FanPost

Klay Thompson: 246 and Counting

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

It's easy to forget about Klay Thompson sometimes. He's overshadowed by Steph most days, doesn't speak much (unless you bring up Rocco), and often bears a resemblance to an Easter Island statue with his usual stoic demeanor.

He's been making his presence known though in some of these recent games and it's been harder to ignore what kind of season he's having, particularly when it comes to hitting treys.

During the 2014-2015 season, he sunk 239 three point shots. Last night, after draining 9 against the Dallas Mavericks, Klay sits at 246 for the 2015-2016 season.

That's a pretty impressive feat, especially when you're on a team with Threesus himself. As GSWStats shows us, Klay is currently sitting in the 5th spot for the most total threes made in Warriors' history (this was made right after he broke his record last night):

He's still 102 threes behind this year's "scorch the earth" version of Steph, who has 348 total, but he's fast approaching the #4 spot all-time, and there's a real possibility he could surpass Curry for the the #3 and #2 spots.

With 10 games remaining on the 2015-2016 schedule, Klay would have to average the following to break Curry's three point records from years past:

  • to reach the #4 spot (ending with 262+), Klay would have to average 1.6 3PM/game
  • to reach the #3 spot (ending with 273+), Klay would have to average 2.7 3PM/game
  • to reach the #2 spot (ending with 287+), Klay would have to average 4.1 3PM/game
Based on his recent hot hand, including the Spurs game a week ago where he shot 1/7 from beyond the arc, Klay has been averaging 5.5 3PM/game over the last 10 games (source: nba.com/stats) and shot 59.1% from three, going 55/93, during that same span (source: nba.com/stats). I mean, look at this shot chart:

Shotchart_1459027229144.0.png

There's certainly good reason to believe that he can work his way up to the #2 spot provided he doesn't cool off (and Klay is definitely streaky for sure) or the Warriors clinch the #1 seed sooner than later and Kerr starts scheduling rest, which would likely include a day or two off for Klay.

There's also a strong chance that Klay will be in the top 2-4 spots of the all-time leaderboard for threes made in a single season in the league history (courtesy of basketball-reference):

8aeCiLZ.0.jpg

All told, Klay Thompson is having one hell of a season and that's easy to forget sometimes given Steph's night-in, night-out assault from downtown.

With that, take a moment to revel in all 239 of Klay's threes from last year. Enjoy!

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!