KLAY THOMPSON made the trek to Pullman this past weekend, as first revealed by Parker Gerrits' Instagram story featuring him golfing with Gerrits and Simon Hildebrandt. Later in the day, the WSU men's basketball team posted photos on social media of the Cougar and NBA legend scrimmaging with the Cougars.
In one picture, Thompson is shown defending freshman guard Aaron Glass. Imagine being an 18-year-old kid from California, in your first season of college basketball, and you get to go against one of the all-time greats.
Other pictures of Thompson include him being guarded by and defending Emmanuel Ugbo, and talking shop with WSU sharpshooter Ri Vavers.
If anyone could draw major inspiration from Thompson, it's Vavers, who shot 48 percent from deep last year and figures to be a key 3-point threat for David Riley's squad this year.
ND Okafor tweeted that he got to meet a WSU legend, and a number of Cougar soccer players got a photo with Thompson in Bohler.
BUT ALL THE fun nuggets of Thompson being back in Pullman aside, the looming question is why? This is his first documented return since his number was retired in January of 2020. And maybe it's as simple as Thompson had some free time and wanted to come back to the university he called home before he was a first-round pick in the NBA Draft.
Or maybe there's a deeper reason. Folks on Twitter have long called for Thompson to step into some sort of general manager role, the way Damian Lillard has done at Weber State, and Shaquille O’Neal doing the same at Sacramento State.
But Wazzu already has a GM Orlando Johnson, so that’s probably not in the cards for Thompson. Could there have been some talk to try and get him to help Wazzu's NIL efforts? Between his legendary NBA career and multiple endorsement deals as part of the Splash Brothers with Steph Curry, Thompson has done very well for himself over his 14-year NBA career.
He also made the entertainment news in recent months for his relationship with Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
A surefire future Hall-of-Famer, Thompson has won four NBA titles, is a five-time All-Star and has made the NBA All-Defensive team three times.
Half of the iconic Splash Brothers with Curry, Thompson is one of the greatest 3-point shooters in NBA history. His 2,697 made 3-pointers are fifth-most all-time and he has racked up over 16,000 points in his legendary career.
Thompson spent the first 13 years of his career with Golden State, the team that drafted him, but shifted over to Dallas last season. Injuries have hampered him over the last few years but even in the twilight of his career at 35 years old, Thompson was still averaging 14 points per game last year.
Klay Thompson pictured with the WSU hoops team (Photo: Twitter/WSU)
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