“He doesn’t hack. He doesn’t scream at the refs. He goes and blocks shots. His deflection numbers are out the roof,” said Darius Garland, a little before mid-April, when making a case for why Evan Mobley deserves to be Defensive Player of the Year. The statement was, of course, made in support of Garland’s teammate. However, it was also obvious that all the “doesn’t” parts took a dig at Draymond Green. Being the player who has done all the things Garland claims Mobley hasn’t, and the fact that he won DPOY in 2017, any NBA nerd or Warriors fan could have put two and two together. That includes Draymond Green himself. Therefore, a few days after the DPOY was announced, the player chose to speak out.

The Warriors’ power forward recently hosted another episode of his long-running ‘The Draymond Green Show’. Green, along with co-host Baron Davis, devoted a significant part of the episode to discussing the DPOY award. The player revealed finding out that he lost while he was in a plane while gambling. He wasn’t much affected by the loss, since this is the 8th consecutive year he has lost it. In Green’s own words, “This ain’t my first rodeo, this ain’t my first time being in the race, you know, feeling like I should win, and not win”. Therefore, Green did not mind giving congratulations to the player who won the DPOY title this year: Evan Mobley. However, he could not have given the praise without handing out the criticism against Mobley’s teammate.

“So, shout out to him, man. Darius Garland them and sh*t was throwing shade, like ain’t none of that, and don’t be a clown, you know what I’m saying,” said Green. “Like, it is what it is. We was in the running, he won it, that’s great. And the number one seed, with the second-best record in the NBA. Who mad at that, you know. So why these little, you know, little dudes throwing shade. Congratulations to him, you know”.

Green further added that, “I was surprised by Darius Garland throwing shade, when he came on the podcast, and it was us vouching for him to be an all-star when he was begging, you know. So like I said, shout out to Evan Mobley. That was uh, super dope to see him win defensive player of the year. You know I’m one of the guy…. I root for young guys, you know what I’m saying. I’m not one of them guys that don’t want to see young guys do well. And if anything, welcome to the table”.

As he claimed, Draymond Green had endorsed Darius Garland for the All-Star honor. Back in January 2022, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade went viral for claiming that Garland “definitely has a [All-Star] case”. Green built on this by taking to X and writing “@DwyaneWade No way DG on the bubble… ALL-STAR!”. All one has to do is search for the tweet, and they will still find it in the public domain. Therefore, for Garland to take a dig at the Warriors veteran after what he did might seem like a low blow. If he wanted to support his teammate, he could have done it in a better way than trolling Green.

Then again, there is a reason why people were instantly able to connect Garland’s remarks with Green. It was less than two days ago, in the Warriors’ most recent matchup against the Houston Rockets, when the power forward went viral for his strange behaviour targeted against an official. Green went up under the basket with the hope of drawing a foul after feeling contact from a Rockets defender. At first glance, it did look like a missed call, and Green was taking some contact as he rose for the shot. However, the referee stood by the no-foul decision, and Green was livid. Instead of heading back on defense, he turned his focus and his anger straight at the referee. He yelled and even chased the ref across the court while the game was still live! As the crowd gasped, Green’s outburst earned him a technical foul.

Furthermore, how can people forget when, exactly 1 year and 1 month ago, Green ended up questioning the validity of two separate foul calls and, as a result, received yet another two technical fouls that led to an ejection. Stephen Curry ended up displaying some heart-wrenching on-court emotions at that point, visibly crying after Green’s exit. Therefore, one can say that while Darius Garland’s remarks were unwarranted, he wasn’t saying anything wrong.

Nevertheless, all of that is a thing of the past now. For Draymond Green, Garland’s ‘snub’ is secondary, and congratulating Evan Mobley was primary. That, in itself, was a big thing. After all, if history is an indication, Draymond Green hasn’t been too kind to past DPOY winners. Well, he hasn’t been kind to one particular DPOY winner.

Draymond Green once aimed for Rudy Gobert’s DPOY award: “Asking Karl-Anthony Towns to go guard the center”

If there is one thing known more prominently than Draymond Green’s ‘bad boy’ behaviour, it is his rivalry with Rudy Gobert. In the 12 years they have been on opposite teams, the duo has competed against each other to secure the Defensive Player of the Year title. Green has only received the honor once, while the Minnesota Timberwolves player has taken home the honor four times, including in the previous season. Whether it’s due to Gobert’s numbers or not, Green has often publicly trolled his on-court rival. Things reached their height when Green put the French player in a chokehold back in 2023. Even after that, the Warriors star did not stop, and even brought Gobert’s DPOY wins into question.

Back in May 2024, during a different segment of ‘The Draymond Green Show’, Green discussed the then-playoff series between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets squad had delivered a masterclass performance, undeterred by Minnesota’s defensive plans, in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. Green gave his own opinion of where things were wrong, stating, “How about this? We sit here breaking down KAT having to stop Joker, who’s a center, and the Defensive Player of the Year is on your team, and he’s a center”. As reported by Marca, Green’s tone was a ‘mix of incredulity and amusement’. After all, his remarks clearly asked the question of why wasn’t Rudy Gobert, the then reigning Defensive Player of the Year, wasn’t assigned to guard Jokic?

To further troll Gobert, Green drew a parallel by adding, “Very interesting how the cookie crumbles. It’s like if Marcus Smart won Defensive Player of the Year back then, which he did, and then they’re like, ‘But Jaylen [Brown], you got to go guard Steph,’ but Marcus Smart’s a point guard. Marcus Smart, you won Defensive Player of the Year, you got to guard Steph, right?” Yikes.

If history is any indication, then Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green may not come to terms anytime soon. In fact, Draymond Green might have been less glad that Evan Mobley won, and more glad that Rudy Gobert did not. Even then, however, the behaviour change speaks well for Draymond Green.