Draymond Green talks Warriors, Kevin Durant and more

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is known for never holding back his opinion.

The 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year joined Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on their “All the Smoke.” podcast and in true Draymond fashion, he didn’t mince his words.

On when things started going sideways with Kevin Durant:

“We win a championship, Kevin win a Finals MVP, in my opinion he got the best LeBron that series,” Green said. “Like, Kevin was f–king rocking. After that was kind of that moment like damn, Kevin should be the best player in the NBA now because of what he just did to LeBron. You turn on the TV the next day and like the f–king headline is, ‘LeBron James is still the best player in the world.’ That’s when I kind of felt like it took a turn and then we came back 2017-2018 season and Kevin just wasn’t as happy.”

On Durant leaving the Warriors:

“If Kevin really wanted to be here all he would’ve done is went and said to Bob, ‘Yeah, I’ll stay, but Draymond gotta go.’” Green said. “And guess what, Bob Myers would’ve called me and said, ‘Draymond I love you and I won’t trade you to a bad team, but where do you want to go because I’ll help you get to where you want to go.”

I don’t disagree with Green here. Durant is arguably the best player in the world and if his desire was to remain in the Bay Area, then Myers would have absolutely found a way to make it happen, even at the expense of Green.

On if the Dubs would have lost to the Toronto Raptors with a healthy Durant:

“Once we got Kevin [as a free agent signing in 2016], we were f—king unstoppable,” Green said. “Even losing last year, Kevin don’t get hurt, you seen the game he came back in Game 5, I looked up, it was like six minutes to go, we had like 40 points in the first quarter, and so they wouldn’t have stood a chance if Kevin didn’t get hurt.”

If Durant is fully healthy going into the NBA Finals, I think the Warriors win in five or six games. Heck, I also believe if Klay Thompson doesn’t get hurt in Game 6, Golden State wins Game 7. The Dubs were just getting rolling when Thompson hurt his knee and were on their way to forcing a Game 7 and I am taking the team with championship experience,

And a funny Klay story:

“Klay is Klay. Klay is just going to f–king shoot, that’s what Klay do. Klay ain’t not shooting for nobody,” Green said. “Klay takes some shots at times and I’ll be like, ‘Yo Klay what the f–k that’s a dumbass shot. And he said, ‘Dray they f–king pay me to shoot.’ Say less, Klay. Go ahead.”

Shooters shoot.

Green added that he, Curry and Thompson are good enough to lead the team to another championship. All three are in their 30s, but are still considered to be three of best in the NBA.

It will be interesting to see how the trio bounces back next season. Green’s numbers were way down this year, but that is expected for any player without the Splash Brothers in the lineup. It is never a good thing when a player gets hurt, especially when it is an ACL, but I feel like Curry and Thompson basically getting a year off after playing roughly 500 games over five seasons could be a nice reset for both.

The key lies with Myers. With three first-round picks over the next two seasons and the $17.2 million trade exception, this team could be positioned to contend now and well into the future.

What do you think of Green’s comments?