It’s no secret that Sam Darnold has spent his quarantined offseason working out in California.
The Golden State native has been all over the map, from working out on beaches with ex-Jet Mark Sanchez to learning under the tutelage of QB guru Jordan Palmer.
Darnold’s latest workout partner wasn’t another NFL star like Christian McCaffrey or Saquon Barkley, though. Instead, the Jets quarterback was seen working out with Golden State Warriors All-State guard Klay Thompson.
Sam Darnold and Klay Thompson = new Splash Brothers 💦💦💦
(via IG/chrisbennett143) pic.twitter.com/deutnXcpIA
— Jets Videos (@snyjets) July 16, 2020
Darnold can be seen in the video sinking a three-point shot, while Thompson follows up with one of his own from beyond the arc.
Thompson has spent the 2019-20 season rehabbing from an ACL injury that he suffered in Game 6 of last year’s NBA Finals. Thompson is getting up shots with Darnold instead of quarantining inside the NBA bubble with the rest of the league because the Warriors didn’t qualify for the season restart in Orlando.
He may not want to let Thompson to know this, but Darnold grew up a diehard Lakers fan and basketball enthusiast. In addition to quarterbacking San Clemente High School’s football team, Darnold was a star on the basketball court.
“If we needed 12 rebounds, he would get us 12 rebounds,” Darnold’s high school basketball coach, Marc Popovich, told The Ringer in 2017. “If we needed him to score 27, he’d go score 27. We could post him up, we’d run stuff where he handled the ball, we’d run plays for him to hit 3s. The freelance nature of basketball suits his talents a lot.”
While shooting hoops may not translate on the field now for Darnold, it certainly can’t hurt to hang around with someone that has the winning resume of Thompson.