Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green laid down the warning in November. He told the rest of the NBA not to mess around and let the Warriors win a championship. Well, the Warriors won their fourth title of this era last month and Green and the Warriors have been on an a petty tour all summer.
Green engaged in a back and forth with ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, calling the former Celtics big man a “coon.” Plus he continued to rub salt in the wound of the Boston Celtics, who the Warriors beat in the NBA Finals, by saying he took Jaylen Brown’s “heart” in that series. To the victor go the spoils, but is Green doing too much?
Let’s begin with the Perkins beef. Green is part of a current generation of athletes that are active media members. He has a podcast and is an analyst for Turner sports. Green calls this group of athletes “new media.” They control the narrative about themselves and are here to educate fans and not hate the way current media does.
Do with that what you will.
As the back-and-forth between Green and Perkins intensified, Green called Perkins a coon. Which is of course a racial slur used to deride Black people. This prompted Perk to respond.
https://youtu.be/d5Bh9QZVUdc
Realizing he made a grievous error, Green apologized for the word choice on his podcast.
“I’m no idiot, I do understand the word c**n is used in a racial way,” Green said on his podcast. “However, I also think growing up, culturally, things are different. We all grow up in different places, we all use words different, and so for me, when I use the word – like I said, I could have very well replaced it with clown – growing up where I grew up, you may say to one of your boys ‘Yo, stop acting like a c**n.'”
Green was a guest at a live show of JJ Redick’s “Old Man And The Three” podcast this week, where he discussed the NBA Finals and a moment in Game 2 when he knew he took the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown’s heart.
“When Jaylen Brown went to the media and said he tried to take my shorts down,” said Green. “I knew I took his heart. I knew for the rest of that series I had him because you know you’re standing over me. You’re going to go to the media and say he was trying to pull my shorts down? Like, come on, bro, you know you was standing over me. Own it.”
Brown quote-tweeted the video of Draymond and said “Draymond got a podcast and lost his dam mind…you could never.”
You can say whatever win you win 🌽Draymond got a Podcast and lost his dam mind ..you could never https://t.co/sBfq1FdA5T
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) June 30, 2022
Anyone tired of hearing from Green yet? Yes? Too bad.
This is the summer of Draymond. A born trash talker, this last title is all he needed to stick it to everyone and anyone. Gripes and verbal spars fuel Green, it’s like oxygen. Of course he can take it too far, like he did with Perkins.
Green is a smart guy he knows what he’s doing and he understands the power of language. He knew calling Perk a coon would be a story and generate a lot of buzz. Green said he was wrong, but the fire was already lit.
New media is all well and good, but ultimately this is bad for journalism around the NBA. Athletes pushing their own agendas and controlling the narratives won’t allow for objective truth around these players. It’s surface level excitement and great content for social media engagement, but what do fans learn?
It’s only the start of July. We have two months left in the summer of Draymond Green.
