SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has suffered a torn right Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the upcoming season, the team said Thursday.

The team said in a tweet that an MRI performed in Los Angeles confirmed the injury. Thompson was injured during a pickup game in Southern California on Wednesday.

The injury could be a severe blow for the Warriors, who finished with the worst record in the NBA last season as they struggled without Thompson and at times without Stephen Curry, who was nursing a broken left hand that sidelined him for more than four months.

Thompson didn’t play at all during the coronavirus-shortened season as he worked back from surgery for a torn ACL in his left knee. He suffered that injury in the deciding Game 6 of the 2019 NBA finals against the Toronto Raptors.

General Manager Bob Myers said Thompson’s injury had Golden State considering altering its draft decisions Wednesday night but the Warriors stuck with their plan to select Memphis center James Wiseman with the No. 2 overall selection.

“What hurts the most – and speaking on behalf of Klay, we will move on and we will be OK and he will be OK – but what hurts the most is the time we put into our jobs, the sacrifices we make to do what we do and to do what he does,” Myers said. “And for him to have to now not be able to play basketball, that’s the pain. That’s the pain we feel, the pain we feel for him.,

FREE AGENCY: NBA free agency is usually a weeklong frenzy. Deals get struck, then teams and players must wait a few days before they can sign those contracts. And from there, a few more months often pass before the player goes to work with his new club.

Not this year.

What promises to be a chaotic free-agent window opens at 6 p.m. Friday, just a couple days after the NBA draft, a mere 42 hours before signings can begin and about a week and a half before training camps around the league open. Asked what the player-movement landscape might look like in such a compressed timeframe, Philadelphia 76ers President Daryl Morey – looking exhausted early Thursday as the draft was winding down – offered a blunt prediction.

“Completely insane,” Morey said.

It’s hard to find anyone who’ll argue that.

Anthony Davis of the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers is the biggest name on the free agency board; he turned down his option for this season with the Lakers but isn’t expected to go anyplace else. The most likely scenario for Davis is a three-year deal worth as much as $105 million, the last year at his option. That way, when he completes his 10th year of service in 2021-22, he can cash in again for an even higher percentage of the salary cap than he can command now.

More than 100 other players are unrestricted free agents; another 75 or so can be restricted free agents. That’s a lot of players, who might be doing a lot of moving, with a season coming up very quickly – and only a few teams have plenty of available salary-cap space to sign players easily.

Plus, teams are still figuring out coronavirus protocols for training camp. Nobody has seen the NBA schedule for a regular season that starts Dec. 22. Preseason games start Dec. 11; those haven’t even been announced yet.

TRADE: The Atlanta Hawks have agreed to trade center Dewayne Dedmon to the Detroit Pistons for guards Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas, a person with knowledge of the situation said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade needs approval from the NBA before becoming official.

The deal allows the Hawks to clear a logjam at center. The Hawks selected center Onyeka Okongwu from Southern Cal with the No. 6 pick of the NBA draft on Wednesday night.

Last season, the Hawks acquired center Clint Capela from Houston at the trade deadline. Capela was injured and didn’t play before Atlanta’s season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, but he’s expected to play a key role this coming season.

KNICKS: New York waived veterans Elfrid Payton, Taj Gibson and Wayne Ellington and declined their team option on Bobby Portis, just a year after signing them in free agency.

The Knicks signed all the veterans as part of a seven-player class in the summer of 2019. They enter free agency Friday with only Julius Randle and Reggie Bullock remaining from the group, having traded Marcus Morris to the Clippers during the season.

The moves have the Knicks well-positioned for free agency. Portis’ option would have paid him $15.8 million in 2020-21. Gibson was due $9.5 million, and Ellington and Payton were each set to earn $8 million.

The Knicks also waived forward Kenny Wooten and declined their option on guard Theo Pinson.

MAVERICKS: Guard Tim Hardaway Jr. is opting in at $19 million for the final year of his contract, while center Willie Cauley-Stein is moving on after declining his $2.3 million option.

 

 

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