The Warriors passed out white captain hats to all fans in attendance to celebrate an original Splash Bro who used to drive his boat to home games.
The hats were out in full force nearly 2 1/2 hours before tip-off when dozens of Warriors employees were them while greeting Klay Thompson as he got off the Mavericks bus.
Cheers could be heard from outside the building and again when Thompson walked through the loading dock and into the visitor’s locker room. He smiled, nodded and placed his hands together in appreciation of the gesture.
A video tribute is planned for before the game, and Stephen Curry was supposed to address the crowd after the video, but the speech was canceled after Thompson and Curry conferred about it Monday night.
Still, the outpouring of love and support for Thompson in San Francisco doesn’t seem to fit for a relationship that ended in divorce. That’s what happened after Thompson, 34, joined the Mavs on a three-year, $50 million contract as part of a six-team sign-and-trade deal over the summer after his relationship with the Warriors faded last season.
“In the end, I think he made the right choice,” Steve Kerr said. “I think he needed a fresh start. I think he needed a kind of a new set of surroundings. And I think that was apparent last year. He was not happy. And that was hard to see because he deserves to be happy.”
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Warriors welcome Klay Thompson back to Chase Center with cheers, captain hats
