Despite his ankle injury, Klay Thompson intends to play in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Shams Charania, the Warriors All-Star is receiving “around the clock” medical treatment for a high left ankle sprain he suffered during Game 1 against the Cavaliers.
The injury occurred with 6:15 left in the first quarter when Cleveland’s J.R. Smith lost his footing and barreled into Thompson along the sideline.
After he was seen limping to the locker room to undergo a medical evaluation, Thompson returned to the court for the second quarter, scoring 24 points in Golden State’s 124-114 OT victory.
“Klay is just a physical specimen,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told the Mercury News on Friday. “It’s just incredible resilience and stamina to play both ends night after night with 40-plus minutes in the playoffs. He’s a machine.”
Though he’s reportedly dealing with pain and significant bruising, Thompson told reporters Saturday that he remained hopeful about playing in Game 2.
Steph Curry also expressed his optimism when asked about Thompson’s condition.
“From what I saw, he’s looking pretty good, pretty happy, pretty upbeat,” Curry said. “[…] Hopefully he'll get more treatment and recovery, keep making progress. If I was betting, I would say Klay is playing [Sunday] just based on who he is and his attitude today, for sure.”
We’ll see how things play out.
Game 2 will go down 8 p.m. ET Sunday.
