Draymond Green has been teammates with Klay Thompson since being drafted in 2012, and they have won three titles together. Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Draymond Green had cool gesture for Klay Thompson amid NBA return

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated 1/9/22

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.

Wow, respect to Draymond Green to ruins his per game average by playing 1 second this game just to honor Klay Thompson! pic.twitter.com/hRc6xEEMTz

— Per Sources (@PerSources) January 10, 2022

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.

KLAY THOMPSON KNOCKS DOWN HIS FIRST SHOT ATTEMPT IN OVER 2 YEARS! pic.twitter.com/Lwc3pIpm2J

— NBA (@NBA) January 10, 2022

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.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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