Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green admitted that he competes with great physicality when he plays against Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James despite their close relationship.
“I’m going to run through his chest,” Green said of Klay Thompson now that he’s a member of the Dallas Mavericks. “Because I used to run through my older brother’s chest when we played. There’s always this public disdain over me and Bron’s brotherhood. I try to kill him [on the court] more than anybody. I take him out. And vice versa. That’s what it is. I’m more apt to run through his chest than Kyrie [Irving].”
Interestingly, Green also said a few months ago that he’d like to team up with James in the NBA at some point.
It seems as if Green and James have developed a mutual respect for each other in part because of all the times they’ve faced off on the NBA’s brightest stage, the NBA Finals.
Granted, it’s been a little while since the two players have met in a championship series, as the last time either of them played in an NBA Finals was back in 2022. But for much of the late 2010s, Green’s Warriors and James’ Cleveland Cavaliers were consistently two of the top teams in the league.
The Warriors and Cavaliers dueled in four NBA Finals during the decade, and James and Green got into it in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
In the fourth quarter of the contest, James stepped over Green, and a confrontation ensued. Green was assessed a flagrant foul and James was handed a technical foul, but the former’s punishment proved to be much more costly.
Green’s flagrant foul marked his fourth point of the playoffs, and as a result, he was suspended for Game 5 of the series. Without Green on the floor to anchor the team’s defense, the Warriors dropped Game 5 at home and also lost Games 6 and 7.
BREAKING: Draymond Green has been suspended for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/5HkCPw7YV3
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) June 12, 2016
To this day, the Warriors are the only team in the history of the NBA to blow a 3-1 lead in the championship series, and perhaps Golden State would have avoided a historic collapse if Green weren’t handed a one-game suspension.
Hopefully, James and Green will meet in the playoffs at least one more time before the former decides to retire from the league, even if it isn’t in the NBA Finals. It should be noted that Green and James both play for teams in the Western Conference, so they wouldn’t be able to cross paths in the championship series.
