The Golden State Warriors have not gotten off to the start many anticipated after their championship victory last season, currently sitting at 2-2 on the year. TNT’s Charles Barkley gave a brutally honest assessment of this year’s team, saying that he feels two players are “slipping” from their star roles.
Barkley revealed that he feels like age may be catching up to Warriors star shooting guard Klay Thompson and star forward Draymond Green.
“As much as I love Klay (Thompson), he is slipping. Same thing with Draymond (Green), they are not the same. In the finals you can see, they are not the same guys they were two or three years ago. When I watch the Warriors play I saw ‘oh man, father time is knocking on the door’.
“There was a time when Klay Thompson was the best two-way guard in the NBA. He is not the same guy, and that is because of injuries. He is slowing down, and that’s the same thing with Draymond (Green). Steph (Curry) has a lot more work to do now.”
Thompson finished with just two points in Tuesday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, which included an ejection in the fourth quarter after an altercation with Devin Booker.
Thompson saw some of his production drop off in his first season back from both ACL and Achilles tears, with his field goal percentage dropping from 46.7 percent in the 2018-19 season to just 42.9 percent in the 2021-22 season.
Through four games so far this year, he is only averaging 11.0 points per game while shooting 35.6 from the field, so Barkley may have a point with his assessment.
It is still a bit early for Charles Barkley to be claiming that both Thompson and Green are not the players they once were, but the Warriors clearly have a bit of a championship hangover heading into this season.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.