Klay Thompson

His mother was a volleyball player in college for the University of Portland and University of San Francisco, while his father was the first overall pick of the 1978 NBA draft.

When Thompson was two, he and his family moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he was childhood friends and Little League teammates with fellow future NBA star Kevin Love.

Thompson and his brothers were raised there as Catholics.

Klay Alexander Thompson (born February 8, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Widely regarded as one of the greatest three-point shooters of all-time, he is a four-time NBA champion, a five-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA Third Team honoree, and was once named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.

When Thompson was 14, his family moved to Ladera Ranch, California, where he graduated from Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2008.

In his junior season, he was named to the All-Area second team and to the Orange County third team.

As a senior, Thompson averaged 21 points per game and led SMCHS to a 30–5 record and a Division III State Championship appearance.

During the state championship, Thompson set a state finals record with seven 3-pointers in a game.

He was named Division III State player of the year, League MVP, first-team Best in the West, and an EA Sports Second Team All American.

Thompson started all 33 games as a freshman for Tony Bennett at Washington State University, leading his team in 3-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage, and averaging 12.5 points per game.

He was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team and Collegehoops.net All-Freshman Honorable Mention Team.

Thompson began his sophomore season by leading the Cougars to the Great Alaska Shootout Championship, being named its Most Outstanding Player after scoring a tournament single game record of 43 points in its championship.

This was also the third highest single game point total in WSU history.

After becoming the third fastest Cougar to reach 1,000 points, Thompson was named to the All-Pac-10 First Team.

He earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors twice during the season and was chosen as a midseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award.

Thompson finished the season averaging 19.6 points, good for second in the conference.

Thompson led the Pac-10 in scoring as a junior, again earning All-Pac-10 first team honors.

He became just the third Cougar to win first-team all-district honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches twice in his career.

In addition, he became the first Cougar to be named Pac-10 Player of the Week three times when he won the award for the week of Nov. 22–28, extending the record to four after the week of December 6–12.

Soon after, Thompson was named one of the 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award.

He was selected in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft by Golden State with the 11th overall pick.

In the 2011 Pac-10 tournament, he set tournament records with 43 points and 8 three-pointers.

Thompson finished the season by setting WSU's single season scoring record with 733 points.

He is WSU's 3rd all-time leading scorer.

Thompson declared for the 2011 NBA draft after his junior season, being selected 11th overall by the Golden State Warriors.

This pick of a guard prompted speculation that the Warriors would trade starter Monta Ellis, but that did not occur until March 2012.

Warriors general manager Larry Riley praised Thompson for his shooting ability and expressed confidence that Thompson would improve his defensive skills with new coach Mark Jackson.

He has also won gold medals with the United States national team on their 2014 World Cup team and 2016 Olympic team.

The son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson, Klay played college basketball for three seasons with the Washington State Cougars, where he was a two-time first-team all-conference selection in the Pac-10 (now Pac-12).

In 2014, Thompson and teammate Stephen Curry set a then-NBA record with 484 combined three-pointers in a season (a record they broke the following season with 525 and again in the 2015–16 season with 678), earning the pair the nickname of "the Splash Brothers."

In 2015, he helped lead the Warriors to their first NBA championship since 1975.

The following season, he helped his team win a record 73 wins.

The team advanced to the NBA Finals that season, losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Thompson and his team gained revenged from the Cavaliers, winning two more titles in 2017 and 2018.

He also helped the Warriors reach their fifth straight Finals in 2019, where he suffered an ACL tear late in the series.

After missing over two and a half years of play, he returned in the middle of the 2021–22 season, where he won his fourth title in 2022.

Thompson was born in Los Angeles to Julie and Mychal Thompson.

On January 18, 2020, Washington State retired the No. 1 that Thompson wore in college.

He became the second WSU men's basketball player to receive this honor, joining Steve Puidokas, and the seventh WSU athlete in any sport whose number has been retired.