Team USA - Klay Thompson inspired by other American sportsmen in Rio

Klay Thompson has done it all since becoming a professional basketball player. The Golden State Warriors guard has already won an NBA Championship, a FIBA Basketball World Cup and an Olympic title.

Don’t bet against this amazing USA talent celebrating a lot more big triumphs with the Warriors and his national team.

When the subject is the national team, the 26-year-old is more than willing to talk about his experiences, including the most recent one in Rio de Janeiro where he was a pivotal figure in the Americans' gold medal success. He spoke to FIBA.com.

How do the experiences compare, winning an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal?
It's pretty similar. An Olympic gold medal was unique because of playing with guys you always compete against so that was a lot of fun. You’re representing your country. I don’t know if it's a bigger stage but it’s definitely the world stage. It was very similar, though.

You had played in the 2014 Worlds. Were the Olympics what you expected?
It was on par, what I expected it to be. There was great fan turnout every game we had. The home countries as far as Brazil, Argentina - the South Americans - it was really passionate. But I would say it was more fun than the worlds because you got to check out all these other events and that was cool, the professional athletes in other areas that I wouldn’t usually be able to see in the U.S. so, it was a lot of fun.

Did you meet other athletes?
Yes, that was really cool to see how much work they put in and how prideful they were to represent their country. That motivated us.More big events are coming up for the USA, including likely appearances at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and the 2020 Olympics. Do you anticipate representing