Draymond Green is no stranger to beef, but he began one of the strangest ones of his career last week. After the Warriors closed out the Dallas Mavericks, Green, who has a contract with TNT, was asked by Shaquille O’Neal who he thought the Warriors would face in the NBA Finals.
He gave credit to both teams, but said it would be the Boston Celtics.
Heat players took exception to that response, despite the fact that Green has been making predictions on his podcast throughout the postseason.
After Miami won in Game 6, Udonis Haslem came over to the broadcast table and thanked Green for the motivation.
“Draymond broke the code,” Haslem told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes after Game 6. “You ain’t supposed to say some shit like that. That’s disrespectful. He know better than that.”
Well, then the Celtics eliminated the Heat in Game 7, and Draymond responded.
“It was exciting to know that people pay that much attention to my words and what I say,” Green told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “Wow. They really watched what I had to say and that motivated them? I’m getting better at this motivational thing. That’s great.”
It’s one thing for the Heat to be offended that Draymond picked against them. Next time, however, maybe wait until you actually win the series and prove him wrong before clapping back.