Klay Thompson is not looking forward to missing a large chunk of the 2019-20 regular season.
The Warriors' All-Star shooting guard doesn't want to take a deep breath after five straight trips to the NBA Finals. He just wants to hoop with his teammates and try to win a championship.
This mindset is why he greatly respects what legendary coach Phil Jackson said to him recently at a restaurant in Los Angeles.
"First thing he asked was, ‘How's the knee?'" Klay explained to Marcus Thompson of The Athletic. "Then he goes, ‘I had to take a year off. It was awful.' I thought that was hilarious.
"Man, this dude is a real hooper for life. He wasn't like, ‘Ahhh. You're going to enjoy the time off, blah, blah, blah.' He was like, ‘A year off was terrible.' That's funny. This dude's a real one for that.
"Then he asked me about family in the Bahamas. It was cool chopping it up with Phil."
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Cool, indeed.
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Jackson played in the NBA from 1967 to 1980, but missed the entire 1969-70 campaign because of a back injury.
He went on to win 11 NBA titles as a head coach -- including five with the Lakers, the team Klay grew up rooting for.
