Draymond Green is a man who wears many hats. Player, podcaster, analyst for TNT and trash-talker extraordinaire.
He put just about all of them on display Friday night before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals — and took home another achievement.
Green was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team moments before he joined TNT’s Inside the NBA pregame show as he was warming up.
When host Ernie Johnson congratulated Green for the acknowledgement — his seventh time being voted as an All-Defense player (four times on the first team, now three times on the second team), Green retorted, “I should have been first team.”
An early candidate for Defensive Player of the Year before a back injury sidelined him for about two months, Green actually had the fewest votes of any player to make the All-Defensive team, getting five first team votes and 24 second team votes (out of 100) at the forward position.
As his interview went on during his on-court warmup, TNT’s Charles Barkley continued his chiding of the Warriors by asking Green, “Why are you shooting the ball in warmups when you never shoot in the games?”
Green’s response: “I shoot when I have to, Chuck. I shoot when I have to, when I need to win championships.”
One day after Green said he would love to win a fourth ring to rub it in Barkley’s face, Green continued the banter with the San Francisco-hating Barkley, saying, “Also, Chuck, you’re not going to keep going at our fans. They’ve won more than you.”
Barkley — who earlier on the show said the Warriors fans were the big reason for his outward vitriol towards the Warriors — replied, “Let me tell you something, I’m going to to keep going at these fans, I promise you that. They’re going to get all the smoke they want, my brother.”
When Green reminded Barkley that, “They’ve got more rings than you, Chuck” Barkley responded, “I know they do, but they have to go back to their life. I’m going to go home and be Charles Barkley, and I’m going to feel pretty good about my life.”
In a moment of dropping the veneer of television trash talk, Green agreed: “You’ve got a pretty good life. I’d want your life too, Chuck.”
"Why are you shooting the ball in warm-ups and you never shoot it in the game?"
Chuck and @Money23Green going at it again 🤣 pic.twitter.com/A6DQkPZxoA
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 21, 2022
The only other Warrior to receive any votes for All-Defensive teams was Gary Payton II, who received three second-team votes at guard.
Green, a four-time All-Star, averaged 7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, seven assists, 1.33 steals and 1.07 blocks in 46 games this season. He’s been named to the All-Defensive Team in seven of the last eight seasons. His seven selections are the most in franchise history. Nate Thurmond earned five All-Defensive Team honors during his 11 seasons with the Warriors, and Jamaal Wilkes was named to the All-Defensive Team twice.
Staff writer Alex Simon contributed to this report.
