Mavs coach Kidd shares the advice he gave Klay ahead of Warriors matchup originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Klay Thompson, the Warriors and Dub Nation prepare for an emotional day Tuesday at Chase Center.

The veteran guard returns to the Bay Area to face his former team for the first time since joining the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason, and Golden State will pull out all the stops, including a pregame ceremony and a commemorative gift for fans, to honor his franchise. legend.

Thompson will be ready for anything, and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd revealed in an interview with 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” on Monday that he recently spoke with Thompson about the big game.

“We recently talked about this possibility,” Kidd told Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “It really doesn’t happen often when you leave a team that you’ve been with your entire career. To have the opportunity to come back and play in the house that he built, with Chase (Center), and also the excitement and the championships in Oakland at the Coliseum. I just understand that it’s going to be an emotional two days here when you talk about today with practice and then tomorrow’s game.

“And so my thoughts (for him) were just to enjoy it, embrace it and have fun with it.”

Thompson spent 13 years with Golden State after the Warriors selected him No. 11 overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. His new coach, 51-year-old Kidd, played against Thompson and longtime Warriors teammate Steph Curry for two seasons before the guard the Hall of Fame retired after the 2012-2013 season and knows how special the Splash Brothers duo was.

“They are definitely one of the best duos,” Kidd said. “You’re talking about the Splash Brothers. Just the uniqueness of the way they played the game, how they played for each other and helped each other achieve the highest goals and that is winning a championship.

“To have two of the best shooters of all time on the same team is unique in itself, but they loved to play, they knew how to win, they learned how to win. And yes, that combination will definitely work. down as one of the best combinations in the NBA.”

On Tuesday, the iconic duo, believed by many to be the best backcourt in league history, will face off for the first time in what should be an emotional night in the Bay.

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