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Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson opened up on his Achilles injury rehab and plans on making his comeback to the NBA next season. Speaking to the media for the first time since suffering the injury on Nov. 18, 2020 during a workout in Los Angeles, Thompson acknowledged that 2020 was the worst year of his life.

"It was probably the worst year of my life, guys, It feels good to be back here. I feel love when I'm back in the Warriors facility. My roots are here. The pandemic was not easy on anybody. Everyone had their own little trials and tribulations in 2020, but that was it for me -- was losing my grandma Mary, tearing my Achilles, I still think about Kobe [Bryant] every single day."

Thompson suffered second straight season-ending injury

Klay will return to basketball action in the 2021-22 season after missing two whole years due to a torn ACL in 2019 and a torn right Achilles in 2020. After a horrendous spell of injuries, the 31-year old admitted that the mental aspect of his recovery has been more difficult than the physical grind. The swingman also provided an update on his rehabilitation journey so far,

"The mental toll is not very fun. You always guess if you're going to be the same player you once were, so you have those natural thoughts, but you can't let those overtake you, and you got to realize that this is not unique just to me. So many athletes have been through this. Although I was used to playing 100 games a year for the first eight years of my career, this is just a new set of challenges; and with my style of play, I feel like could be effective till my late 30s, so I'm not going to feel sorry for myself right now."

Thompson reveals plans for comeback

Thompson mentioned that his body might not be ready to play at his usual high level upon his return and he doesn't expect to get back to the same level straight away, "It might be 20 minutes to start the season, 18 minutes, like a minutes restriction. We'll see where I'm at. I'm just going to keep buckling down and keep doing what I love to do."