Draymond Green reveals bold promise to Kevin Durant before 2022 NBA Finals win
NBAGolden State Warriors star Draymond Green went on “Warriors on NBCS” and dropped a gem regarding the epic championship promise he made to Kevin Durant before his 2022 NBA Finals win.
Green raved about how that year’s Warriors team was his favorite due to the way in which they were counted out.
The former two-time Defensive Player of the Year relished in the great feeling he had after the win. It was made even sweeter after he made good on his title guarantee to former teammate Durant.
Green chose the win over his first taste at championship glory in 2015 and his back-to-back hoists of the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2017 and 2018. The Durant dynamic made the win priceless.
Draymond Green spoke fourth Finals win into existence
Green sat down with former NBA All-Star Jeff Teague and explained what made his fourth championship in 2022 the most special.
The Michigan State product finished off his must-see comments with this soundbite on Teague’s “Club 520” podcast:
“But, that was the toughest one. We weren’t favored. Like, everybody was calling us too small. Boston, they too athletic. They too big. We didn’t stand a chance. And we went and made it happen. So that one was my favorite one, and then also, you know, I told KD ‘imma win when you leave here,’ and I did that,” Green boasted.
Green and Durant had a storied feud that precipitated the latter’s departure from the Bay in 2019.
The beef developed after Green called the 2014 NBA MVP a “b****” during a regular season matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2018. Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes also revealed that Green told Durant “We don’t need you. We won without you. Leave,” after the fact.
There was a tense atmosphere at the end of Golden State’s superteam run. The narrative in the media was that the Warriors needed Durant in order to keep winning.
All of this created a pretext for Green and his Warriors teammates to get a major boost from proving they could win on their own once more.