ot many Washing- ton State basketball players have made it to the pros. A few have made it to the NBA, but none have been as successful over the past decade as Klay Thompson. It could be argued that he is the greatest WSU basketball player of all time.

In a January game against the Sacramento Kings, Washington State alumnus Thompson scored a career-high 52 points, with an NBA record 37 points on 13-13 from the field in the third quarter. It was announced less than a week later that he earned his first All-Star selection as a reserve player.

This season has heralded the emergence of one of the most talented and deadliest backcourts in NBA history. Thompson and Steph Curry have been tearing teams up this season and put Golden State on top of the Western Conference for most of the season.

The lesser-known half of the Golden State Warriors dynamic duo, known as the Splash Brothers, is starting to gain everyone’s attention. But WSU’s own has been Cougar fans’ favorite player for years.

There is already plenty of evidence, from stat sheets to All-Star games to contract extensions and shoe sponsorships, that say he is the greatest. In order to gain some perspective on the career and accomplishments of Thompson let’s go back to his first days in Pullman.

He arrived at WSU off of two of the most successful seasons in the history of Cougar basketball. Former coach Tony Bennett had led the team to 26 wins in both the 06-07 and 07-08 seasons. Then, in Thompson’s freshman season, he started all 33 games and the team reached the NIT post-season tournament. He was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshmen team and set a WSU freshmen record for 3-pointers in a game with eight.

Success followed him to his sophomore year where he began the season being named Most Outstanding Player in the Great Alaska Shootout Championship. He finished the year being named All-Pac-10 First Team, averaging 19.6 points per game, good for second in the conference.

In his junior year, his last at WSU, he again earned All-Pac-10 honors after leading the conference in scoring. He scored 733 points on the season, which is a WSU single season record. He is third all-time on WSU’s scoring list, and first in 3-point field goals.

Athletic Director Bill Moos, who began his tenure at WSU toward the end of Thompson’s playing career, said he was a very quiet, classy young man while at school. He let his performance on the court do the talking for him, and Moos said he was very focused on basketball.

“He was a draw at the gate,” Moos said. “People wanted to see Klay Thompson play – he is so dynamic, such a great shooter, a tremendous athlete.”

In only three seasons, Thompson left his mark on the record books. If he had stayed at WSU for his senior season, he would have dominated all of the school’s scoring records. This fact alone is almost enough to say he is the greatest Cougar basketball player ever, and we haven’t even gotten to his pro career yet.

Thompson decided to enter the 2011 NBA Draft off the heels of his dominant junior year and was selected 11th overall by Golden State. At the end of the year he was voted to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Over the next two seasons, he and Curry were on fire, setting NBA records for combined threes on the season with 483 in 2012-13, and broke their record with 484 in 2013-14. The Warriors made it to the playoffs in each of those seasons, and grew into one of the most talented and dangerous squads in the league.

In October of last year, Thompson’s performances were rewarded with a four-year contract extension projected by ESPN to be worth around $70 million. Then he signed with Chinese athletic sportswear company ANTA, and unveiled his first signature shoe, the KT Fire, last week.

Thompson was all over All-Star Weekend, making it to the final round of the three-point contest against his teammate Steph Curry and Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving. In Sunday’s All-Star Game, he played almost 20 minutes, scored seven points and had six assists as his Western squad defeated the Eastern team.

His stats back up his All-Star selection. He is having the best season of his career in shooting percentage, 3-point percentage, rebounds and assists. Deadly from beyond the arc, he is number one in NBA history with 545 3-point shots made in his first three seasons.

This year his defensive skills have increased tremendously, and people like Hall of Famer Charles Barkley have taken notice.

“He’s the best two guard in the NBA if you need offense and defense,” Barkley said.

Moos agreed with Barkley, and said he isn’t surprised by what Thompson has been able to accomplish so far in his career.

“I know it’s come with a lot of hard work,” Moos said. “He’s been blessed with a lot of natural talent, but also a lot of hard work.”

When you add up everything he has accomplished since his freshman year in 2008, how could you not call him the greatest basketball player to ever come from WSU? His name is all over school record books, with only three seasons to get there. And now in the NBA, he is becoming a huge star and is taking the league by storm.

When you watch Cougar basketball games now, there is no one like him out on the court. So enjoy his career while it lasts, Cougar fans, because Thompson is the greatest player in WSU basketball history, and there may never be a player like him again.