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Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green just called the New York Knicks fans “delusional” during his interview with Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young at the UNINTERRUPTED Film Festival last week.
Discussing the epiphany of Young becoming a New York villain during the 2021 NBA Playoffs, Green did not hold back about his feelings toward the Knicks fans.
“Where that all was birthed really was the series versus the Knicks. Everybody in New York, Knicks fans are f—— delusional and miserable,’ Green said. “And I love New York, so don’t ban me from your city. But they’re a hard fanbase.”
“You go in the Garden, you’re hitting the shots, you bow and every time these shots you need to make, you make, you’re making every play and what I actually think now in continuing to watch and continuing to pay attention to it is you are very much a Showman, but yet that’s been flipped and again — talking [about] agendas — into being this villain.
I’ll be the first to say it, being a villain sucks. It’s no fun. But when it’s up against you, you either fold or you stand up to it, you go into it,” he continued.
Young, however, has a different point of view.
The brash Hawks star said he did not dive into that “villain status” but instead fed off the Knicks crowd’s “F— Trae Young” chants.
“What do you want me to do? I’m just hooping. I ain’t said nothing to the crowd, I ain’t bowed, I ain’t say ‘It’s quiet as F in here,’ I ain’t say none of that yet. I just really played off of how they guarded me & how the fans reacted. I come out playing, trying to win, trying to put on a show, and the fans wanna get into it,” Young told Green.
Young went on to lead the Hawks to a 4-1 series win over the Knicks en route to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance. But it went downhill from there for Young and the Hawks, as they have never advanced past the first round since then.
On the flip side, the Knicks returned to the playoffs last season and won their first series in a decade.
Evan Fournier Vents Frustration on Knicks
In a tell-all interview with French outlet L’Equipe, veteran Evan Fournier vented his frustration over his demotion last season.
“If you want to trade me with a good return, why didn’t you use me? I was coming out of a season where I was the fourth-best 3-point shooter in the league. Why not take advantage of it?” Fournier told L’Equipe. “Now they won’t get anything interesting and that’s normal because I couldn’t show anything [on the court].”
Fournier played a career-low 27 games last season after he was removed from the rotation in November, just a few months after his historic first season with the Knicks when he eclipsed John Stark’s record for the most 3s made in a single season.
Fournier expects to be traded after the fallout.
“I would be shot [if I stay]. I’m going to be traded, it’s not possible otherwise. Or I’d be stuck, and so would they. They have several players with big contracts coming in. Unless they want to pay a crazy luxury tax… If I stayed, it would be a disaster basketball-wise for my career,” Fournier said. “I can manage a year without playing. Two… that would be terrible.”
Knicks Favored to Land Joel Embiid If He Seeks Trade
The Knicks have been installed as the odds-on favorites to land Joel Embiid in a potential mega-trade after the reigning MVP signaled uncertainty about his future in Philadelphia in an interview with Maverick Carter at the UNINTERRUPTED Film Festival last week.
If Philadelphia cannot get a supplemental star in exchange for James Harden, who asked out, Embiid might be the next to demand a trade that could signal a Sixers’ rebuild. And the Knicks have eight tradable picks and a mix of young players and Fournier’s contract as salary ballast.
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