Why wouldn't Klay Thompson's agent dub his client 'the top two-way, two-guard in basketball'?

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have carried the NBA's top two-way, two-guard torch for 30 years, but Klay Thompson's agent says his client just staked claim to the top of that mountain, and that might be more of a commentary on the league's shooting guards than an inflammatory statement.

Bill Duffy, who just so happens not to represent any other contenders for this title, told USA Today's Sam Amick that Thompson isn't just better than Bryant, but everybody else that plays the position.

As long as we're basing Bryant's current abilities on six games worth of production last season, then an awful lot of shooting guards can claim they're better than the five-time champ at this point. Kobe may be 36 years old, no longer elite defensively and coming off two major injuries, but he's still Kobe Bryant — 15-time All-NBA and 12-time All-Defensive selection — so any time somebody knocks him down a peg, it will raise eyebrows, especially when that someone hasn't even made his first All-Star Game yet.

But this isn't just somebody saying this; it's Thompson's agent, and did we mention the 24-year-old is entering the final year of his rookie contract? Duffy's currently demanding a max contract from the Golden State Warriors, whether in the form of an extension by Oct. 31 or as a restricted free agent come next summer, so it behooves him to label his client as the NBA's top two-way performer at his position.

If Thompson's USA Basketball teammates DeMar DeRozan and James Harden — the latter of whom actually dubbed himself "the best all-around basketball player in the NBA" this summer — were Duffy's clients, the uber-agent would have a tougher time walking that tightrope. Same goes for over-30 two-guards Dwyane Wade and Manu Ginobili, who have combined to win seven titles during Kobe's career.

In reality, Thompson isn't the best two-guard on his own team, as fellow Splash Bro Stephen Curry showed in securing the starting spot on Team USA this summer. Heck, another Warriors teammate, Andre Iguodala, earned First Team All-Defensive honors as a guard/forward this past season.

But Curry plays the point and Iguodala small forward for the Warriors, so the amalgamation of positions — combo guards, wings, point forwards, etc. — makes naming someone the best at one in particular all the more difficult in the increasing absence of prototypical shooting guards like Jordan, Bryant and, yes, Thompson. Recent young All-NBA selections Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard and Goran Dragic (another Duffy client) might also lay claim to that honor had they primarily played the position.

Still, few two-guards enoyed a better year than Thompson, who averaged 18.4 points on 41.7 percent 3-point shooting, assumed the unfortunate responsibility of defending Chris Paul in Golden State's first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and bounced back with a gold medal for Team USA. (For the record, CP3 had a sublime series opposite the defensive effort Duffy is touting for Thompson.)

Throw Bradley Beal, Lance Stephenson and Jimmy Butler into the conversation with Thompson, DeRozan and Harden, and it should be a fun battle for Bryant's shooting guard torch in the 25-and-under crowd. But there's no obvious heir apparent, and that allows Duffy to throw his client's hat into the ring.

Not that Bryant will be releasing his grasp on the title any time soon, since it took Jordan until the age of 40 to officially step down from atop the NBA's shooting guard mountain.