Splash Brother does ad for Mario Brothers

Mar 31, 2023 - 9:18 PM

Game Six Klay, meet World Six Klay.

There’s a new Mario Brothers movie coming out, and the marketers decided to get a Splash Brother to hype it up. Yes, the Golden State Warriors’ own Klay Thompson is in a new commercial for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and like all of Klay’s commercial work, the result is fire (flower).

In it, Thompson laces up a mysterious pair of shoes and proceeds to drain threes, practice dribble moves, and dunk, all accompanied by Mario Brothers sound effects. At the end, Klay looks - and those are Mario’s shoes! “These things are crazy,” Thompson says, likely in one take. As the ad ends, Klay strolls off singing the game’s theme.

You might thing Klay would be more of a Sonic guy, because he also loves collecting rings. Did you know Thompson has four championship rings? He rarely mentions it to opponents.

They couldn’t have found a better spokesman for the film. Thompson is a huge video game fan. According to an oral history of his college days, Thompson spent the majority of his recruiting visit to Washington State either shooting baskets in the gym or playing video games. Even as a professional, Thompson traveled with a Nintendo 64, and he’s very into the game “Rock Band,” about which he says: “Great game. Everyone got involved. Multiple instruments. A good way to learn and appreciate music.”

But beyond that, Thompson is also part of a dynamic pair of Splash Brothers who vanquish enemies, play fast, and regularly defeat final bosses like LeBron James and Jayson Tatum in their own castles. If it’s Game Six of a playoff series, Thompson plays like he’s just gotten a Super Star - completely invincible. And we’re pretty sure Mario and Klay have both eaten a lot of mushrooms over the years.

In addition, Klay has a brother, Mychel, who used to play for the Santa Cruz Warriors. In other word, he does the same job as Klay, but not quite as well. He’s also skinnier and way less famous than his brother. Mychel is currently on the Warriors coaching staff, so they’re still co-workers.

This ad continues Klay’s propensity for goofy commericals. Specifically, Thompson seems to be drawn towards ad for products that would be popular with recreational marijuana enthusiasts. Like, say, Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Wings.

Served alongside a proprietary, Buffalo Wild Wings-only flavor of Mountain Dew, of course.

Or Mountain Dew, plus Call of Duty.

When he’s not drinking Mountain Dew, Klay Thompson drinks chocolate milk instead.

And while Kaiser Permanente isn’t exactly a stoner product, this commercial where Klay plays chess against Michael K. Williams’ “Failure” certainly seems like it was conceived by someone who’d sampled a magic mushroom or two.

It’s almost as confusing as this ad for Klay’s signature ANTA shoes.

Klay Thompson is also one of the only NBA athletes who has a sponsorship deal with Nerf.

So when Klay Thompson isn’t playing basketball, he’s playing video games, drinking Mountain Dew and chocolate milk, hanging out with his dog, watching movies, and shooting Nerf guns. And sometimes he’s doing one or more of those things on his own boat, which he uses to commute to work and parks wherever he wants.

He’s got a great life. But a Mario commercial isn’t enough. We would really love to hear audio of Klay’s trash talk while playing Mario.

“Freakin’ Koopa Troopas. Come on. This Bowser guy is a freakin’ clown!”