[Slater] Draymond Green: “I fear ever becoming one of those guys that everybody else know [their time is up] but me. I just never want to be that guy. Ego and entitlement can very much lead you to be that guy.”
Draymond Green reflects on his future amid uncertainty
This familiar losing script – try hard but ultimately fail because of a lack of game-changing talent – had frustrated Green to the edge of another boiling point. As fourth-quarter hope melted away, he thought about erupting at a referee, coach or an opponent in an attempt to change the inevitable, a favored tactic of his to shock his team’s system.
“No,” Green told himself. “It’s not the thing to do.”
In an Oklahoma City hotel lobby four days after the fact, Green is retelling this story to ESPN, using it as a prime example of his aging and required acceptance of the franchise’s fading place in the NBA pecking order.
“I can raise the temperature level of a gym, an arena, a team like crazy,” Green said, snapping his finger for effect. “Like that. Whenever I want to.”
But his instinct for escalation doesn’t line up with the reality of a team whose season has cratered… .“It ain’t good for this team,” Green said. “I had to learn that because, again, it’s pulling away a piece of me. And that’s – by the way, just so we’re clear – that’s a very elite piece of me. But that’s aging. I think about this all the time.”
When Curry has been available this season, Green’s two-man game with him remained exceptional. Within the flow, they find subtle ways to leverage Curry’s gravity and Green’s screen-setting and passing to exploit defenders. In their 823 minutes together, they outscored opponents by 95 points, posting an offensive rating of 118.0.
“I think he would tell you he’s not going to take an average team and raise their level,” Curry said. “But when it comes to a really good team, he’s going to turn them into a championship team.”
“There’s always been and always will be a desire and a goal of ours to only represent one franchise,” Curry said. “And I know he’s still committed to that.”
Curry speaks highly of the way Green has managed the down season, noting Green’s leadership and saying, “he has been super consistent with his voice.”
Green has accepted those choices without agitation, letting Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy know that he is willing to move to a bench role, if necessary, while still believing plenty of positive basketball remains ahead.
“It doesn’t have to look a certain way for me,” Green said. “I fear ever becoming one of those guys that everybody else know [their time is up] but me. I just never want to be that guy. Ego and entitlement can very much lead you to be that guy.”