Basketball Backcountry: David Thompson

In the sport that is impacted by an individual player more than any other, the careers of the basketball's greats are well mapped out. Russell, Kareem, Jordan, these are just a few of the mountainous figures that serve as the backdrop for the NBA landscape. When you look out across the proverbial vista it can be hard to grasp the full scope of each one. What was once a Rainierian view of Mt. Mikan is now a vast range of giants stretching from East to Jerry West, each jostling for position in the pages of history. For even the most seasoned explorers, from far away it's difficult to gauge the size and scope of each one of them as they line up for a team photo against the skyline. Still, as you look towards the top of these monoliths, you will be able to make out how each one defines the view. Wilt's 50 point per game season, Bird's back-to-back-to-back MVPs, Hakeem's Triple Crown--these are the peaks of those mountainous careers.    

Basketball Backcountry is going to be a series of articles (and videos) where I look on the other side of the legendary NBA peaks to find the trails and hills that have been obscured and overgrown as the years have gone on.

I wanted to start this series off with David Thompson for a couple of reasons. First and most relevant is that David Thompson was one of the greatest players in the history of the game. A National Player of the Year and NCAA legend, the best player on a Finals team, an MVP runner-up, a scoring champion runner up, and much more.

Secondly, because much of what people do know about David Thompson is what stopped him from being one of the aforementioned All-Time Greats, I'd like to do my small part in shifting the focus back to his transcendent play as a hooper.

Lastly and most importantly, he is the foundational player for which every athletic scoring guard is built upon. His style of play permeates through the DNA of those that came after him in a way that is immediately evident. He was Jordan's favorite player and stood beside him during his Hall of Fame induction. You can see how much of Thompson's game and physicality is in Jordan's, in Clyde Drexler's, in Kobe and Wade's, Iverson and Allen's. Even now Thompson's influence can be felt through players like Ja Morant and Donovan Mitchell. I cannot think of a more worthy player for a project like this, so without further ado let's take a look at David "Skywalker" Thompson.

David Thompson's College Career

I don't want to make a habit out of talking about college careers. While the NCAA was much more talent laden and comparable to the league in some regards, before the best players all became one-and-dones, it's still not the NBA or ABA. With that being said, Thompson's college career is so particularly fantastic, it has a number of historic moments, and he was so dominant and clearly ready for the league out of high school, that I think a brief look is worth it.

Thompson was born and raised in Shelby, North Carolina which naturally led him to two choices for where he would attend university: UNC and NC State. UNC was the more successful program at the time, but he opted to go to NC State for college where he was sold on coach Norm Sloan's promise that he'd be able to be "the guy" on the team. That was appealing for Thompson, who even though he was one of the most heralded recruits in the history of North Carolina basketball, would have had to give up a lot of scoring opportunities to Mitch Kupchak, Phil Ford, and Walter Davis over in Chapel Hill.

In the first year that freshmen were allowed to play varsity basketball, the ~6'3" Thompson led the Wolfpack to an undefeated 27-0 season, was the ACC's top scorer at 24.7 points a game on 57% shooting, the ACC Player of the Year, and a consensus 1st-Team All-American.

Unfortunately NC State was put on playoff probation for a year because of recruiting violations around DT, but I suppose it was worth it to ensure getting a player who right out of the gate was clearly one of the best in the country.

Immediately Thompson became one of the premier names in college basketball, in large part due to his mystifying athleticism. The level of verticality that he played with was something that had simply not been seen before from a player his size.

Thompson would sky for rebounds and blocks regularly, eagerly challenging opposing bigs all game. They used him, a player the same height as Steph Curry, for jump balls as opposed to their 7'4" center.

Thompson would even take the jump in defensive territory as seen here, and the second part of the clip shows one of those herculean blocks.

Here's Thompson crashing for a rebound, something you'll see a dozen times a game in college as he would regularly get 8 or 9 a game. This clip starts with a brief view of 9x All-Defense forward Bobby Jones who would be his ABA teammate, explaining how even at 6'9" he struggled to out rebound David.

His athleticism and verticality allowed him to pioneer what we now know as the alley-oop, which prior to Thompson was just something that huge centers like Wilt and Jumpin' Johnny Green would do with teammates' errant shots. After watching this maneuver, Norm Sloan instructed his teammates to keep passing it to him in mid-air to set up those scoring opportunities purposefully. It was now part of the playbook.

At this time dunking was still prohibited in the NCAA, so he had to make do with turning these chances into lay-ups and mid-air bank shots.

He was changing the game in real time and soon players in the ABA & NBA took note and tried to replicate what Thompson was doing. Especially after Thompson led the USA Men's team that summer to victory against the Soviet Team which had just controversially won Olympic Gold the year prior.

Year Two

Coming in after that summer, Thompson would continue to make waves. In his second year at NC State he would resume his game-altering play, but that would be secondary to the history he would make in the NCAA tournament.

Thompson would lead the team to a 30-1 record and was the ACC Player of the Year and a consensus 1st-Team All-American once again. At this time the NCAA tournament only invited conference champions, which meant that either Thompson and #1 ranked NC State or 4th ranked University of Maryland would be left out of the big dance.

In what is considered one of the greatest college basketball games of all time, NC State would topple Maryland in double-overtime in the ACC Championship game and secure their entry. This game would be the catalyst for the expansion of the NCAA tournament the very next year.

NC State wound up on the tougher side of the bracket and drew the juggernaut UCLA in the semifinals, the winner of the last seven NCAA titles (nine of the last eleven), led by 3-time National Player of the Year Bill Walton, and coached by the legendary John Wooden.

Despite being down seven points in double-overtime, NC State would end up winning 80-77, snapping the greatest postseason streak in NCAA basketball history. Despite a marvelous 29/18/4 game from Walton on 62% from the floor, that loss hit Walton hard leaving him to say, "That failure has plagued me, and will, it is a stigma on my soul, and there's no way I can get rid of it."

Not to kick a man while he's down, but the play of that game for me was Thompson's block on Big Red.

More than any other play of Thompson's college career, and perhaps as much as any in his basketball career, this exemplifies the explosive athleticism he possessed. From a near standstill Thompson explodes off the floor, the ball already at the height of the rim before his feet even leave the ground, and sends back Walton's shot into the hands of a teammate.

Walton said of Thompson, "He was by far the best player I ever played against in college", noting that John Wooden only mentioned one player by name the entire time he played for him, that player was Thompson, and it was before the one tournament game they lost.

NC State would go on to win the 1974 NCAA Championship and David would be named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

Year Three

The next year David Thompson would score 30 points a game, once again be named the ACC Player of the Year, a consensus All-American, and the National College Player of the Year, capping off one of the greatest college basketball careers of all time.

Thompson was already the total package. While his jumping was what he was most known for, unlike a lot of players coming out of college Thompson was already a fantastic shooter. Both as a catch-and-shoot option or with the ball in his hands. A complimentary player who played well in the team concept, and a devastating 1-on-1 isolation player as well. NC State's point guard and future ABA-teammate Monte Towe said, "If you put a big man on him he takes you outside and shoots over you, if you put a little guy on him he takes you down low and jumps over you. He's virtually unguardable."

Here's a look at that shooting with a very MJ/Kobe-esque one dribble, pump fake, pull-up.

Thompson also had this drifting FT line jumper that he pulled out frequently, here he sinks it against UCLA.

He was also a very capable defender, much more than just flashy blocks and steals, as well as someone who had a great feel for the game. Here is a neat little tip pass on another OOB play for an easy two points.

All of this lead to Thompson being selected #1 overall in both the NBA and ABA drafts, and ultimately selecting to enter the more modernized and offensively driven ABA with the Denver Nuggets, citing that he felt like the ABA had more talent at the time in players like Dr. J, George Gervin, and James Silas, and that he wanted to go against the best.

David Thompson's Rookie Season

Skywalker hit the ground running in his first professional season, joining a fantastic Denver Nuggets team that led the ABA in wins the prior year and in addition to the 21 year old Thompson had just added Hall of Famer Dan Issel and NC State's point guard Monte Towe as well. Despite having a perennial All-ABA big man in Issel who sported a career 26 & 11, 20 point per game scorer Ralph Simpson, and world class defender Bobby Jones, legendary coach Larry Brown threw the keys to DT and told him to drive.

Thompson was an immediate superstar, and as it turns out college ball may have been holding him back.

With dunking allowed in the ABA, he could now use his explosive athleticism to its fullest potential. Here's Towe and Thompson a half-year removed from NC State showing off the new found power of their patented alley-oop play right over the head of Dr. J.

The altitude he would get on his jump, and the speed at which he reached the apex of it, was truly remarkable. Michael Jordan said, "The whole term and the whole measure of vertical leap began with David Thompson", and you can see why.

For the mini-doc that the NBA put out on Thompson, they had a comment from Dr. Michael Feltner who remarked that the way he was, "able to immediately start going up, big muscle forces, and do it fast", was greatly aided by his extremely strong legs and having very little extra mass up high. On top of that, much like Jordan himself, Thompson grew up playing outside on a clay surface. That surface was much softer than a hard floor, which Feltner suggested could contribute to Thompson having learned to make big forces in a short period of time, as the power of his feet would dig and sink into the soft ground and inhibit him otherwise.

Postulation to be sure, but that's the stuff of legend. Maybe NBA teams need to start having a practice court made from clay.

Here's another clip of some highlight dunks, including Jordan opining about Thompson's 44-inch vertical. It's funny because usually when you hear a number like that it's hyperbole, but clearly not in this case.

The Nuggets would finish 60-24, the best record in what would be the last season of ABA before the NBA merger, and the top net rating (+5.3) in the league as well. Thompson was voted in as an All-Star and won the ASG MVP, received All-ABA 2nd team honors, was the unanimous ROY, and the MVP Runner-Up to the ABA's greatest superstar in Dr. J.

Here are Thompson's regular season numbers.

As a 21 year old rookie he was 3rd in the league in PPG and 2nd in total points while being 4th in TS%. 1st in OREB among players under 6'5" and to put that number into perspective, the 2.6 offensive rebounds per game are more than Anthony Davis, Kevin McHale, or Kevin Garnett averaged for their careers. It's more than Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard, Michael Jordan, or LeBron James have ever averaged. He was a heat-seeking missile on the offensive glass. He was 1st among players under 6'5" in blocks, 5th in win shares, and 2nd in OBPM.

You might be thinking that while those numbers are good, wasn't the ABA a more watered down league, that played significant less defense, and catered more toward perimeter players than the NBA?

In short, while there were some rules that helped Thompson, like more lenience with travels and palming, plus the additional spacing caused by the 3pt line was helpful, the league's themselves were not remarkably far apart by 1976. Some nifty numbers work gives us a rough estimate of how comparable the leagues were by tracking the stats of players who had played in both leagues.

At the tail end of the ABA, we're looking at a 90-100% similarity in assists, rebounds, and points per game for players. As close to cross-league parity as you could get. Luckily for us, Thompson himself played in both leagues and we'll be able to take a look at how he fared in the next season.

Before we get there though, let's take a look at more of Thompson from his rookie year. Almost all of the footage from DT this year comes from the ABA Finals where the #1 seed Denver Nuggets would face off against Dr. J and the #2 seed New York Nets.

Before that, there's some grainy footage of Thompson showing off his guard skills with a little PNR action to Issel. This is from their first round match-up against the defending champion Kentucky Colonels who they would beat in 7 games. Thompson had 40/10/5 on 65% shooting and 14-16 from the line in the closeout game.

Moving into the Finals, thankfully the video quality increases and we can catch a color version of a classic Thompson C&S from the wing in Game 1, with some added commentary about how, "One of the things David Thompson does so well, and actually better than Julius Erving when he came into this league, Thompson has that good outside shot--which it took Dr. J, oh, a couple or three years to really develop."

That wasn't just a throwaway comment either, it really was that rare for players to come in at that age and have as polished of a shot as Thompson did. Even teammate Dan Issel would later note that, "He came in as a total package from college. Players like Dr. J and Michael Jordan, who we compare great players to, developed that as their careers went on. David was an incredible shooter right away."

Here's a number of tough shots from Thompson during the 4th quarter of Game 6 as he tried to keep Denver in the game.

He wasn't just a good shooter with some space, or C&S, but notably good with defenders right on him as well as off the dribble. His vertical allowed him to rise up over defenders and get a clear shot off with his high release. Additionally his body control was one of a kind with how he could alter the position and angle of his body and the shot itself in mid-air.

I think it's pretty interesting how similar the cadence of his jumper is to Jordan and Kobe here, not to mention the use of low ball swings to threaten the drive before raising up.

Speaking of similarities, Thompson like those two wasn't just a great shooter and dunker, he also had great ball skills for the time and was a seriously crafty finisher. Here's a couple clips of tough finishes from game 6.

In the first instance he explodes to the paint with a lightning quick first step. Even defensive mastermind Dennis Johnson would note that, "Guy had the fastest first step in the league."

  Using it to get by Dr. J, he opts to plant away from the hoop where the Nets defense was loaded up, surprising the Doc who went to block the shot with his right hand, only to have Thompson stop and shoot a high floater over the top.

On the next take, Thompson goes at Eakins with a quick crossover and finger rolls the ball with a ton of english on it just underneath the outstretched arm of the defender for the and 1, prompting some noises from the booth.

 Here's another beauty of a take from Thompson on Dr. J featuring that killer first step.

DT gets the ball just inside of the 3pt line here, gives a stationary fake allowing time for Dr. J's feet to get planted, then takes one dribble to his side and blows past him and into the lane, taking off from 8ft and finishing with a finger roll for another and 1 opportunity.

Of course, Thompson's raw athleticism was on display as well. That was as unique among professional players as it was in college. Remember those gaudy offensive rebounding numbers? Here's an example of how those didn't just come about by happenstance.

Here, he sees an awkward shot coming from Webster and flies in from outside of the key for a perfectly timed monster putback slam, with some more fantastic announcer commentary.

Below is another from game 1 where Thompson kicks the ball out to a shooter, then relocates to the hole in the defense, and gets an easy putback.

It wasn't all putbacks though, here's a play where Thompson is the lone Nugget in a circle of four Nets. He boxes Dr. J out and launches to grab the ball before the Nets center can, resulting in a jump ball and a fit of rage from #22 who ends up on the ground.

Thompson was a legitimate two-way player who could make an impact on the defensive end as well.

Here the Nets try to post up a larger player on Thompson.

Dr. J sets a half-hearted screen to bump Thompson off his line getting to Jones, but he navigates it well. He then slows his pace up a bit to feign like he's behind on the play to bait a soft pass coming in, then launches over the top of the defender as it comes in to bat the ball away. That's a pretty savvy move for anyone, let alone a 21 year old rookie.

Here he is again, this time on the outside.

Thompson matches his man as he comes to the ball and gets in a good defensive stance, crowding him before he drives to the right. He plays him perfectly, shuffling his feet and keeping himself between the hoop and his man, using an arm to stay attached and feel where he's going. That forces Jones to cut back the other way and he ends up launching a tough jumper over the straight-up & contesting Thompson. The shot misses, but Dr. J is there for the OREB and putback.

Here we see him against Skinner.

Skinner passes out to Dr. J then relocates for the post-up. Thompson looks well sealed, but just as Erving lobs it in DT snakes around the side of Skinner and taps the ball away to start the fast break, culminating in a slick one dribble pull-up.

Here's another steal leading to a fast break sequence from game 1.

He fronts the center for an easy steal, leads the break and shows off some nifty ball handling to get around Dr. J, shoots a pass off that gets bobbled, goes and gets the ball, then fires it to a cutter for an easy lay-up.

Overall Thompson would be even better in the Finals than he was in the regular season, which I take as a marker for a truly great player. He would average 28/6/3 on 57% shooting, including a 42 point game on 16-23 from the floor in game 6. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, they would lose the 4th quarter 34-14 and end up losing the game 112-106 and thus the series in one of the great playoff meltdowns of all time--though hardly the fault of Thompson.

Had it not been for Dr. J putting on what may be the greatest finals performance of all time, averaging 38/14/5/1/1 on 59% from the floor for the series, we would certainly be adding "best player on a championship team" to Thompson's resume.

ABA / NBA Merger & David Thompson's Second Season

The ABA and NBA merged for the 1976-77 season spelling the end for the ABA, in which Thompson was named a member of their All-Time Team after just one season. The Denver Nuggets would be one of the teams that would fully integrate into the league as an expansion team. They would bring back essentially the exact same roster as the previous year and Denver would go 50-32, good for the second best record in the league. They would average the second most points in the league, have the league's best defensive rating, and the second best net rating among the 22 qualified teams.

Finally the NBA fans would get to see Thompson, and opposing players would be subjected to the absurdity of his leaping ability. Here's Thompson against the Bulls with one of the greatest blocks in NBA history.

Thompson would end up moving to shooting guard for the majority of his minutes, but proved that he was one of the best players in the world, not just the ABA.

Though his rebounding numbers would go down a bit due to the position switch, and his FG% a bit too due to shooting more outside shots, Thompson was able to increase his assists and remain a deadly and efficient scorer. 26ppg on +4.8 rTS (relative true shooting or how much higher your ts% is than league average) is remarkable, and he would end up 3rd in the league in total points and first in free throws attempted. 

His play that season would not just earn the Nuggets a bye in the playoffs, but would make him one of three Nuggets to start the All-Star game, and see him awarded 1st Team All-NBA alongside Kareem, Elvin Hayes, Pistol Pete, and Paul Westphal, joining Rick Barry as the only players 22 years old or younger to do so.

Denver would end up meeting the Portland Trail Blazers in round two of the playoffs who were led by Bill Walton, still haunted by his loss to NC State. Despite a worse record, Portland sported the league's best net rating, and were a force on both ends of the floor.

Thompson played well in the series, showing off what earned him those 1st team honors.

Here's that one dibble, leaning, FT jumper again. This time over two Blazers defenders.

Thompson picks Walton off here late in game 3.

Walton, known for his great passing from the center position, believes that the entry pass to #15 is safe. DT lags behind once again, before pouncing to knock the ball away for a steal that could have put the Nuggets up with 33 seconds left to go, but was missed by Bobby Jones. Thompson had 40 points this game on 55% shooting and a perfect 8-8 from the line, but the Nuggets would fall by four.

The Nuggets would lose this series in 6 games, losing games 1 and 3 by a combined 5 points, and the Blazers would go on to win the championship.

While Thompson played well, it was still a down series by his standards; only averaging 25 points on 46% shooting, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.5 steals, almost a block a game, and an uncharacteristic 68% from the line.

On rewatch, part of the issue with the Nuggets this series and as a whole (besides Walton being a beast) was their ability to get Thompson the ball when it mattered most. There were so many critical possessionis where a non-scorer would be taking ill-advised shots, whereas nowadays the ball would always come out to who should have it. In the 3 games that Thompson had over 20 FGAs the Nuggets were 2-1, and in the 3 where he didn't they were 0-3.

Part of that was who Thompson was as a player and a teammate. For better or worse he wasn't the type to demand the ball, especially as a 22 year old. That unselfish play was appreciated by his teammates however, like Dan Issel who said, "All the Nuggets players loved him, because he helped you win games, and he was the type of player that made everyone on the court better. Not a player who subtracted from the rest of his team to get his stats."

A fascinating sentiment considering what Thompson would do the next year.

David Thompson's Third Season & A 73 Point Performance

Coming into the season there was an expectation for Thompson to bounce back--and bounce he did. The Nuggets would finish 1st in the Midwest Division once again and sport the 5th best record in the league, and while parts of the team had gotten a little worse, Thompson got a lot better.

Thompson improved across the board. He led the league in win shares, he led in OBPM, and he was second to Kareem in VORP.

He was over a block a game again, good for 25th in the league, the only player under 6'6" to be in the top 50 for blocks, and led all guards in OREB once again.

He was the only player in the NBA to average at least 20 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists.

His efficiency improved to +6.3 over league average, 11th overall and far and away the highest among players under 6'4", the closest being Earl Monroe who had a 54% TS. Above all else though was his raw scoring number, which ended up being the story of the season.

Skywalker vs. Iceman

Coming into the last game of the season Thompson and George Gervin were neck and neck for the scoring title. Skywalker, the impossible leaper, vs. Iceman, the silky smooth, ultra lengthy scoring machine. Gervin had the slight edge but if Thompson had himself a night, he could take control.

Well, he had a night. On April 9th, 1978, David Thompson scored 73 points on 28-38 (73.7%) shooting, 17-20 (85%) from the line, to go along with 7 boards, 2 assists, and a block. At the time it was tied for the 3rd highest scoring performance of all time with Wilt Chamberlain, who naturally owned the #1 (100) and #2 (78) spots as well.

Larry Brown said of the night, "The first half was the greatest exhibition I have ever seen. He had 53 points, he was 20-23 and he missed his last two shots. I don't think he forced any shots, he played within himself...he was going out to win the game."

There is only a little bit of footage from this game, which the Nuggets ended up losing by two points, though I'll continue to try and find the full game through back channels until I get it.

A remarkable performance that will be part of NBA history forever, as would Gervin's performance just a few hours later.

Seeing what Thompson did, Gervin went out to make sure he got enough points to get back the scoring title. He too would have 53 points in the first half, he would shoot 17-20 from the FT line, but hoisted up 49 FGAs and made 23 of them on his way to 63 points, along with 2 rebounds and an assist. The Spurs would lose the game by 21 points, but Gervin would secure his scoring title. Iceman: 27.2 ppg. Skywalker: 27.1 ppg.

Right before the playoffs Thompson would sign the largest contract in NBA history, $4,000,000 over 5 years.

The Nuggets looked good but had very few scoring options outside of himself and Issel, who was a consistent 20-22 ppg scorer but rarely had games of 30 or more. Outside of those two there was Bobby Jones who was an ultra efficient 14 ppg scorer but mostly around the rim, and it was a sharp drop off from there. Because of that, teams started to really load up on David to try to make things as tough as possible.

He would average 26/4/5/1/2 on 47% shooting against the Bucks in a 7 game series that featured 5 blowouts. Coming into game 7 there was worry that the Nuggets didn't have the players to deal with a Bucks team that had just blown them out by 28 points in game 6. Thompson played well in that game, 28/5/4/2/4 on 52% from the floor, but the rest of the team outside of Jones were horrendous. Issel went 1-11 for 7 points, rookie Anthony Roberts was inserted into the starting line up and he went 7-21, starting SF Bob Wilkerson went 1-8, and the bench was no better. Thompson had something to prove as the series headed back to Denver.

As soon as the game started, Thompson took control. He hit his first four shots and the Nuggets would lead for the entire game en route to a 116-110 win. Thompson would finish with 37/6/6 with 5 blocks on 53% from the floor.

In the second round they would meet the Seattle SuperSonics, a young team that had a constricting defense lead by the aforementioned Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams, and Jack Sikma. They had held opponents to the 2nd lowest point total in the league that year and sported the 3rd best defensive rating.

The Nuggets won game 1 by nine, but the Sonics game plan was clear. They were selling out to stop Thompson at all costs, allowing anyone else on the Nuggets beat them, and attacking Issel on defense who had picked up 5 fouls in 28 minutes, and wasn't exactly Artis Gilmore. Thompson had a 23 point night, but shot only 41% from the floor, but was impactful on defense against Johnson and Williams who shot 7-27 combined.

Game two was a similar story. They loaded up and walled off Thompson when he would get the ball, and he was only able to put up 22 points on 20 shots. A fine night, but not enough for a Nuggets team whose bench went 7-27 themselves, along with an 8-18 night from Roberts.

When Thompson was able to get single coverage on DJ, he was doing alright. Here's a supercut of some of his possessions that series against him.

It was tough defense to be sure, contested shots, good discipline, that's why DJ is one of the best perimeter defenders of all time. But it was when Thompson would start to get into the paint where Seattle would collapse on him. They had great, lengthy athletes, who stifled Thompson (and the Nuggets) ability to consistently get good shots, and would surround Thompson and force him to pass out of post possessions to the cornucopia of Denver's non-shooters.

Seattle would win the next two and force elimination in game 5 back in Denver.

Thompson, who had proven to show up in big games win or lose, made his mark once again to keep the Nuggets afloat. He would have 35/3/2/1/1 on a blistering 59% from the floor, before the Nuggets would fall in six to the Sonics, who would then lose in 7 to the Bullets in the Finals.

A slightly disappointing season for the Nuggets, but all-in-all Thompson's best year as a pro. He was again an All-Star, again All-NBA 1st team, and would finish 3rd in the NBA MVP voting as a 23 year old. The 25 year old scoring rival George Gervin would finish second and Big Bill Walton would end up with the trophy.

Denver Retools For David Thompson's Fourth Season

Denver made a huge move in the offseason in the wake of their playoff loss. Bobby Jones had been a part of the Denver core since before Thompson got there. He had been All-Defensive 1st Team in the ABA/NBA for the past 4 years, and 3 times an All-Star. The Nuggets FO felt they needed more scoring and more physicality, so they traded Bobby Jones to Philly for George McGinnis.  

McGinnis, a two time ABA Champion in 72 and 73, as well as an MVP in 75, was a bad fit with a Sixers roster that was loaded with scorers. Like Thompson, he was also 1st Team All-NBA the year of the merger, and had been an All-Star the last two years as well. A walking 20/11/4, the Nuggets thought that he could become a more efficient scorer with the gravity of Thompson and Issel, and they could really push forward as the NBA's best offense.

As the season went along McGinnis was indeed having the most efficient year of his career, but the team itself was going backwards. Issel and Thompson gave up a number of shots to McGinnis to try and integrate the scorer into the team despite the two being more efficient and well rounded options, so their offense as a whole was worse across the board. After starting the season 28-25, Larry Brown would be fired, and the Nuggets would hire Donnie Walsh.

Things were looking up for the Nuggets who were on a 6 game win streak heading into San Diego, where 21 minutes into the game McGinnis would step on Clippers guard Randy Smith's foot and suffer a career changing injury. McGinnis would be out indefinitely and miss the playoffs, be traded the next year, and never average 50 points a game before retiring 3 years later. They would finish the year out 19-10 for a 47 win season, 2nd in the Midwest.

David Thompson's end of the year stats were as follows.

Still very good numbers, but down across the board due to a significantly different team. McGinnis was a black hole on offense and would lead the league in turnovers by a solid margin. Still, Thompson found himself 6th in the league in scoring, 8th in OBPM, and would finish 8th in MVP voting. He was once again an All-Star starter, leading the West to a 5 point victory with 25 points on 65% shooting. He would be named the ASG MVP, making him the only player to ever win the award in both the ABA and NBA.

The Nuggets would roll into the playoffs as the #4 seed without McGinnis and face off against Kareem and the #5 seed Lakers. Thompson was electric.

In game 1 he put up 27/8/4/2/1 on 58% shooting and the Nuggets won by 5.

In game 2 he went for 29/5/1 on 58% shooting, but was outdueled by Kareem's 32/12 and the Nuggets lost by 12.

In game 3 Thompson had his most complete outing of the series. He had 28/8/7/2 on 50% shooting. The rest of the Nuggets would shoot 43% but they would still find themselves up 111-110 with 12 seconds on the clock. Norm Nixon passed the ball in to Kareem who drove on Issel and nailed a sky-hook with ease.

By the account of some back then, Kareem shouldn't have been in the game at that point. Assistant Coach George Irvine said, "I wish he didn't have the five fouls. They let him do anything he wanted after that." Which may be true, but hardly worth mentioning at this point.

The Nuggets would still have a few seconds left to get a shot off, they got it to Thompson who shot a 15-footer that just hit the rim, he followed it to get a classic tip-in to win the series, but Kareem flew in bumping Thompson and batting the ball away to clinch the series for LA.

Another disappointment to be sure, but without McGinnis on the floor and running everything through Thompson again, he looked just as good if not better than he did the prior season. Once again, there was no doubt David Thompson was one of the best players in the league, and proved so on the biggest stage.

Epilogue

Thompson would suffer an injury the next season that would take him out for the rest of the year which would greatly exacerbate his growing issues off the court. What happened after this season is a story that's been told by others before, most poignantly by David himself, so ff you want to know more about Thompson and his journey, read his book that details his career, his struggle with addiction, and his road to recovery. 

He would come back for the 80-81 season and look fantastic once again, averaging 25.5/4/3/1/1 on 57% TS; Nuggets wasn't a good team and he was not voted in as an All-Star or All-NBA.

But this is about how great David Thompson was, not how much greater he could have been, and in those first four seasons of his career there were few players you could say were as spectacular as he was.

Among all players from 1976-1979, nobody scored more points than David Thompson, as he got his revenge by narrowly beating out Gervin. Fellow Hall of Famer Kiki Vandeweigh said, "Until MJ came along, DT was the best 1-on-1 player I had seen. He was totally unstoppable."

Only Kareem would match his 4-year totals of over 7500 points, 1500 rebounds, 1200 assists, 400 steals, and 300 blocks, a mark that only Michael Jordan has equaled among guards, and Larry Bird, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, Karl Malone, and Julius Erving have been able to otherwise.

I hope that as time goes on people are able to look back at David Thompson as a true pioneer of the modern game, who brought verticality and explosive athleticism to the guard position, playing above the rim in a way that would change the game forever. A true all-around player who not only dazzled in the air, but played smart, controlled, cerebral basketball on both ends, and didn't have to sacrifice substance for style and unlike the other Skywalker, proved that he could win even if he didn't have the high ground.