In his prime, Draymond Green was the hardest player to get away from on the hardwood. He was the defensive centerpiece of the Golden State Warriors dynasty that won four NBA championships, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2017. However, Green's physicality and output have fallen in recent years, and that couldn't be more visible in the 2026/27 NBA season. Green signed a one-year, $27,678,571 deal with the Warriors, but his underwhelming averages of 6.3 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.2 points through six games, coupled with his emotional outburst against Phoenix, found him a critic in Kendrick Perkins. However, the Warriors legend had a sharp rebuttal of his own.
"Kendrick Perkins said Draymond Green is a liability. He ain't no asset no more. Guess what, Kendrick Perkins? I'm 36 years old to be 37 this year, I am 1,000% not the player I once was… But the difference between myself and big dummies like you is I can think. When your body didn't move the same no more, you weren't as athletic as you were once, it looked a little different for you because you weren't the smartest basketball player," Green said on The Draymond Green Show on YouTube .
"One thing I've always hung my hat on is my IQ. And so today, Kendrick Perkins, as someone who is about to be 37 years old and cannot jump as high as I used to or run as fast as I used to… But I got a brain, so it just looks a little different, Kendrick. I really rely on my brain on the basketball court these days. It's a powerful tool for me, it allows me to continue to play this game at the highest level," Green added.
Green's assessment of Perkins comes after the latter criticized his actions against the Phoenix Suns. During the third quarter, with the Warriors trailing by seven points, Green committed a hard foul on 20-year-old Suns Center Khaman Maluach, who crashed on the floor. Immediately, the Suns' Dillion Brooks confronted Green, and the two took part in a heated conversation. However, the conversation led to Green grabbing the neck of Brook's jersey, and the two began shoving each other. After their teammates separated them from each other, the Warriors center received his 31st technical foul.
"When was the last time we discussed Draymond and brought up his basketball and not fighting? At some point, he has to deliver on the floor. When you look at the start of the season, he has been nonexistent… He has done absolutely nothing for the Warriors, to me… He's been a liability more than an asset," Perkins said on the Road Trippin' podcast.
This is not the first time Green has been involved in an altercation of this length. In November 2023, during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Green put Rudy Gobert into a full, rear-naked chokehold less than two minutes into the game. The incident began when Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels tangled up. When Gobert stepped in to separate them, Green rushed him from behind, wrapped his arm tightly around his neck, and dragged him across the court. Green was obviously ejected following this sequence, but also received a five-game suspension without pay from the league. According to ESPN, Green had to forfeit $769,970.
"The length of the suspension is based in part on Green's history of unsportsmanlike acts," the NBA said in a statement.
But in the present, Green is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Perkins when talking about the hard foul on the 20-year-old and the subsequent ejection. For the 36-year-old, that sequence was a message he needed to deliver.
"Some of those fouls just had to happen. They just have to in order to command the respect that you must command in order to protect a rim… The one with Maluach, I'll take that one. That's got to happen," Green said on his podcast.
While Draymond Green will not be in DPOY conversations this season, he is one of the last remaining individuals of the Warriors dynasty alongside Steph Curry and head coach Steve Kerr, still looking for the elusive fifth NBA championship to add to its cabinet. The Warriors are currently eighth in the Western Conference with a 5-3 record and play the new-look Miami Heat on Thursday night.
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