U.S. players Stephen Curry (L) and Klay Thompson bite their gold medals after winning their Basketball World Cup final game against Serbia in Madrid September 14, 2014.
U.S. players Stephen Curry (L) and Klay Thompson bite their gold medals after winning their Basketball World Cup final game against Serbia in Madrid September 14, 2014. REUTERS

Klay Thompson clutched his gold medal from the just concluded FIBA World Cup of Basketball.

Things are on the up and up. He just proved his worth amongst the NBA's best players, tallying 12 points a game in the tournament second only to team leader James Harden. The Golden State Warriors two-guard has also survived trade talks all summer long. And now he awaits a contract extension with his mother club, which his agent, Bill Duffy, is seeking. If all else fails, he still has a gold medal to console him.

"If I ever go broke, this will come in handy (in an auction)," he said with a laugh while taking in all the accolades from Team USA's recent success.

Running out of money may be far-fetched as Duffy is seeking the maximum contract for his ward before the Oct. 31 deadline or else he becomes a free agent by next summer. This is reminiscent of the James Harden scenario in 2012 with the Oklahoma City Thunder when it refused to budge to the contract demands of Harden's camp, instead dealing the promising player to the Houston Rockets in a deal widely perceived to be on the losing side. Duffy insists this will not happen to the sweet shooting guard.

"That backcourt is special. You don't break that up. He and Steph, they are a great combination, " Duffy declared.

He also stressed that the 24-year-old player has already surpassed Kobe Bryant and is now the next two-way shooting guard in the league. This is a contentious remark given that there is a dearth of good shooting guard in this era of NBA basketball.

Kobe Bryant is recovering from his Achilles heel and nobody can make a projection on how effective he can be returning to the lead guard totem pole. The Rockets' Harden is constantly being hounded by defensive liabilities while the Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade is hobbled by nagging injuries forcing him to miss much of the last three year's regular season games.

"I don't want (Los Angeles Lakers star) Kobe Bryant to go crazy, but there's some uncertainty as to who he is right now (because of injuries that limited him to six games last season)," Duffy told USA TODAY Sports. "But I think Klay Thompson right now is the top two-way, two-guard in basketball."

Right now, the Warriors are enamoured with their backcourt much so that they withdrew from the Kevin Love sweepstakes in June. With Thompson also declaring his love for the Bay area and his tendency not to become a free agent by the summer of 2015, time will only tell if the Warriors made the right choice in keeping the "best two-way shooting guard" in the NBA.

Watch Klay Thompson pour in 20 points during the win over Slovenia:

(Video Courtesy of: NBA Daily)