If the Golden State Warriors are going to be among the championship contenders next season, they will need Klay Thompson to play at a similar level as he was before injuring his knee during Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
With the season tipping off on Dec. 22, Thompson will not have played an NBA game in a little more than 18 months. He would miss the 2019-20 season rehabbing his torn ACL, but the pandemic gave him a few more months to fully recover.
There have been 108 NBA players who tore their ACL, and looking over the list, there were eight who played the 2 or 3, but most of those injuries came a long time ago, and advances in medicine have made the surgery less lethal to the career of NBA players.