Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson.
Stephen Curry sat out the Warriors’ meaningless season finale Sunday. While he was out, his fellow Splash Brother stole the free-throw percentage crown.
Before the final game, Curry was on his way to leading the league in free throw percentage for the fifth time, holding a slight lead on Bogdan Bogdanovic and Damian Lillard. Klay Thompson wasn’t even eligible.
That is until he went 5-for-5 from the line and made his 127th foul shot of the year. Players qualify for the free throw percentage crown once they hit 125 makes, so Thompson was the winner at 92.7 percent. And Curry wasn’t happy.
“I had no clue until today,” Curry said of Thompson passing him. “Klay was ineligible until last game. He made all five, so shout out to him.”
Thompson was also unaware, responding only, “Oh that’s cool.”
Two years ago, Jordan Poole also passed Curry for the free throw percentage crowd on the season’s final day. That time, both players were well aware of the contest, with the injured Curry warning Poole that he “couldn’t miss.” Poole made both his freebies and edged out Curry, 92.5 percent to 92.3.
There were no hard feelings, and Curry presented Poole with a trophy at the season opener that fall.
Curry is still the NBA’s career leader in free throw percentage at 91 percent, a cool 0.55 percent ahead of second-place Steve Nash. But without teammates Thompson and Poole, and future teammate Kevin Durant in 2013, Curry would have even more single-season titles. In that category, he still trails Reggie Miller (five), Rick Barry (six) and Bill Sharman (seven).
While Curry hates losing, he was happy for his teammate. But if Thompson returns to the Warriors next season, he shouldn’t expect to shoot any technical foul shots. If it’s up to Curry, he’ll keep Thompson ineligible.
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