Draymond Green loves to talk. And he’s not going to back down from anything he says, especially when fighting for his legacy amongst the great champions of the game. Draymond, of course, has four NBA rings playing alongside the Splash Brothers and others. He was never known for his offensive prowess, but when it comes to intangibles and tenacity, he’s the poster child.
Draymond Green Comes Out Firing On ESPN Tip-Off
With Charles Barkley’s usual adversary Shaq on vacation, Green filled in on “ESPN Tip-Off,” fresh off a battle of credentials with former NBA player Austin Rivers. It was inevitable that Green would at some point take shots at Hall of Famer Charles Barkley (one of the greatest NBA players to never win a ring) if the conversation ever got too thick.
The problem is, fans weren’t feeling the accuracy of Green’s statements, and he got called out on it, despite the cute one-liner he dropped on Chuck while discussing the championship window of aging superstars.
Draymond Green Tries To Diss Hall of Famer Charles Barkley’s Houston Rockets Stint
“I think the goal is just to not look like you in a Houston Rockets uniform. It’s ultimately the goal for us…we don’t want too…” Green said.
Kenny Smith acknowledged the dagger and wanted some clarity, so he interrupted Green and said, “What does that look like?”
Green looked back in disbelief with no statistical proof to back up his crazy statement and said, “Did you see it? I saw it.”
Fans Offer Statistical Proof To Discredit Draymond Green’s Charles Barkley Slight
Immediately fans started digging in the crates and crunching numbers.
“More people will remember that Charles Barkley was in a Houston Rockets uniform than anyone will ever remember that Draymond Green was in a Golden State one,” a user commented.
“Draymond cooked Barkley “ bruh Barkley said something realistic and draymond answered back with a personal take
,” one fan said
“Barkley still a better basketball player than draymond ever was,” a third fan insisted.
“Barkley averaged over 16 a game in his final 4 years in Houston, Draymond aka Mr. Triple Single has only averaged 8.7 points his entire career ” a netizen said on X.
“Barkley on Rockets was putting up NUMBERS. Stop it Draymond…It wasn’t prime Chuck, but he was still getting buckets,” one user commented.
The stats kept coming as social media proved to Draymond Green — who is still playing and showing severe decline — that Barkley’s run in Houston as a “washed up” superstar still exceeds Draymond’s as a never was superstar.
“That’s way outline here!!! And he was a great player in Houston!!! I not sure what he was watching,” a netizen wrote.
Was Draymond Green Lying?
Nobody was buying Draymond’s hyperbole, and he made himself look bad by claiming to have seen Barkley play at the end of his career, when he retired in 2000. Draymond Green is 36 years old, which means that he was 5-10 years old watching Barkley play with Houston, which is possible. But how much does he REALLY remember if he is telling the truth.
And how the heck is he going to ask Ernie Johnson, of all people, and Kenny Smith, a Rockets legend who was definitely balling in the NBA as Barkley’s career waned, if they have ever seen him play.
Green is like many players who think that it’s a seamless transition to go from the court to the podcast to the primetime television microphone. Most of these guys seem to be trying to shape a narrative about their careers by having a voice on television. The true fan isn’t going for that, and it will quickly become a turnoff. Barkley is one of the Top 75 ballers to ever play. He’s an MVP and he was a true bus driver who played with aging stars in Houston. He never had prime Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and a host of others that would have helped him get past some mythical squads.
It looks like Green will fit right in with his new role because he’s firing shots at panelists with total disregard for the facts. Kind of like Barkley does quite often, but this time Chuck might have met his match.
