Dear Klay Thompson, I’m Sorry I Bet Against You.

Dear Klay Thompson,

Can I call you Klay? I feel like I know you because I’ve been thinking about you so much over the past six months. Not like that. I’m married. You see Klay, I like to gamble. And before the season started I saw a bet I thought was a sure thing. The bet was for your points per game average during the regular season and the number was 20.3. When I first saw it, I thought it was a misprint. After all, you’d averaged 19.6 ppg over the course of your entire career and you were coming off a major injury and a fourth title. Of all the years, why would you score more this year during the mostly meaningless regular season than you had in the past?

There were other factors that led me to believe this was the lock of the year:

• Your coach, Steve Kerr, said that you’d be on a minutes restriction to start the season. Fewer minutes means fewer shot attempts. Fewer shot attempts mean fewer points.
• You’re getting old, so I figured you’d want to rest during the regular season and save yourself for the playoffs.
• Poole, Kuminga and Moody were all supposed to play more minutes and get more opportunity further limiting your shot attempts.

To be clear, it’s not that I don’t like you Klay. I do. You seem like a genuinely good dude. Those Instagram videos with you and I and fifteen thousand of your followers on your boat, sailing in the San Francisco Bay without a care in the world. I love those trips. I just thought you’d average less than 20.3ppg is all.

It started out as planned. Your first four games you went for 18, 16, 8 and 2. Perfect! Midway through the early part of the season you were still averaging around 17 ppg. Then injuries happened. Steph went out. Wiggins went out. And before I knew it, you were taking 25 shots a game. From Dec 26-Jan 11 you scored 24, 29, 31, 54, 30, and 29 points. That 54 point game was a real killer. Great for you and your confidence, not so good for me and mine.

With 30 games to go, you’re averaging exactly 21.0 ppg. I’d need you to score 19 or less in your remaining games for me to win this bet. But here’s the thing, I don’t even care about the bet anymore because what I’ve realized is that I don’t enjoy rooting against Klay Thompson. It’s like rooting against Canada. No matter how old and slow you are, your ability to move without the ball, square your body and fire from 3 is still a thing of beauty. Who wants to root against that? Not me Klay Thompson. Not me.

So despite the fact that I stand to lose a substantial sum of money, I’m done rooting against you. From now on, I’m on Team Klay. And I’m not just saying that because I hope you read this post and send me an email offering to split the losses with me. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. No one should go through an entire NBA season rooting against Klay Thompson. I’ve learned that  lesson the hard way and even though you don’t know me, I hope you’ll forgive me so we can just get on with our lives.

Sorry for doubting you Klay. It won’t happen again. (Unless they raise your point total next year because you can’t keep this up another year…)

Your friend,

The Bad Gambler