With a little over 2 minutes and 22 seconds left in the third quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Klay Thompson went up for a dunk in transition.
Raptors guard Danny Green met Klay at the rim and was called for a foul. The Warriors' shooting guard landed awkwardly on his left leg and remained on the ground in a lot of pain.
Klay landed awkwardly on the left leg pic.twitter.com/h4rLSXy0Za— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) June 14, 2019
You know how the story ends -- a couple hours after Golden State lost, we learned that Klay tore his left ACL.
It was not a dirty play whatsoever by Green. Sometimes, bad things just happen.
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On Sunday, Green discussed the unfortunate situation with media members in Toronto:
"He was going up for a dunk and he can jump. I thought he was gonna go up with one hand ... he went up with two hands and I think it's a little easier for me to get to the ball with him going up with two hands. It's hard to find the ball with one hand.
"I thought it was pretty clean. They called a foul ... I wasn't sure what happened and I just saw him grab his knee. You never know serious it is with him because he just walks through and plays through anything. The guy came back on the court like it was nothing with a torn ACL and shot his free throws.
"The rest of his guys, they were making sure that I didn't take it the wrong way or feel too bad or guilty about it. It was a clean play.
"They were like, 'We know you're not dirty.' Draymond [Green], Iggy [Andre Iguodala] they were like, 'Yeah, you went up for the ball. He just came down funny. It's not your fault. Don't even worry about it.'
"And I wanted to check on him at the foul line. He's like, 'I know you didn't do it purposely.'"
"I didn't know the severity of it until after the game ... I saw [Draymond] in the hallway after and he said it's an ACL and I was like 'Ahhh, sh--.' It's gonna be a long summer for not just him but their team.
"You never want to see those guys go down that way. They're special players and you don't want to see their careers changed, or be hindered or be over because of certain types of plays or injuries -- especially the ones you're involved in."
This was the exchange between Klay Thompson and Danny Green after Klay came back onto the floor to shoot the two free throws after already tearing his ACL pic.twitter.com/lMLeLVKZM0— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) June 17, 2019
This is INSANE! Klay argued with a Warriors trainer and tried to stay in the game. He then jogged back to the locker room, thinking he would get examined and then return to the court. The guy had a torn ACL! pic.twitter.com/5PbNaEF6tD— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) June 17, 2019
[RELATED: Draymond denies report that he visited Durant in New York]
Green -- who will turn 32 years old on June 22 -- just finished a 4-year, $40 million contract and is about to become an unrestricted free agent.
The most the Warriors could offer him next season is about $5.7 million so he is probably too expensive for the Dubs.
