Getty Draymond Green speaks to LeBron James during a Golden State Warriors game.
For Draymond Green and LeBron James, the rivalry stops at the court’s edge.
Though the two have gotten into some famous battles on the court, they’ve grown close off of it and recently shared some bonding moments together. One of those came this week, when the Golden State Warriors big man shared some uplifting words for James star on social media.
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Green Shares Love for James
James took to Instagram this week to show off an unusual addition to his grill — a diamond-encrusted version of his personal branding logo embedded into his teeth. James showed off the jewelry with a snarling close-up of his face, drawing some viral attention and a reaction from Green.
“Do s*** that nobody else does because he’s who nobody else is…. Grammar and all… insert y’all hate below,” Green replied, adding a series of laughing/crying emoji. “we winning and ain’t nobody having more fun”
As The Sporting News noted, the two have become good friends off the court and even gone on vacations together. Green also shared some praise for James back in June, calling him one of the smartest ever to play the game.
“It doesn’t compare to mentally playing against LeBron James, who I think is arguably the smartest guy to ever play this game,” Green told reporters. “Not one of, he is arguably the smartest guy to set foot on a basketball court. To say that it compares to that, it’s disrespectful to LeBron and it’s a lie to you.”
Green said he also reached out to James for some perspective after the Warriors won their fourth title in the last eight seasons. Speaking on his podcast in June, Green said he and James spoke about how much of an accomplishment it is to win four times.
“I was on the phone with ‘Bron the other day, and I’m just telling him like ‘Bruh, going from three to four is insane,’ and he was like ‘Yo, I’m telling you, like, it’s crazy,’ ” Green said.
Green added that James shared his amazement at how different it feels going from three to four NBA titles. The latter group is much more exclusive — there are a total of 39 players in NBA history who have won three titles, but just 18 who have won four times.
“That’s why when I won my fourth one I was just like, ‘Nah stop. I don’t want to hear anything,’ ” Green said. “We were just sitting there talking about the difference between … going from three to four is massive. I want to give a big shoutout to the guys who have four rings.”
Green’s NBA Friends
While he is especially close to Warriors teammates like Steph Curry and Andre Iguodala, Green has made friends around the NBA. Many of them came together to celebrate Green earlier in August when he and fiance Hazel Renee tied the knot.
Draymond’s wedding celebration had a stacked guest list 🎉
[via @juanonjuan10]
James was among the many in attendance at the August 13 wedding. Even some recent rivals showed up, including Jayson Tatum, just two months after his Boston Celtics lost to Green’s Warriors in the NBA Finals.
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