Over the last couple years, Draymond Green has been written about a lot for his excellent career on the court. However, there has also been a lot to write about trouble he’s had off the court.
This week, Green’s name came up again about off-court issues. This time, the story was about former Golden State Warriors center Marreese Speights’ recollections of what Green said.
Speights’ quotes centered on how Green would berate teammates and the team would be hurt as a result.
‘Draymond f—ked up practice and s–t,’ then-Warriors center Speights said. ‘Draymond’s a good guy, but I think at the end of the day, it hurt the whole chemistry of the year.’ One player in particular, he says, took much of the heat: ‘Draymond and Klay [Thompson] got into it a lot.’ (Thompson declined to comment for this story.)”
Shortly after the piece, a profile of Green written by Ethan Strauss, went up on ESPN.com, Speights denied his comments.
I don't even talk like that..
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) October 19, 2016
If y'all believe that than y'all would believe McDonalds sell tacos!!!
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) October 19, 2016
Wait, McDonalds doesn’t sell tacos?
OK, back to the issue at hand here. Green has been in the news a lot for comments he’s made about other players. This past week, Green went after Russell Westbrook and Paul Pierce. But going after his own teammates? That would be new, kind of.
Back in February, as Bleacher Report points out, ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported on an outburst Green had during a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Inside the visitors locker room, he’s hollering ‘I am not a robot!’ at Kerr. When Kerr tells him to sit down, Green screams,’Motherf–ker, come sit me down!’ When he goes after Kerr, his teammates, including [Stephen] Curry and Thompson, step in to stave off disaster.”
In the ESPN story that Speights’ quotes appeared, the Strauss reported Green was fined for the February incident.
While this incident indicates that Green has laid into his teammates, it doesn’t mean what Speights was quoted as saying was real. At the same time, it could be that Speights thought those quotes were off the record, and now he’s try to make sure he doesn’t get burned.
Overall, it’s an odd situation in Golden State, as Draymond Green is an excellent player, but can’t seem to stay out of trouble with himself, his teammates, and opponents.
