Draymond Green has responded to Kenyon Martin criticizing him for being a “fake tough guy.”
Green fired back with a long response, pointing out that he and Martin are both from Saginaw, Michigan, and comparing their NBA careers to make his point.
“I don’t know how you continue to shoot at me, and you underachieved,” said Green on his podcast. “Like, one All-Star? Make no mistake about it, you are an All-Star. I’ll give you that. A lot of people can’t say that they’re an All-Star. I give you that, you’re a one-time All-Star. That’s beautiful, but you must admit, to be the player that you were and defender that you believed you were, and not have a single All-Defensive Second Team? It's kind of an underachievement.”
“Number one pick in the draft, a lot of people look for that guy to win Rookie of the Year [he] didn’t,” added Green. “All-Rookie team, though. First-Team All-Rookie, that’s an accolade that I can’t say I have. I didn’t really play much as a rookie, as a 35th pick. I can’t say I made any All-Rookie Team, so kudos. I tip my hat to that.”
Green then revealed that he hadn’t planned on going back and forth publicly add him until Martin kept talking about him.
“Just because somebody says something, I'm not just gonna jump out there and be like, ‘Oh man, like, I got to respond or forget all of that,’” said Green. “Like, nah, I stand on what I believe in, and what I've believed in is like… I supported that guy, so I'm not just gonna jump off the rails and attack him or be responding and getting in these back and forth because of the respect and love that I had growing up as a kid. The shots just keep coming.”
Green’s response comes days after Martin spoke about the former’s physicality and confrontational nature during an appearance on the On The Rocks podcast. “Draymond ain’t do nothing to somebody who’s going to do something back,” said Martin at the time.
Soon after that, Martin clarified his comments during an appearance on The Arena podcast. “I’ve watched Draymond’s career from the time since he came in to now,” said Martin. “And I think a lot of the things, the people who he has done things to, have been calculated.”