Klay Thompson is No. 77, at least in the eyes of the Warriors.
After Thompson was left off the 76-man NBA 75th anniversary team, some of his teammates gifted him a No. 77 jersey, per ESPN. Draymond Green posted a video on his Instagram story of Thompson wearing the jersey in Golden State’s weight room, and another of the jersey hanging in his locker.
Thompson had been upset about the snub, posting on Instagram earlier in the week that he was “still pissed about this stupid ass list” and “sick of the disrespect.”
It does seem he’s willing to have some fun with it now, joking about it in the video on Green’s Instagram.
“77!” Thompson said. “Best player of all time, baby!”
“You have to humor him with everything,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters, per ESPN. “His teammates obviously got that done to have a laugh with him. But I think all these guys, they’re so competitive by nature, they wouldn’t have made it this far if they weren’t really competitive.
“And at some point, guys latch onto things to drive them. Klay has accomplished pretty much everything. He’s a multi-time champion, multi-time All-Star, one of the greatest 3-point shooters ever. He’s already competitive, but if that’s what it takes to make him more competitive, then we’ll take it.”
Kerr guessed that Stephen Curry was behind the prank. Curry made an appearance in Green’s video, laughing while saying, “Get the new jersey! New jersey alert!”
“I didn’t know what it meant, at first,” Kerr said, per ESPN. “And then somebody explained it. I thought it was quite, quite funny.”