Klay Thompson's imminent return comes with Draymond Green warning

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer by the day for Klay Thompson, with the Golden State Warriors optimistic that he will make his long awaited return against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.

Thompson has been out for two years with significant injuries, the first was an ACL tear during the 2019 NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors. The second was an Achilles tear during a workout in November 2020, which has seen him miss two and half seasons of basketball.

According to ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the final decision on Thompson's return will be made after the Warriors return from their back-to-back games on the road against the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. The three-time NBA champion will travel with the team on their road trip before getting two days off before potentially making a comeback on Sunday.

The 31-year-old was initially expected to return during the Christmas period games, but continued his rehabilitation away from the team. Thompson spent five days with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G-League, and completed three game length scrimmages to ensure he is in good condition to return to the Warriors lineup.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has confirmed that Thompson will go straight into the starting lineup when he returns to action. The 56-year-old also got a bit emotional recently when he saw Stephen Curry and Thompson on the court together for the first time in two years.

Golden State's Thursday night game against the Denver Nuggets was postponed because of COVID-19, and the Warriors held a scrimmage Friday in Denver before facing the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. It was then that Thompson joined his fellow "Splash Brother" on the court for a scrimmage.

However, Thompson's return comes with a stern warning from Draymond Green. The Warriors power forward admitted that he was looking forward to Thompson's return, but warned that it will not be seamless, and there could be more hurdles for him to overcome before he can get back to the form he showed prior to his 2019 ACL injury.

"We are looking forward to getting Klay back," Green said earlier Monday. "That takes this team to another level. We are extremely excited about that, but nobody is expecting it to just be seamless. You want to try to make it as seamless as you possibly can, but there is no way to guarantee that."