'Unnecessary': Klay Thompson called out by Olympic gold medalist after latest off-court appearance
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'Unnecessary': Klay Thompson called out by Olympic gold medalist after latest off-court appearance originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Klay Thompson's recent appearance on PlaqueBoyMax's Twitch stream offered the NBA community plenty to talk about.
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During a long 1-on-1 conversation with the 23-year-old streamer, the Dallas Mavericks guard broke down his all-time starting five and named Draymond Green as his closest former Golden State Warriors teammate.
At the end of the stream, after the duo wrapped up a competitive three-point contest, PlaqueBoyMax asked Thompson to honestly evaluate his basketball ceiling. Thompson joked that Max had no chance of ever making it to the NBA, adding that he had professional potential—perhaps in Italy’s third division.
Their collaboration trended across social media for over a day. But former NBA All-Star Michael Redd does not like it. He took to X to criticize how modern players rely on internet streamers for attention.
Redd, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist and former Milwaukee Bucks All-Star, wrote, "Klay's one of my favorite guys in the league, so hear me with love here. Saw him pop up on one of these big streams. It just left me uneasy. Klay didn't do a thing wrong on there. It's more that watching NBA guys hand their name over to these dudes chasing a viral moment any way they can get it, it's unnecessary. You're an NBA player. You already got the platform. What are you going over there for?"
He added, “And some of these streamers especially have been mixed up in weird stuff lately. That's not an association an NBA guy needs. Your name means something."
Not surprisingly, Redd’s blunt reaction divided fans and sparked mixed reactions across the NBA community, but his perspective carries a lot of logic. Redd played in an era when athletes communicated almost exclusively through traditional beat reporters.
Today, social media dominates the landscape and professional journalists often find it difficult to secure standard interview access. Meanwhile, digital creators and internet streamers easily gain exclusive access to superstar players like Thompson.
Redd wants players to rely on their default platforms rather than seeking out internet creators. Having played in a completely different era of basketball, he feels these collaborations with YouTubers and streamers are unnecessary. According to him, superstar athletes don't need to lease out their names to digital platforms when they already command a massive spotlight on their own.
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