certainly no rush to get him back in the lineup — the Dubs have an NBA-best 23-5 record and can afford to be patient.

Thompson’s last official contest was Game 6 of the NBA Finals on June 13, 2019. He was in the midst of an outstanding game, scoring 30 points in 31 minutes on just 12 field-goal attempts, but suffered a torn ACL late in the third quarter, which caused him to miss the entire 2019-20 season. After recovering from the ACL injury, he tore his Achilles tendon in the 2020 offseason, which sidelined him all of last season and has pushed back his debut this season.

In 615 career games (33.1 MPG), the five-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion holds averages of 19.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists on a stellar .459/.419/.848 shooting line.