Klay Thompson is feuding with a video game

The ratings for NBA 2K23 are out, and at least one future Hall of Famer on the Golden State Warriors is not happy about how the game views his three-point shooting. Klay Thompson has, in words of our esteemed editor, popped off.

While Klay has the second-highest rating for three-point shooting ability, he’s only at 88, a full 11 behind 2022 Final MVP Steph Curry. He’s tied with Kevin Durant - that’s fine - Desmond Bane of the Memphis Grizzlies and Luke Kennard of the Los Angeles Clippers, who shot 43.5% and 44.9% from three-point range last season, respectively. However, they’re 402 and 421 behind Klay when it comes to playoff three-pointers, where Klay has hit the second-most in NBA history.

For the record, KD should also have a higher three-point rating than these clowns.

It’s also not like Thompson had a terrible shooting season, either. After missing two-and-a-half years with Achilles and ACL recovery, Klay hit 38.5% of his shots from beyond the arc, and got scorching hot from deep at the end of the season (21/41 in his final three games). And he shoots at a much greater volume than his fellow 88 ratings. Bane hit 228 triples in 76 games, while Kennard made 190 in his 70 games. Klay hit 114 in just 32 games. That’s 2.7 made threes per game for Kennard, an even 3 per game for Bane, and 3.6 per game for the Captain. If that wasn’t enough, he also added 3.5 three-pointers per game in the playoffs, where, if you remember, he won his fourth championship ring.

You can tell Klay got hot about the ratings because he said “bums,” a word usually reserved for Jaren Jackson Jr. or anyone else talking trash online. “Bums” and “clowns” are about as bad as it gets from the Splash Brother, whose language is remarkably unsalty for a man who spends so much time at sea. For example: He called the game “doo doo.” And look, we can’t speak to the quality of the current edition of 2K, but we appreciate Klay complimenting the late, great Sega Dreamcast.

Some of these other three-point ratings are a bit questionable. Luka Doncic, a career 33.7% shooter from deep, received an inexplicably 87 rating. Just because he shoots almost nine threes per game doesn’t mean he’s really good at it! Devin Booker shoots 35.7% from long distance, and even upping it to 38.3% last season shouldn’t mean he’s an 87 now! Somehow Mike “Mikey Jaws” Muscala (37.7% for his career) has an 86 in three-pointers, after making a whopping 70 last year. And don’t get us started on how Jrue Holiday and P.J. Tucker have the same rating (85) as Kyrie Irving and Buddy Hield.

Thompson still has a robust 83 overall rating, but he’ll probably use that for motivation next year, too. Really, he won’t be happy until the Warriors repeat as champs or NBA 2K24 adds a category for seamanship.