2025-26 Topps Chrome Klay Thompson Teal Refractor #42 CGC/JSA Authentic fP Autograph /299
Klay Thompson — Dallas Mavericks — A permanent record: this Museum Artifact ID stays with this piece for good, independent of which gallery it's currently displayed in.
The Splash Brother Who Showed Up
We'd seen Klay Thompson in the tunnel before. This time was different.
For years, we watched Klay Thompson come through the tunnel in a Golden State Warriors jersey, and he never seemed like he wanted to be there. Aloof. Distant. Not unkind, just uninterested. We stopped expecting much.
So when the Mavericks came to the Kia Center to play the Magic, we didn't walk in with high hopes for Klay. But the player who came back through that hallway after warmups wasn't the one we remembered.
He was relaxed. Happier, in a different headspace. He stopped for photos, signed for nearly everyone waiting, and seemed genuinely glad to be there. For a few minutes, we got to see one of the real Splash Brothers enjoying his fans instead of enduring them.
Among what he signed that day was a numbered 2025-26 Topps Chrome Teal Refractor -- his card, his signature, from an afternoon we didn't expect to matter as much as it did.
That's the thing about the tunnel: you never know which version of a player is going to walk through it. This time, we're grateful it was this one.
Kia Center, Orlando, March 5, 2026
Filmed in the Tunnel, Kia Center, Orlando