The full release of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team has sparked controversy among basketball fans as to who did and who didn’t, as everyone seems to have something to say about it, including Warriors guard Clay Thompson.
The anniversary team, which actually includes 76 players equal to the voting panel, includes the 75 greatest players in the league’s history. No one who has seen Thompson’s success and contributed so much to that success is surprised that 75 players are better than him to play the game.
That being said, the potential problem for the Warriors Guard is that he is being properly punished even for the wrong time that went out of his control. Thompson has played only eight seasons in the league, and while he used that time to show that he was one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, he missed two major seasons while recovering from a one-year ACL tear and continued to injure Achilles Tendon. This hampered his chances of making a list.
There is little doubt that Thompson is one of the most talented players to play in the league, as it is believed that his return could lead the Warriors to an immediate title race. However, the people who voted for this team can’t work with fantasies and what a career might look like in the future. Instead, they wanted to focus on what had already happened and decided that what had happened so far in Thompson’s career was not enough to place him in the top 75.
Maybe it changes in 25 years when not only do 25 more spots open, but voters can look at his entirety rather than the whole of Thompson’s career.
