Draymond Green remembers every slight and isn’t shy about bringing them up.
The latest instance came after Game 6, when Draymond laid into former player and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins for his comments that Green is playing like he’s afraid to shoot.
“Something came to my phone earlier,” Green said to reporters. “Some guy saying I’m scared to shoot the basketball. Scared and me in the same sentence is brutal. But you got a big ogre on TV talking about what Draymond says ain’t the gospel. It is the gospel. What I say is the gospel. When you say that multiple times on several different segments, you must think what I say is the gospel. So, you got to come out and shut some guys up sometimes. When you got people talking out the side of their neck. ‘Anybody can make the pass Draymond make.’ That’s just stupid.
“But these are people who get employed to talk on TV about our game. ‘Anybody could make that pass.’ You make that pass. We’d love to see it. I played against the guy by the way. I’m talking about Kendrick Perkins for those of y’all that don’t know. I’m never duckin’ no smoke. As the Memphis Grizzlies’ towels say, I don’t duck smoke. ‘Anybody could make that pass.’ You couldn’t, so good luck. You just got to come out and shut people up sometimes. It was very fun to do.”
Here’s what Perkins said on “First Take”:
Matter of fact, can somebody tell Draymond Green it’s OK to look at the basket and actually shoot a shot? I mean, because he’s afraid. I mean, I’m sitting up here seeing all the turnovers. He doesn’t even look at the basket.
He’s afraid of taking the shot right now. So some of those assists he’s getting to Steph Curry, Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson, I could go out there and get those same assists. They wide open. Ain’t nothing but a pass. So don’t let Draymond Green sit up here and fool you like everything that come out his mouth is the gospel.
Perk was also quick to respond to Draymond’s postgame comments with a video of his own, in which he explained that Green himself is ‘ugly.’
The back-and-forth of course continued, with Green posting to Instagram that he isn’t afraid, and that Perkins shouldn’t have deleted his original, more explicit video.