Warriors’ Steve Kerr Reveals Bold Plans For Klay Thompson

The Golden State Warriors are a team that many people are going to be keeping an eye on this season. Many are interested to see how Chris Paul acclimates himself to the team after being acquired as part of the deal that sent Jordan Poole and a first-round pick to the Washington Wizards.

Paul has been a starter for every game in his NBA career in the regular season and postseason. But, head coach Steve Kerr did not guarantee that will be the case in Golden State, warning that some adjustments may need to be made.

Kerr stressed that everyone is going to need to buy in for things to work, no matter what is being asked of them. That could be a major adjustment for Paul, but he will fill a valuable role whether it is in the starting five or coming off the bench as a secondary ball-handler to take pressure off of Stephen Curry.

But, the two veterans will be sharing the court together at points. In those scenarios, Kerr has revealed a major change in how Klay Thompson will be deployed. Thompson, who has been a shooting guard his entire career, will be defending power forwards at points this season alongside Curry, Paul, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney.

That will be a major change in the team’s philosophy as Thompson’s assignment is usually the top perimeter player on the opposing team. But, after missing two seasons because of lower-body injuries, this change could do him some good as he isn’t as quite an impactful defender as he was before the injury.

It is also intriguing that Kerr has lineup plans that don’t include Draymond Green. All of those players are worthy of being starters; will it be Green in some scenarios that will be the odd man out, not Paul?

That will all be worth watching throughout training camp and the preseason. Expect the Warriors to deploy several different lineup combinations to see what will work best once the regular season rolls around.