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Golden State Warriors mercurial star Draymond Green was in defensive mode during the team’s media day when pressed over his availability this season, following his lengthy suspensions that torpedoed the team’s playoff bid last season.
San Francisco Chronicle’s columnist Scott Ostler caught Green’s ire when Ostler said people, referring to the Warriors fans, “worry about” the forward’s availability this season.
Green stopped Ostler before he could even finish the question.
However, Green skirted the question.
“If you would’ve told me when I was 13 years old in Saginaw, Michigan without a pot to piss in that you’d be sitting here and somebody would say they’re worried about you, I would have probably told them they were out of their mind if I’d be sitting here and they’d be worried about me,” Green added.
Despite Ostler’s repeated attempts, the Warriors star forward doesn’t want any of it. Green adamantly said he was always available to his teammates.
“It’s all about how you spin it,” Green said. “I love how you’re trying to spin it — but it ain’t my spin to it, player.”
Steve Kerr’s Angriest Moment with Draymond Green
While Green cost the Warriors’ playoff chances last season, Steve Kerr still considers the punching incident with Jordan Poole in 2022 was the angriest moment the head coach had with his volatile star forward.
“Well, there’s a lot of examples,” Kerr said on the “Dan Le Batard Show” on September 17. “I think that for sure, the Jordan Poole incident [was the angriest I’ve been with Green].”
The incident put a dent on the Warriors’ chemistry during the 2022-23 season. They managed to reach the second round of the playoffs but were eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Draymond and I are a lot alike in many ways,” Kerr said. “People probably wouldn’t see that from the outside, but we’re both kind of maniacal competitors and we’ve lost our minds with each other during games over whatever you know, disagreements about strategy, but he crossed the line with Jordan, and he knows it.”
“He knew it immediately, and it made that season incredibly difficult for everybody. And that story has been regurgitated many times, but that’s probably the time I was most angry.”
Post-Klay Thompson Era
After failing to get into the playoffs last season, in part because of Green’s lengthy absences, the Warriors have revamped their team this offseason.
Longtime franchise pillar Klay Thompson left the Warriors for the Dallas Mavericks. So is aging veteran Chris Paul, whom they waived to get under the luxury tax.
The Warriors reshaped Stephen Curry‘s supporting cast with three veterans.
They acquired Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield in the Thompson sign-and-trade deal that was expanded to six teams. They also signed De’Anthony Melton to a one-year deal using their $12.8 million full mid-level exception.
But none of them projects to replace Thompson as the team’s No. 2 scorer next to Curry.
Their margin of error shrunk again, making Green’s availability crucial to the Warriors’ bid to return the playoffs.