Sports Illustrated | The two former champions helped spread the game this week
While Klay Thompson may no longer play for the Golden State Warriors after signing with the Dallas Mavericks this summer, he’s still willing to help his former teammates when needed.
Thompson accompanied former Warriors center-turned-broadcaster Festus Ezeli on a recent trip to Cameroon where they helped support some youth basketball camps and a U20 tournament. Ezeli posted highlights of the camps to his Instagram stories which were archived by X user @ceeayech and reposted.
Ezeli has poured his heart and soul into spreading the game of basketball across Africa. The Nigeria native is the Executive Director of VisionC, a nonprofit organization uplifting youth basketball in Africa, which hosted the U20 tournament that the two players attended.
Thompson and Ezeli were teammates as part of the Warriors team that went 73-9 and won the 2015 NBA Championship together. Ezeli left the Warriors after the 73-9 season to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers but never played a game for them and was waived after lingering knee issues. Despite only being with the Warriors for a few seasons and not having been teammates with Thompson for almost a decade, they maintained enough of a connection for Thompson to fly halfway across the world and help some young players.
Klay Thompson endured a Hall of Fame career with the Warriors, racking up the 6th-most made three-pointers in NBA history and winning four championships. He’s hoping he can help Luka Doncic to his first championship after they got to the doorstep this past season.
klay thompson for the people ??? i am so proud of this human being and his big heart. grateful for festus for sharing this version of klay to us. pic.twitter.com/NLJPNtF3wl
— k ??? splash brothers ™ (@ceeayech) July 31, 2024