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How Brothers Klay And Trayce Thompson Are Conquering The West

By Ty OKeefe
Published on: 18:34 PST, Jun 11, 2016

During the Golden State Warriors’ relatively recent rise to the pinnacle of pro basketball, the world has become fairly familiar with long-distance assassin Klay Thompson.

But 370 miles south of Oakland, another Thompson is starting to take the west coast sports scene by storm as younger brother Trayce lives out his big-league dreams as an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and a member of a family that’s become a model for success in the world of professional sports.

As those of us who once held hall of fame aspirations of our own know all too well, just reaching the professional level of any sport is about as likely as winning the lottery. Now, add those cruel odds with an athlete who already has an NBA champion for a father, a mother who played college volleyball, and an older brother who played basketball at Pepperdine before having a very quick cup of coffee with the Cleveland Cavaliers and bouncing around the D-League, and you start to understand the statistical odds that Klay and Trayce have beaten just to become professional athletes. But obviously, they weren’t the same kind of unfair odds that so many young athletes face while pursuing their NBA, NFL, UFC, or big-league dreams.

Instead of taking his talents to the Big Ten, and more specifically, Dad’s former stomping grounds at the University of Minnesota, Klay chose to stay on the left coast in order to play for Washington State. And for Trayce, the youngest of the three brothers, a ticket to the majors involved an inevitable trip through the minors.

During his five years in the league, Klay’s on-court exploits have become legendary. One-half of ”The Splash Brothers,” a career average of 18.4 points per game, a 42 percent mark from three-point range, a 24-point average in this year’s playoffs, and one NBA title with a second on the way, have combined to make Thompson one of the game’s most popular players and an extremely productive offensive weapon.

But despite being drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2008, Trayce was forced to spend the next seven years honing his skills in the minors before making his big-league debut with the Chi-Sox last summer. Of course, since Trayce was dealt to the Dodgers during the off-season, Klay has had a chance to watch his little brother blossom into a big-leaguer, and as he told ESPN on Friday before settling in to watch Trayce take on the San Francisco Giants, he couldn’t be prouder of his progress.

”I’m really proud of him,” said Klay. ”Getting to the major leagues is a grind and it takes great discipline and dedication. So to see him pursuing his dream and living it out [to] the fullest makes me incredibly happy for him.”

Recently, Klay and the rest of the Thompson clan have had plenty to be proud of as Trayce has worked his way up the depth chart and into the Dodgers’ lineup despite playing on a team that’s overloaded with outfielders. Thus far, Trayce has slugged 10 home runs and racked-up a respectable 23 rbi’s while hitting a solid.277 through his first 52 games of the season.

More importantly, on a team that’s loaded with both power and potential at the plate in players such as the currently-injured Yasiel Puig, outfielder Joc Pederson, veteran slugger Adrian Gonzalez, and fellow youngster Corey Seager, Thompson leads the team in both slugging percentage [.556] and OPS [.910], and is only four homers behind the team’s long-ball leader. Not bad for someone who was expected to spend most of the season in the minors.

Now pulling double-duty as a member of the L.A. Lakers’ radio broadcast team and the host of a morning radio show on ESPN, Mychal Thompson earned All-American honors at the University of Minnesota and was drafted first overall in the 1978 NBA Draft before enjoying a 12-year career that included winning a pair of NBA titles with the ”Show Time” Lakers in 1987 and 1988.

Growing up with a father in the NBA has obvious benefits to a kid who’s dying to follow in Dad’s footsteps, and Mychal’s career gave the Thompson brothers access to more than just the family patriarch’s base of knowledge.

”Say you want to be an astronaut and you get a chance to talk to Neil Armstrong—he can tell you what to expect and what you need to do. Or if you want to go into the computer world and you can talk to Bill Gates,” Mychal explained during a 2015 interview with ESPN. “Not only could they talk to us, but Steph [Curry] and Klay could talk to the best of the best, the greatest there ever was. A Jordan. A Kobe. A Magic Johnson. That’s as good as gets right there.”

Although unheralded, 28-year old Mychel [spelled with an ”e” rather than an ”a” like his father Mychal], the eldest brother of the tremendous Thompson-trio, is currently pursuing his own basketball dreams as a member of the NBDL’s Santa Cruz Warriors—coincidentally, Golden State’s minor-league affiliate.

Regardless of where their dreams have taken them, it sure seems like the Thompsons are a family destined to succeed on the west coast. But wherever they are, Trayce told ESPN that he never has to look very far for some family-based inspiration.

”I’m inspired by him [Klay] because of his mentality,” said Trayce. ”He’s never scared of the moment. He always wants to be the one to take that shot. People can sometimes get in their own way in sports.”

With a father in the NBA, it would’ve been easy for Klay and Trayce to walk through life expecting an opportunity. But they didn’t, and what we’ve seen from these two so far is only the beginning.

[Photo By-Harry How/Getty Images]

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