Klay Thompson's mindset on Bay return reveals his true feelings about the Warriors

Playing 13 seasons for one team is almost unheard of in today's NBA.

The value of loyalty is dwindling around the league, but it's not completely gone. Klay Thompson is a great example of loyalty, as he played 13 seasons for the Golden State Warriors and won four NBA championships alongside Stephen Curry.

Thompson and Curry formed one of the most iconic duos in NBA history in Golden State, but Thompson turned the page on this chapter of his career as he signed with the Dallas Mavericks over the summer.

Klay Thompson downplays return to the Bay as a normal game

Thompson was ready for a fresh start after feeling disrespected by the Warriors when it came to his contract negotiations and role, and the Mavs gave him the perfect spot to do just. He has embraced being a Dallas Maverick over the last few months, and although his return to the Bay is tomorrow, it's just a normal game for him.

"It’ll be good to see people you grinded with obviously, but to me, it’s just another regular season game in November," Thompson said.

Thompson said that his mind is on winning this game as it's the first game of the NBA Cup for Dallas, and he doesn't think that it'll be hard to play in this game even after all he went through over the 13 years that he was a Warrior.

"I've been doing this a long time, and basketball is basketball," Thompson said.

Thompson, from what he says, is clearly just focused on playing this game, and his postgame statement after Dallas' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night reflected that. The outside factors of his return to Golden State don't seem to be on his mind at all, and he is locked in on helping the Mavs avoid dropping below .500.

Considering Thompson nearly played 1,000 games for the Warriors in the regular season and playoffs, he'll be able to give his new teammates and coaches plenty of pointers on how to counter them on both ends of the floor on Tuesday night, especially with Curry and Draymond Green.

Thompson has played hundreds of games with Curry and Green, and there have been some competitive vibes flowing from Thompson matching up against Green. Green jokingly said that he plans on "running through his chest," in their first game against each other, and Thompson responded to that by saying he'll take the free throws. He truly isn't worried about everything that is going to come along with playing against the Warriors for the first time in his career, and he'll be ready for whatever they throw his way.

Over the offseason, Thompson allegedly got onto Kyrie Irving for talking to Green when most of the Mavs team was working out in Los Angeles, and although Thompson was likely joking when he approached Green and Irving, there was some seriousness to this.

He is treating his return to Golden State just like any other game, and him downplaying this game shows that he has fully moved on. The end of his time there seems like a time that he would rather forget, and he'll be looking to show the Warriors that they made a mistake by letting him walk.