SAN FRANCISCO – At 4:19 p.m., Klay Thompson walked into Chase Center with his teammates and ran into approximately 400 warriors employees forming a tunnel and putting on captain’s hats.

Thompson had downplayed the importance of tonight, saying his first game against the team he spent the first 13 years of his career with was just another game. But at that moment, it hit him when the cameras focused on his face. He put his hands together in gratitude.

“Being someone who hangs four banners and does it in a way that captures the hearts of the fans,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said before the game. “It’s not just the ability with Klay, it’s not just the commitment to the organization, the competitive desire. There’s something, there’s an aura about him that connected our fans to him immediately. That’s what is needed. “It’s pretty rare for someone to do all that and have that kind of impact that Klay had.”

About three hours later the real festivities began.

A sold-out crowd at the Chase Center, all wearing white captain’s caps, erupted when the Warriors’ public address announcer declared that Thompson was back. They saluted their caps after 45 seconds. video montage played, ending with a message of “Thank you, Klay.” Both players and coaches from the Warriors and Mavericks craned their necks to see the tribute.

When it was over, Thompson, the four-time champion and Bay Area legend, felt the love. Warriors fans gave a raucous standing ovation for at least a minute.

Never one stops hide your emotionsThompson took a moment to himself in the far corner of the Chase Center court. He raised his hands to his head to thank the crowd and raised his fist with his left hand.

Steph Curry had planned to take the microphone and address the crowd, but he and Thompson talked about it Monday night and decided it wouldn’t be necessary.

Thompson has been at the center of several emotional nights in Warriors history. Perhaps most memorable was when he returned to the court in 2022 after injuries forced him to miss 941 days.

“It was a welcome back,” Kerr said. “We knew there were a lot of good times ahead of us. In fact, there was a championship six months later. Obviously this is more of a goodbye. The first time we’ll see it… It’ll feel very strange, but I think it’ll be a different vibe. More like a thank you and a goodbye.”

Andre Iguodala, Festus Ezeli and Zaza Pachulia were among Thompson’s former teammates in attendance to say goodbye. They were some of the more than 18,000 people who were in the building to shower Thompson with gratitude.

Thompson left the Warriors over the summer to seek a fresh start with the Mavericks, who won the West last year. Although he performed well for the Warriors after returning from career-threatening injuries (he helped win the 2022 title and led the league in three-pointers made the following year), Thompson was not the same player he was before his Achilles and anterior cruciate ligament injuries and he had to mentally deal with that.