Klay Thompson made it clear recently that he and his Golden State Warriors teammates will indeed be shooting to break the all-time single-season record of 72-10, set in 1995-96 by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. While you might think Jordan would balk at the idea of a team breaking that amazing record, his response to Thompson was actually the exact opposite.
Thompson spoke about his discussion with Jordan after winning the three-point competition over teammate Stephen Curry on the NBA’s All-Star Saturday night, via CSN Bay Area.
“Go ahead and break the record,” Jordan told Thompson.
With a record of 48-4 at the All-Star break, Golden State is well within striking distance of the elusive mark set by Jordan and the Bulls. With 30 games left to play, the Warriors need to finish 25-5 to make it happen.
Thompson believes they will do it, even if head coach Steve Kerr does choose to rest starters down the stretch:
“We’ll probably rest guys down the stretch,” Thompson said, via ESPN’s Marc Stein. “But we’re so deep of a team that we should have a chance to win every night.”
With just a 3.5 game lead over the San Antonio Spurs heading into the final months of the season, Golden State might need to break the record to keep the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Whatever happens, it’s going to be quite an interesting race to follow as the two top teams in the NBA maneuver for positioning heading into the playoffs.