Yesterday, the NBA released its All-NBA Team list which included 15 players in total. These are considered to be the best players in the league at their position and were voted on by the media. Many players were snubbed from the list, most notably Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who many felt should have made the list. Thompson was alerted of his snub during a scrum yesterday and had a pretty visceral reaction to it all.
“When you go to five straight Finals, it takes more than a couple All-NBA guys," Thompson noted. "Do I think there are that many guards better than me? No.”
Today, Stephen A. Smith went on First Take where he went on a rant about Thompson's snub and how it was ridiculous that such a great player would be absent from all three All-NBA teams.
"I agree with him too, I think that the important point that needs to be made is that it’s a disgrace,” Smith said. “You talk about what Klay Thompson brings to the table and it’s not about what guards are better than him or not better than him. When you take the regular season into consideration, I would’ve put Klay Thompson… ahead of Kyrie Irving, I would’ve put him ahead of Russell Westbrook and Kemba Walker.”
To make matters worse, the snub means Thompson is not eligible for the supermax deal but he is eligible for the max contract. This means he loses out on $30 million.