It would seem Draymond Green\u2019s future Hall of Fame induction is solidified. He\u2019s a four-time NBA Champion and one of the most impactful defenders of his generation. The Saginaw, Michigan product is also a four-time All-Star, nine-time All-Defensive Team selection and the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
Green, however, wants more \u201cstamps\u201d on his resume. He\u2019s 35, and the league has several young players who are emerging as elite defenders. Last season\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year, Cleveland\u2019s Evan Mobley, is only 24. Mobley\u2019s win marked the 16th time in 17 years the NBA\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year was younger than 30 years old, with a 31-year-old Rudy Gobert in 2023-24 being the only such exception.<\/p>\n
Green recently sat down with Sam Amick of The Athletic to discuss this stage of his career and where his ambitions remain as it nears a close. Here is an excerpt of their conversation.<\/p>\n
So you\u2019re 35 now, yet you were legitimately in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion last year. The Father Time fall-off hasn\u2019t happened. The accolades have piled up. But that dude in San Antonio is coming. In terms of Defensive Player of the Year, I know you\u2019re not waving the white flag. But he\u2019s one of one.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not like you just wave the white flag and say, \u2018Ah man, he\u2019s just gonna win (DPOY).\u2019 It\u2019s the same reason I\u2019ve always loved to play against LeBron James. When you have an opportunity to go up against the best, it brings the best out of you, if you\u2019re up for that level of competition. It brings your best out.<\/p>\n
For a competitor like myself, how can I stop that for one more year? And it\u2019s not that you want to stop it in order to see (Wembanyama) do bad. But how do I hold that off for one more year? As a competitor, that\u2019s the thought. \u2026You know this kid has set out to be great. You hear all the stories. You see all the work he\u2019s put in. You see the improvements, which requires a lot of work. But as a competitor, as someone who\u2019s been throughout this race for the last 10 years or so, how do you stay in the race? How do you make it a race? How do you continue to put your mark on something in a way that not many have? So that immediately becomes the mindset for me. It\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh man, he\u2019s gonna win it.\u2019 F\u2014 that. He\u2019s clearly one of the best. And when there\u2019s one of the best up, you want to see how you stack up against that \u2014 even at 35, or at that time I\u2019d be 36, years old. Like, last year, nothing brought me more joy than seeing the ages of the first-team (selections).<\/p>\n
To review, there was Cleveland\u2019s Evan Mobley (who won DPOY and was 23 at the time), Daniels (21), Oklahoma City\u2019s Luguentz Dort (25) and Houston\u2019s Amen Thompson (22). As an aside relating to the 10-plus All-Defensive team group, only Duncan (38), Abdul-Jabbar (36) and Garnett (35) earned selections when they were Green\u2019s age or older.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s just a matter of \u2018How long can I stack up to those young guys?\u2019 First you wanted to be the young guy stacking up. Now, it\u2019s \u2018How long can I stack up against the young guys before you ride it back?\u2019<\/p>\n
Take me back to the goal of being one of the guys who has 10 All-Defensive nods. Is part of the appeal of joining that group the fact that it could simplify the conversation around you when it comes to the mark you left on the game?<\/p>\n
I think, to some degree, it definitely simplifies it, right? Like, I think everybody\u2019s always looking for that stamp of approval. What is that thing that you can point to and say, \u2018Yeah, (but) he\u2019s in the Hall of Fame.\u2019 And you have these things where people point out awards, championships, points \u2014 whatever the thing is.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t spend every day like, \u2018Oh, man, what more do I need to do to get in the Hall of Fame?\u2019 I spend my days wondering, \u2018What can I do to continue to play at an elite level?\u2019 If I can continue to play at an elite level, the things will happen that makes that thing happen. I also don\u2019t view it that way because I think I\u2019ve done several things that add a stamp. You do what I\u2019ve done to the tune of four championships, I think that adds a stamp. Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defense teams, All-NBA, been an All-Star. (But) you\u2019re always looking to add more stamps.<\/p>\n
So, can Green add more \u201cstamps\u201d in the face of father time? Can a 6-foot-6 \u201cbig\u201d do enough to earn another Defensive Player of the Year honor or a 10th All-Defense selection? Besides youngsters like Mobley, Lu Dort, Amen Thompson and Dyson Daniels, Victor Wembenyama seems locked in to snag a first-time selection if he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n
If Green can keep his name in the mix, it would be a major accomplishment. The Warriors adding Al Horford should help reduce Green\u2019s minutes at center. But it could ultimately come down to the Warriors\u2019 success and if he can keep the attention on his on-court impact (not technical fouls) to build on that legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It would seem Draymond Green\u2019s future Hall of Fame induction is solidified. He\u2019s a four-time NBA Champion and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2243,355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-270848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-golden-state-warriors","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}