Klay Thompson wants Charles Barkley to start giving the Golden State Warriors a break. The veteran sharpshooter is aware of the criticism being aimed at him and his team, but he has taken issue with Barkley’s continued strong stance on the Warriors’ chances of winning another championship.
During a recent interview with Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Thompson shared his thoughts on Barkley’s latest criticism. The NBA Hall of Famer had referred to the Warriors as the Titanic while speaking with former general manager Bob Myers regarding the franchise’s current slump.
“The only frustration with that is will this guy ever give us any credit?” Thompson said. “You know how hard this is to do? Annually? You’d think Charles would understand how hard it is to win a championship. To do that annually? And we’re still here. What are we — 10 and 12? There’s 60 freaking regular season games left. But he’s been hating on us since 2015. So this is no surprise.”
Thompson has been underperforming this season, as have multiple members of the Warriors rotation. However, the talent and experience within the roster are enough to help guide them through this rough patch and come out on the other side as a contending team. To write them off so soon would be reckless, especially when you remember their last championship was only 18 months ago and the core of the roster remains intact.
Nevertheless, when you’re one of the greatest teams in history, there is a level of expectations on your shoulders. For the first time, Golden State isn’t reaching those expectations, and until it does, the criticism will continue to be levied.
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