Draymond Green isn't letting Kevin Durant's latest take slide.
The Golden State Warriors forward responded to his former teammate's recent comments suggesting that offense, not defense, is the key to winning championships. Durant, who won two Finals MVPs alongside Green with the Warriors, recently claimed that elite offense is more important to team success.
But Green, known for being the defensive anchor of Golden State's dynasty, pushed back hard on that notion in an interview with The Athletic's Sam Amick.
"I think when you look at any team that won a championship, they had a great defense. And if you look at most teams that couldn't quite get over the hump, oftentimes it's (because) they couldn't get stops," said Green. "That fact still remains, and I think that those who don't believe it, don't win. It's very simple. Those who don't believe defense is as valuable as it is,they simply just don't win. I don't think anyone's ever really been hell-bent on caring about the opinion of those that don't win, because your opinion equals zero."
Green added that Durant's stance surprised him somewhat, "If anything, it was like a head-scratcher. I was like, 'Huh?' But on the flip side, it wasn't that much of a head-scratcher because I know Kevin," he said. "I didn't see the whole context, so I also know that words get flipped. But I read what he said."
Durant made his remarks in season two of Netflix’s series Starting 5, where he spoke on the importance of scoring when going against elite talent to win games.
“You have to score baskets if you want to win a championship,” Durant said. “Playing defense, we can get any of y’all in here to bend your legs… that’s easy [...] When you talk about winning at a high level, against the best of the best, you cannot just do that and win a basketball game. You have to make shots.”
Green comments come as the Warriors struggle defensively, having dropped back-to-back games to the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers. Green pointed to history to support his argument that nearly every recent NBA champion, from the 2015 Warriors to the 2024 Thunder, ranked among the league's top defensive teams.
Meanwhile, during his tenure with the Phoenix Suns last season, Durant and the squad finished with one of the worst defensive ratings in the league and missed the playoffs entirely.