Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson has been ruled out of both NBA Games in Japan against the Washington Wizards.
The Golden State Warriors are back in action! They are on the other side of the world, in Japan, where they would face the Washington Wizards in two preseason games. The NBA Japan Games are part of the NBA’s focus on increasing the popularity of the game and the league around the world.
The defending NBA champions arrived in Tokyo the day before yesterday. They used their time yesterday to do some sightseeing before going to practice.
#DubNation x #NBAJapanGames pic.twitter.com/IPqk00ZNei
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) September 29, 2022
The Splash Brothers had a ton of fun at practice. Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry met a sumo legend and tried their hand at sumo wrestling.
Splash Bros met up with Sumo legend @HakuhoSho69 🤝 pic.twitter.com/B32wCkCpI3
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) September 29, 2022
Also read: Like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson also fails to push the ‘Michael Jordan’ of sumo wrestling
As the teams prepared for the games, news broke about Klay Thompson and his participation in the Japan Games.
Why doesn’t Klay Thompson play in the NBA Japan Games?
Just an hour before the start of the NBA Game in Japan, The Athletic’s Anthony Slater broke the news that Klay would not play today or Sunday.
No Klay Thompson in either Japan game. Steve Kerr said it’s about being cautious based off his two-year absence and this condensed early part of preseason. They want to ease him into action after the trip. Jordan Poole will start tonight.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) September 30, 2022
The Warriors are wary of Klay, who returns after missing 2 1/2 years with injury. They don’t want his $40 million star to risk injury in a preseason exhibition game.
While this would be distressing for Japanese fans who might have come to see Klay play, it would be better for both Klay and the Dubs in the long run. We hope the absence today and Sunday is just a warning, and not something the Warriors are hiding from us.
