Nothing was going to stop Draymond Green from being on the floor to honor Klay Thompson during his teammate's long-awaited return.
Thompson returned for the Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday after missing more than two and a half years with injury. Unfortunately for Green, he was a late scratch for the contest after experiencing left calf tightness during pregame warmups.
As a symbolic gesture for Thompson, Green suited up for the opening tip and officially got the start alongside his longtime teammate. Green then committed an intentional foul to sit out for the rest of the game. He was replaced by Juan Toscano-Anderson.
Take a look at the video.
Green has been teammates with Thompson since being drafted in 2012, and they have won three titles together. Since Green technically played Sunday, he will go down as having recorded all zeroes, which will hurt his per-game averages. That makes his gesture for Thompson here a very selfless one.
Fortunately for Green, he got quite the show as he watched the rest of the game from the sidelines in warmup gear. Less than a minute after Green checked out, Thompson connected on his very first shot attempt, hitting a layup in traffic to the roars of the home crowd.
It is definitely good to have Thompson back after such a long absence. As for Green, this is probably the least that he could have done for his teammate considering how dirtily he did Thompson when Thompson first got hurt.
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