Klay Thompson responds to Charles Barkley who thinks Warriors guard is not the same player: ‘It hurt my heart’

Klay Thompson wants Charles Barkley to cut him some slack.

The Warriors’ 32-year-old All-Star — still clearly recovering from injuries that sidelined him for the entire 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons — used the Warriors’ post-game press conference to fire back unprompted at the Hall of Famer and TNT commentator.

Lots to unpack here so let’s take it one step at a time.

What did Charles Barkley say?

On TNT’s broadcast earlier in the week, Barkley sounded off on the Warriors, their older age and why the younger players in Golden State hold the key to defending the title.

“As much as I love Klay, he’s slipping. Same thing with Draymong [Green], they’re not the same. In the Finals, you could see they are not the same guys they were two or three years ago. So when I watch the Warriors, I say ‘oh man, Father Time is knocking on the door with a couple of those guys.'”

“There was a time when Klay Thompson was the best two-way guard in the NBA and he’s not the same guy.”

Chuck thinks father time is catching up to the Warriors. pic.twitter.com/9vFZcGsSOe

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 26, 2022

Barkley, of course, has a long history of doubting the Warriors dating back to their first championship run in 2015. And there is certainly no love lost between Warriors fans and Barkley who have a testy relationship to say the least.

MORE: Inside the Charles Barkley vs. Warriors fans drama

How did Klay Thompson respond to Barkley?

After Thompson scored 19 points in Golden State’s win over the Heat on Thursday, he used the post-game podium to address Barkley’s comments at length.

“It hurts when someone like Charles Barkley, with the platform he has, says you’re not the same player as prior to the injuries you had. It’s like, no duh, man,” Thompson said. “I tore my ACL and my Achilles in consecutive years and still helped a team win a championship. I mean, that hurt hearing that. Because it’s like, man, I put in so much freaking effort to get back to this point. Like, it’s hard to even put into words what I had to do to be the player I am today.

Klay Thompson closed his press conference with an unprompted response to a recent Charles Barkley comment that Klay was “slipping” pic.twitter.com/TUS4AWzTGt

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 28, 2022

“I played 55, 57 games in three years, like, give me some freaking time to get that back. To hear someone say, ‘Oh, he’s not the same as he was prior to the injuries.’ Like, duh. Who goes through something like that and comes back? Like, I don’t know, it just hurt my heart hearing that. But, you know what? I’m gonna internalize it and it’s gonna be fuel for me to be even better. I’m very proud of what we accomplished last year, and I feel like I was a huge part of it. I’m not gonna let these injuries be a crutch for me. I’m just gonna keep going and I’m gonna have a great year. Bet on that.”

Klay Thompson injury timeline

Thompson bounced back from far greater adversity than one random Barkley comment on a Tuesday night in October.

— June 13, 2019: During the third quarter of Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, Thompson attempts to dunk the ball on a fast break, gets fouled by Danny Green and lands awkwardly with all of his weight on his left leg. He immediately reaches for his left knee and is seen screaming in pain. 

— June 14, 2019: The Warriors announce that Thompson underwent an MRI following Game 6. The MRI confirmed that Thompson had suffered a torn left ACL.

— Feb. 20, 2020: The Warriors announce that Thompson is “making good progress” in his rehabilitation, but he will not play for the rest of the 2019-20 season. Golden State adds that Thompson is expected to be available for the team’s training camp.

— Nov. 18, 2020: The Warriors announce that Thompson suffered a leg injury during an offseason workout in Southern California. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski later reports that Thompson suffered a torn Achilles.

— Nov. 25, 2020: The Warriors confirm that Thompson suffered a torn right Achilles and underwent successful surgery in Los Angeles. Golden State notes that he is expected to miss the entire 2020-21 season.

— Jan. 9, 2022: In his first NBA action in 941 days, Thompson finishes with 17 points in 20 minutes of action in a 14-point win over the Cavaliers.

For a full breakdown of his injury timeline including team updates, comments by Thompson and how it all impacted his new contract extension, check out the full details here.

Klay Thompson stats this season

OK, so here’s the part where we actually look at Thompson’s play with the massive caveat that it’s only been five games.

So far this season, Thompson is averaging just 12.6 points per game on a career-worst 34.4 percent shooting from the field. Even if Thompson’s scoring never returns to peak form — and again, it’s WAY too early to make that declaration — one could reasonably expect that arguably the second-greatest shooter of all-time will bump that efficiency back up.

One of Barkley’s key points is how Golden State’s hopes hinge more on the younger players than the likes of Thompson and Green. (Aside: no mention of Curry who looks incredible and could very easily find himself in the MVP hunt come April).

So far this season, Thompson ranks fourth on the Warriors in scoring behind Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole. He is logging just 23.6 minutes per game, understandably still ramping up yet nevertheless a figure which ranks fifth on the team.

Barkley is, however, likely giving too much credence to the likes of Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, both of whom have undoubtedly bright futures but nevertheless are still lagging far behind Thompson when it comes to nightly impact.

Yes, Thompson is off to a slow start. And yet judging by the player we saw in the Finals, it’s more likely than not the slow start is only just that — a slow start.

Don’t count out Klay Thompson.