Golden State Warriors

What's wrong with Klay Thompson right now?

Published Nov. 6, 2015 8:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

Basically everything is going right for the Golden State Warriors right now. They're undefeated, they're destroying opponents, and Stephen Curry is a one-man wrecking crew.

Lost in the hype surrounding Curry, though, is how his backcourt partner, Klay Thompson, is quietly struggling through five games. It's not a huge sample size, sure, but Thompson's struggles seem to be carrying over from the playoffs, and can't be merely chalked up to a shooting slump.

There is a real issue there, the severity of which is unclear. Thompson broke out as a star last season -- who can forget his historic 37-point quarter against the Sacramento Kings -- but has looked like a shell of himself early on. ESPN's Ethan Strauss dug into Thompson's woes, and believes Thompson could be dealing with a back injury worst than most think:

As Strauss points out later in the piece, the Warriors will be fine leaning on Curry for now, but will eventually need Thompson -- or someone else, potentially Harrison Barnes -- to emerge as a reliable second scoring option. That distinction is changing night to night, which is fine, but it's also not a sustainable model.

The Warriors have their offensive hierarchy, and Thompson isn't doing his part.

Through five games this season, Thompson is shooting 29.4 percent on 3s and claiming a 13.3 player efficiency rating (PER). It’s only five games, but the drop-off hasn’t looked like a simple matter of missing shots. Plagued by early season “back stiffness,” Thompson looks far from fluid as he handles the rock. Last year, his improved handle and quick decisions marked an evolution in his game. To start this season, he’s fallen back on a Mark Jackson-era approach of settling for post-ups and long 2-pointers. Last season, Thompson averaged 4.8 drives per game, according to NBA SportVu player tracking. So far this season, he’s averaging 1.8 drives.

You could see the hindered mobility in the Clippers game Wednesday, when Thompson attempted to take J.J. Redick off the dribble. Redick stoned the drives, forcing Thompson into difficult shots. Thompson also hasn’t been getting free for 3-pointers either, averaging a mere 3.5 deep attempts per game so far (last season, he averaged 7.1). Some of those numbers are skewed by Thompson only averaging 27.4 minutes, but that number reflects that something is amiss. The minutes might reflect that his back isn’t wholly right.