Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group Klay Thompson helps lead the Warriors to a win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) makes a basket in the first period of their NBA game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

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Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) gets past Los Angeles Clippers' Tyrone Wallace (12) for a basket in the second period of their NBA game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)



Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) makes a three-point basket in the second period of their NBA game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson (11) makes a 3-point basket as Los Angeles Clippers' Milos Teodosic (4) tries to block in the first period of their NBA game at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Thompson's basket was his 10,000th career point. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

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OAKLAND – Klay Thompson wasn’t always so even-keeled.

“There’s no point in getting down on yourself because that’s how you hold yourself back,” Thompson said. “I used to do that a lot.”

Thompson, a four-time All-Star who is in his seventh season with the Warriors, became the 10th player in franchise history to reach 10,000 points in the Warriors’ 134-127 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.

Thompson accomplished that feat by shooting through dry spells and never second-guessing himself. Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr called Thompson “a machine” because of how consistent he is.

But apparently when Thompson was younger, he was much harder on himself. The 28-year-old shooting guard couldn’t recall the moment when that changed, but he said somewhere along the way he learned he’s most effective when he doesn’t get too high or too low.

“Now I just play with more of a free mind, and try to play through droughts, and play as hard as I can,” Thompson said.

Kerr said he loves coaching Thompson for a number of reasons. He pointed out that Thompson is a “brilliant two-way player” who often guards the best perimeter player, while also being one of the best pure shooters in the league.

He also said that Thompson is special because he’s “unbelievably low-maintenance emotionally.”

“If he has a bad game, he seems fine,” Kerr said. “If he has a great game, he’s fine. He just comes to work every day and he’s fun to be around. He has a wicked sense of humor that you guys don’t get to see very often. He’s a wonderful player and just a fantastic guy to coach.”

Thompson had 19 points on eight-for-14 shooting against the Clippers. He’s averaging 20 points a game while posting career-highs in shooting percentage from the field (49.4) and beyond the 3-point line (45.5).

His teammates love playing with him.

Said Draymond Green: “Klay’s the guy who goes out every night giving it 110 percent on both sides of the basketball. Obviously an amazing shooter and sometimes you kind of catch some of those flurries, and you’re out there and it’s great to be around. But the basketball part is great. There’s a bunch of great basketball players out there, a bunch of great scorers. But he’s an even better person and that means a lot more.

Said Kevin Durant: “It’s amazing because he just doesn’t think out there. He goes out there and just plays free. It’s contagious, especially when you’re going through ruts and mentally we’re out of it a bit. You can look at Klay and he’s still playing the same way. We respect that. I’m happy I get to play with someone who puts in that much work and displays it on the court every night.”

Thompson just wants to do his job as well as he can. There’s no complaining, no gloating.

The Warriors can always depend on him shoot the ball well and play good defense. He has no ego or agenda.

In fact, when a reporter told Thompson that he reached the 10,000-point mark, he was earnestly surprised.

“I didn’t even know how many points I had,” Thompson said. “I’m proud of that. That’s pretty cool.”

For Thompson, a big part of why he’s been able to accomplish all that he has is because of that humility, that unshakable self-confidence that he adopted when he was a child who realized being too emotional was not the right approach for him.

So even after he accomplished something Thursday that only nine other Warriors had done, he didn’t get too excited.

“It just feels likes another beautiful year for Warriors basketball,” he said.