In March of 2012, Klay Thompson was last seen coming off the bench. At 22, he was an inexperienced rookie. He began after Monta Ellis. Beside him, Nate Robinson got up from the bench. The LA Clippers took on the Golden State Warriors. That Clippers team included Chauncey Billups, who is currently 47 years old and the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Monta Ellis trade and Stephen Curry’s ankle injury initially moved Thompson up to the starting lineup. Curry’s final game in his third season came against the Clippers. After nine minutes, he fled and would spend the last month in prison. When Curry came back the next season, Thompson had established himself as the regular starter. The Splash Brothers got together.

Thompson’s run of consecutive starts lasted 727 games, more than ten years later. Utah saw it come to an end on Thursday night, with the Warriors ultimately winning 140-137.

The data indicated that Steve Kerr benched his four-time NBA champion in favor of rookie Brandin Podziemski, who had recently outperformed Thompson and improved the five-man grouping alongside Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, and Curry. In his postgame explanation of the decision, Kerr cited the garish metrics of that lineup. In 107 minutes, they have outscored opponents by 57 points.

The numbers suggested that this was a necessary and perhaps logical approach. This season, Thompson’s field goal and three-point percentage are at all-time lows. With a 26-26 record going into Thursday and a 10th-place standing in the Western Conference, the Warriors are ϝιɠԋƚιɳɠ for their lives in the postseason.

However, that didn’t make the discussion any easier. After keeping Thompson out of the Warriors’ closing lineup once more and using him as a floor spacer in the final minute, Kerr revealed he had been considering it for some time and made the decision to do it on Thursday. That night, Kerr watched Thompson commit an intentional and poor foul against the Clippers. On Thursday morning in Utah, he informed Thompson of the choice.

Telling reporters, “He wasn’t thrilled about it,” Kerr said. “I didn’t think he would be excited about it.”

But Thompson gave quite the reply. Before the third quarter was up, he had scored the most points of the season. He came out firing. With his 17 points in 11 first-half minutes, he was able to earn closing duties. In the last minute of the second quarter, he made a nice transition find for Green, who finished with 23 points, his highest since 2018. In the first half, the Warriors scored 84 points.

Thompson continued to be heated after the break. In a wild third quarter, he scored eighteen points, for a total of 35. He finished there, nailing 13 of his 22 shots and seven of his 13 three-pointers. Despite almost losing another significant lead late in the game, he turned in a legendary performance that helped the Warriors fend off the Jazz in a shootout. With 74 seconds remaining, Thompson produced another outstanding defensive play, forcing a travel and thwarting a Keyonte George drive. Thompson had his best game of the year in that one.

“My decision served as the fuel that fueled his competitiveness,” Kerr stated. He is a fierce competitor. He’s hit a million huge shots, in my opinion. I’ve watched him protect some of the league’s toughest players. Klay is victorious. He is a wonderful guy and an amazing player. It’s a blessing that I can mentor him. It’s been a challenging season for both of us. Numerous transitions are taking place. Here are a few of our younger players. To accomplish for him what Klay did five or six years ago is not as simple. This strikes me as a potentially decent balance to bring forth the most in both Klay and our team.

After the All-Star break, Kerr said he intends to keep Thompson off the bench and Podziemski in the starting lineup. He claimed the change isn’t “permanent,” but he wants to give it a healthy look.

Kerr stated, “Klay coming off the bench gives us a lot of firepower.”