Getty Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
The NBA Finals might be over, but that hasn’t stopped Draymond Green from throwing shade at the Boston Celtics over the last few weeks.
On June 30, Green took aim at Jaylen Brown during a crossover episode between JJ Redick’s Old Man and the Three and the Draymond Green show, with the Golden State Warriors star claiming he knew his team had the mental advantage after a game one disagreement with the Celtics wing.
.@Money23Green reflects on getting chippy with Jaylen Brown during the #NBAFinals.
Full conversation with @jj_redick and @talter: t.co/Ontkte0Ivk
“When Jaylen Brown went to the media and said ‘he tried to pull my shorts down,’ I knew I had taken his heart. I knew I took his heart. Not that I’ll have it next year, I’ll have to take it again next time we play him. But for the rest of that series, I knew I had him. Because you know you were standing over me, and you were trying to go to the media and be like ‘he was trying to pull my shorts down.’ Like, c’mon bro, you were standing over me, own it. Another thing he said was ‘we’re not afraid of the Golden State Warriors’…nobody asked you if you were afraid of us…I knew at that point, I was like ‘yup, this is over, this is baby food, and we’re going to walk out of here with a championship,” Green said during the crossover podcast episode.
Brown took to social media to respond to Green’s claims.
“You can say whatever you want when you win. Draymond got a podcast and lost his damn mind… You could never,” Brown said while quote tweeting the podcast clip of Draymond throwing shade.
Green has been vocal about the Celtics since his team defeated them in six games to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy and has shown no signs of relenting in his goading of both the Boston players and the fanbase.
Green Takes Shot at Al Horford
Brown hasn’t been the only one to catch some smoke from Green in recent weeks, with the four-time NBA champion also taking aim at Celtics veteran Al Horford during the same podcast, despite the big man being considered one of the nicest players in the league.
“It’s easier because we’re not playing LeBron James. They asked me a question in a press conference like ‘How does the IQs rank against Boston versus LeBron’ and it’s like, shut up…It’s easier when you’re not playing LeBron James, who is the ultimate mastermind in our game. So, you’re not playing that chess match with him. It’s a lot easier to play a chess match against anybody else, but against LeBron it’s different…And Bron can prepare his guys for what’s to come. Al Horford couldn’t prepare them for what’s to come, so you know that going in, no disrespect to Al Horford,” Green told Redick.
“Bron can prepare his guys for what’s to come. Al Horford couldn’t prepare them for what was to come.”
—@Money23Green on the difference between the Celtics & @KingJames
While Green’s discussion about Horford wasn’t particularly slanderous, it was stating the obvious. There wasn’t a single member of the Celtics rotation with NBA finals experience last season, including Horford, so to state that LeBron James – arguably the greatest player of all time – could have prepared his team better, was simply stating the obvious.
The Celtics are Moving on
While Green continues to give himself a victory lap, the Celtics have already got down to business and begun improving their roster for next season. On July 1, Brad Stevens orchestrated a trade that saw Boston acquire Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers, and then went and signed Danilo Gallinari from free agency.
Both Brogdon and Gallinari fill clear areas of need for the Celtics and have ensured Boston’s roster depth is vastly improved from the rotation we saw throughout the 2021-22 NBA season.
The Celtics have some ridiculous depth 😳
Boston still has access to their $17.2 million trade exception and can look to fill out their roster with some veteran minimum deals, so while the main flurry of their activity is likely done, it’s safe to assume Brad Stevens and the front office aren’t done reshaping their roster just yet.
As such, it’s clear the Celtics are in win-now mode and will be expecting to get back to the NBA Finals next season and avenge their loss at the hands of the Warriors.