Klay Thompson hints at his return during Instagram Live session

SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson’s return is getting closer by the day, and while the exact timeline remains vague, the Warriors shooting star provided an update Friday during his typical commute to work, from the deck of his 37-foot fishing boat.

“When am I gonna be back? Hopefully within the next few weeks, man, that’d be really nice,” Thompson said while live-streaming on Instagram. “Maybe a month. It’s hard to gauge.”

Thompson’s eventual return was at the top of everyone’s minds as the Warriors prepared to face the Suns in the second game of an early season home-and-home series with their neighbors at the top of the Western Conference standings. A logical date for his highly anticipated return could be Dec. 20 against the Kings, their first of two homes games sandwiched between a long East Coast road trip and a Christmas Day clash in Phoenix, but the Warriors have maintained there is no official timeline. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Friday that Thompson was still on schedule for a pre-Christmas return and that he was already able to play 25-30 minutes.

“I think the increased stamina that we’ve seen over the last couple weeks, where he is now compared to his first scrimmage when we were on the road a couple weeks ago, it’s pretty dramatic,” coach Steve Kerr said Friday prior to tipoff. “The improvement will be more gradual now as he continues to get stronger and more conditioned. But these last few weeks will be probably tougher for him in a lot of ways, mentally and physically, just because maybe the improvement won’t be quite as dramatic.”

Klay says "it's hard to gauge" when he'll be back, but hopefully in the next few weeks or a month

[via @KlayThompson / IG] pic.twitter.com/AlctOadChj

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 3, 2021

Thompson is back with the Warriors after joining G League Santa Cruz for a set of scrimmages while the big team was out of town. In the final stages of his rehab from two catastrophic injuries, all that’s left is for Thompson to get into game shape.

Thompson’s commute ended at the Warriors’ waterfront palace, where later that night, he would watch from the bench and wonder what could be, while his teammates tried to crack the tight grip the Suns had on his fellow Splash Brother when they met in Phoenix only three days earlier. He went through his shooting routine in full uniform on the court before the game.

After that first matchup, a 104-96 defeat that had the feel of a playoff preview, Kerr was left to wonder about the same. For the first time, unprompted, Kerr referenced the possibility of plugging in Thompson alongside Stephen Curry.

Referencing the stop-Steph-at-all-costs strategy, employed by the Suns and so many other teams, Kerr said, “There’s going to be openings for Jordan (Poole), openings for Otto (Porter Jr.). Those guys knocked down a bunch of 3s.” He paused for a second and smiled. “There’s gonna be openings for Klay Thompson. That’s gonna be fun.”

Everyone around the Warriors can sense his impending return, but nobody more than Thompson himself.

The last time Thompson was on the Warriors bench, he remained there for half an hour after the game, soaking in everything that he was missing, that he was so close to regaining.

The crystal ball for Thompson’s exact return date remains cloudy because it’s dependent on how his body responds from more than two years away from NBA-level competition. Ligaments and tendons fully healed, it’s now a matter of getting to a point where Thompson can keep up with the Warriors’ frenetic pace for substantial stretches of game time.

Currently working in stretches of about 4 minutes, Thompson and the Warriors won’t be able to nail down an exact date until he gets closer to playing a full quarter — 12 minutes. That said, it’s no secret Kerr and Co. would love to have Thompson, even on a minutes restriction, up their sleeve for Round 3 in Phoenix on Christmas Day.

Warriors brass want Thompson’s return to come in front of the home crowd — he has never played at Chase Center, nor alongside Porter, Poole or Andrew Wiggins, for that matter — and Golden State hosts Sacramento and Memphis in the week leading up to the Christmas Day showdown.

As for now, Kerr only encouraged Thompson to hit the water more often. Golden State’s coach stays off social media, but upon being informed of Thompson’s pregame activities, he responded, “Good, more time on the boat the better for Klay.”

Some more highlights from the latest of Thompson’s always entertaining Instagram Live sessions:

• Sporting a T-shirt with an image of Jimi Hendrix in a Seattle Sonics jersey, he advocated for the city to gets its NBA team back. “Bring back our Sonics,” Thompson said. “Seattle deserves a team. Give Seattle our team back. Bring back our Sonics!”

Klay Thompson, wearing a sailor’s hat and Sonics t-shirt while cruising across the Bay in his boat, passionately pleads for the NBA to give Seattle its basketball team back.

“Bring back our Sonics. Give Seattle our team back. Bring back our Sonics.” pic.twitter.com/KI82B4J3hg

— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) December 3, 2021

• Thompson was enjoying the views from his boat during “a beautiful San Franciscan day” until he spotted Jonathan Kuminga tuning into the session (Juan Toscano-Anderson and James Wiseman also made appearances in the comments). “Get in the gym!” Thompson told the rookie. “JK get off my live, you friggin’ clown, God! No rookies on my live, Kuminga!”

Klay tells Kuminga to get off his IG Live and "get in the gym"

[via @KlayThompson / IG] pic.twitter.com/W4B0RywQnP

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) December 3, 2021