Klay Thompson has racked up a lot of accolades in his eight-year NBA career, but getting a spot on the All-Defensive team isn't one of them. That makes his teammate, Kevin Durant, unhappy, which is something that he expressed on Monday when he was asked if Thompson deserved the honor.
"Yeah, but the people that vote on that don't really know the game," KD said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Connor Leourneau.
That comment came after Warriors coach Steve Kerr "went out of his way" to also endorse Thompson for that hypothetical squad:
As is usually the case, timing is key here, with Thompson spending the majority of Saturday's win over the Thunder guarding Russell Westbrook, who scored seven points on 2-for-16 shooting in a losing effort. "There's not many guards that is better than Klay defensively," said Draymond Green after that win.
As Bleacher Report points out, Durant has never received an All-Defensive team honor either, so maybe there's some projecting at play here. Also of note is that Thompson snagged eight first-place votes from voters who presumably knew what they were talking about last season. Still, that wasn't enough to land him on either the first or second-team, as the guards that were chosen instead were: Victor Oladipo, Jrue Holiday, Dejounte Murray and Jimmy Butler, respectively.
