Just as Draymond Green was coming around on Dillon Brooks, the yearslong feud between two of the NBA’s most controversial players was reignited this week, when Brooks came to defend his teammate and Green, seething, grabbed him by the collar of his jersey.
Green was ejected from the Warriors’ 116-113 win over the Suns on Monday night. Brooks said immediately following the game that he was trying to “de-escalate” the situation, which began when Green wrapped both arms around Khaman Maluach and threw him to the floor.
Addressing the situation for the first time with reporters after Golden State’s 120-100 win over the Heat on Thursday night, Green called out Brooks’ point of view on their latest altercation.
“He was talking. He came in talking. Putting his chest on my shoulder. That ain’t how you de-escalate,” Green said. “So I just wish he stood on the type of business he was on, instead of running to y’all. Like, ‘I was trying to de-escalate!’ No you wasn’t, bro.”
Both players like to play the villain, with their rivalry going back to Brooks’ time with Memphis. A year after their antics gained national attention during the heated 2022 Western Conference semifinals, Brooks took it to the next level, telling ESPN, “I don’t like Draymond at all.”
Green this week, however, said that he “had started to turn a corner” on his view of Brooks.
“Ah, man, he may be who he say he is,” Green said. “But he not.”
Brooks’ actions and response to the altercation only confirmed Green’s initial belief — that Brooks’ tough-guy persona only exists so long as the cameras and microphones are on.
“The words you said on the side of me and walking up to me like that,” Green said. “When you’re de-escalating you usually go to your teammate. But your teammate’s there [on the ground]. So you’re not de-escalating anything.
“By the way, there’s nothing going on. He’s there, I’m standing there. There’s nothing really to de-escalate.”
It depends on your point of view. The scene underneath the basket was reasonably docile until Brooks ran toward Green and shoved him in the back. Green responded by turning around and grabbing Brooks by the jersey near the neck. But Brooks’ teammate had already been thrown down by Green.
The sequence earned Green two technical fouls, resulting in his ejection. The Warriors, who were trailing by 11 at the time, said it helped fire them up on their way to a comeback win.
But Green gave an even more telling look into his worldview with his explanation.
“You’ve heard of people having short man complex? What’s it called–Napoleon? I got a little bit of that when I’m playing basketball,” said Green, listed at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds, “because I’m always smaller than the guys I’m going up against.”
Despite his size disadvantage, at age 36, Green has more or less played shutdown defense while primarily playing the five this season, a result of Yaxel Lendeborg’s emergence at the four.
Matched up against Green Thursday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo (6-11, 250) struggled to steamroll into the paint and finished 4-of-9 from the field. When matched up against anyone else, Antetokounmpo converted 3 of 4 attempts from the field and got to the foul line twice.
Green has similarly more than held his own against Rudy Gobert (7-1, 258), Walker Kessler (7-2, 245) and Nikola Jokić (6-11, 284). He’s got to find an edge somehow.
“I’m usually outweighed by anywhere from 20 to 60 pounds. I’m usually outsized from a height perspective, anywhere from 5 to Wemby,” Green said, eliciting laughs. “With that, In order to do what I do, you have to have that certain nastiness to you. …
“I have to have that tenacity. There’s certain things you cannot allow to happen because if you allow it to happen the next game you play, it’s gonna happen again. Somebody’s gonna try it again.”
And, so, that’s why Green felt compelled to do more than just prevent Maluach (7-2, 250) from converting the entry pass he received in the paint. He had to send a message.
Brooks, then, had to send one back.
And, like the Warriors’ hopes that night, the rivalry was rekindled, just like that.
