Warriors’ Klay Thompson is ‘starstruck’ by Kevin Durant

After spending time together for Team USA, Klay Thomspon has said he’s ‘still kind of starstruck’ by his new Golden State Warriors teammate Kevin Durant.

The Golden State Warriors were star-studded enough last season. Before LeBron James reclaimed his throne by coming back from 3-1 down to win the NBA Finals, the Warriors soared to a record-breaking 73-9 regular season behind two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry and fellow All-Stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Thanks to exceptional depth, team defense and selfless offense, they had an incredible run until they met the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Despite playing with such stars, though, and experiencing Curry take the world by storm, Thompson says he’s still feeling starstruck as he plays alongside his newest superstar teammate, Kevin Durant, for Team USA.

Sam Amick of USA Today Sports spoke to Thompson:

"I’m still in awe of the guy. I’m still kind of starstruck when I’m around him, like ‘Man, that’s Kevin Durant, you know? He’s on our team. That’s crazy.’ You get to know him more. He’s such a grounded individual. He’s such a normal guy. He just loves basketball. He’s actually a well-rounded person."

As a former MVP, one of the most remarkable scorers in NBA history, and a player with length, fluidity, ball handling and shooting like no other we’ve ever seen, “starstruck” seems like the kind of feeling that any new teammate of Kevin Durant would experience at first.

For Durant, Thompson and Green (sadly not the former Warrior Harrison Barnes, who’s in attendance with Team USA), their national experience this summer gives them a chance to get a feeling of what it will be like to play together in Golden State.

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Amick included some comments from Thompson in his piece about the Warriors’ pitch to Durant. As someone who plays far more off the ball than Curry and operates as one of the best catch-and-shoot threats in history, losing touches and shots to Durant could have been a concern.

But not for Thompson himself:

"“I think I showed how much I’m willing to make a sacrifice by just going to see Kevin and trying to pitch to him how badly we (wanted) him. That right there should speak volumes.”"

Thompson responded to questioning from Durant’s agent, Rich Kleiman, by iterating that he doesn’t mind losing shots to a superstar talent as rare as Durant. He proved that with his attendance and the points he made in the meeting, and it played a key part in actually bringing Durant to Golden State.

With the Rio Olympics approaching, Thompson will undoubtedly have more starstruck moments as he realizes he’ll still be playing with Kevin Durant when he returns to the Warriors for next season, too.