Danny Green is a very lucky basketball player.
For all but one of his 11 seasons in the NBA, he has always played alongside either Kawhi Leonard or LeBron James.
Recently on Spectrum SportsNet, a Los Angeles-based cable network that carries Los Angeles Lakers games, Green discussed the difference between the two superstars.
Danny Green on the difference between LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. pic.twitter.com/oaTkEvwjAU
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“We’ve never seen anything like him (James),” said Green. “Not only is he a great player and a great scorer, but he makes his teammates better. And he’s a great playmaker, he’s a great teammate, he’s a great leader. On and off the floor, there’s nobody better, and he’s been doing it for so long. His longevity is unbelievable.”
When Green broke into the NBA in the 2009-10 season, he was a rookie on the Cleveland Cavaliers during the final season of James’ first stint there.
He then spent the next eight seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. He played in only eight games in 2010-11, but that offseason, the Spurs acquired Leonard in one of the more lopsided deals in NBA history. That trade made the Spurs championship contenders for the next several years.
Green followed Leonard to the Toronto Raptors a year ago, as both were included in the stunning deal that sent DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poltl and a 2019 first-round draft pick to the Spurs.
While Leonard has recently garnered comparisons to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, passing and playmaking is the one area of his game where he falls short when compared to the all-time greats.
James has a career average of 7.3 assists per game and is currently leading the league at 11.1 dimes a game. Leonard, however, has only notched 2.5 assists a game so far in his NBA career.
