NBA Star Power Index: Ja Morant's inhuman block, LaMelo Ball's game-winner and Steph Curry's ice-cold shooting
CBSN
Also, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving have both looked good in two games back
Welcome back to NBA Star Power Index: A weekly gauge of the players getting the most buzz around the league. Inclusion on this list isn't necessarily a good thing -- it simply means you're capturing the NBA world's attention. This is also not a ranking. The players listed are in no particular order. This column will run every week throughout the regular season.
Klay Thompson's return to the court after more than two and a half years was triumphant. How well he played almost didn't even matter, but it was surely a welcome bonus that he did, in fact, play well. Thompson finished with 17 points in 19 minutes, hitting 7 of 18 shots including three 3-pointers. If you had questions about his explosiveness or legs in general after two major injuries, the dunk below answered a lot of them.
In his second game back, Thompson finished with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting. In their loss to the Grizzlies, the Warriors were plus-17 in Thompson's 19 minutes and minus-25 when he sat. Take single-game plus-minus numbers with a significant grain of salt, but Thompson's presence already means a lot in terms of how hard teams can sell out on Stephen Curry.