Long, winding road brings Klay Thompson back to dancing on NBA Finals stage

BOSTON — Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were dancing on the temporary stage where just 15 minutes before NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum handed them the Larry O’Brien Trophy as NBA champions. It didn’t matter that there was no music playing inside the TD Garden, the greatest shooting backcourt ever was celebrating — and Thompson doesn’t plan on stopping the dance anytime soon.

“Do a lot of dancing this summer. Dancing machine…” Thompson said.

“I was feeling just so high on life that I did not want to leave the stage, and I just know how hard this is, and to be here for a fourth time, like so grateful for my teammates.”

What made it special was the two years he couldn’t dance or do much of anything else.

On June 13, 2019, Thompson tore his ACL during Game 6 of the NBA Finals, an injury that signaled the end of a Warriors run with five straight Finals appearances (and three titles). Then, during rehab of his knee, Thompson tore his Achilles.

It tested Thompson’s resolve to return to that Finals’ stage and dance there again.

“2019, it was easier to accept because I had never been hurt before and that five-year run took a lot out of us,” Thompson said while drenched in champagne from a locker room title celebration. “But the second time it happened it was like, what the heck is going on, man.

“Just to stay with it, just calf raise after calf raise, after underwater treadmill, so many days, not even touching a ball. Then to go through this season with the ups and downs, and even these playoffs, I’m just at a loss for words at times. Because I knew this was possible but to be here in real time, man, I don’t want to leave. I want to enjoy every second of this. I know how fleeting it can be.”

Thompson put in countless hours