Earlier in the NBA season, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was suspended indefinitely after hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face. It was the latest transgression within a long list of contemptuous behavior from the four-time NBA champion, who received counseling and returned after missing 16 games. Green recently appeared on an episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq where he discussed the time he was suspended.
During the conversation, he revealed that ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith reached out to him and said that it had been difficult for them to talk about him over the few days ensuing. Green explained that he replied by saying that it was hard for him to watch but did anyway to see what everyone was saying.
Green continued his remarks by explaining that whenever someone discussed Smith with him, they would rail about how they disliked him. Conversely, Green would defend Smith by saying that he knew the man and that he was a “cool dude and a real dude.” At the same time though, he did not appreciate the comments that were made about him amid the impediments he was facing.
“I know you got to do your thing and say what you’ve got to say, but at not one point did you say, ‘Well, y’all are saying this person needs help,’” Green explained. “‘Now I know the person. Say what you want about the basketball player – that’s fine – but I know the person,’ but to sit back and see those that claim to know and appreciate me as a human being just flow with the narrative because it was easy to do, I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people.”
Smith appeared on the Willard & Dibs afternoon drive program on 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, Calif., the flagship radio station for Golden State Warriors basketball, where he uttered his response. Within his opening remarks, he immediately stated that what Green said was “utter bullshit,” expletive language that was censored on the FM airwaves but heard on the YouTube and Twitch live streams. Later in the show, co-host Mark Willard expressed how Smith cursing early in his answer was indicative of the level of discontent and anger he felt pertaining to the situation.
Even though the episode of the show was released on Wednesday, Smith did not see the clip until Thursday morning when producers of ESPN morning show First Take sent it for him. Smith addressed the discourse on the show and expounded on his perspective during the radio hit shortly before NBA Countdown.
“Anybody in the business that knows me; anybody outside of the business that wants to know about the business knows how I feel about him, not just as a professional, not just as a winner, but as a man,” Smith said. “And for me to have the relationship that I have with him, to hear about this because you on Shaq’s podcast, he pissed me off.
“So now both of us are pissed because to be quite honest with you, I don’t think what he’s saying has a shred of merit whatsoever, and that’s the first time that I’ve ever found myself in a position where I could listen to Draymond Green and don’t feel he has a shred of merit to what the hell he’s saying.”
As Smith outlined instances where he defended Green throughout his NBA career, he pointed out that the Warriors forward has been ejected from games 20 times, second to Rasheed Wallace on the NBA all-time leader list. Moreover, he was suspended four times in a nine-month span, underscoring the difficulty he has had controlling his emotions on the court. Some of the examples Smith mentioned included when Green kicked LeBron James during the 2016 NBA Finals, knocking out then-teammate Jordan Poole in a practice and kicking Steven Adams during a game.
“All of this stuff has been articulated by me live on national television in the face of one piece of opposition after another who has spoken against Draymond Green for years,” Smith said, “and somehow you were upset with a bunch of people, but I’m the name that comes out of your mouth when you were on Shaq’s podcast.”
Smith takes umbrage towards what Green had to say, claiming that it is not true and that he did not grant him the courtesy of having a private conversation about it. Additionally, he stated that he would not say anything about Green to that degree without letting him know how he felt beforehand. While he was discussing the assertion on First Take, Smith conveyed that Green was lucky he had not found out about it while recording The Stephen A. Smith Podcast, foreboding what would have been a more acerbic and caustic response.
“I have a job to do – that is absolutely true – and if I did what Draymond Green said I did, I wouldn’t apologize for it because I’m doing my job,” Smith said. “And in the face of the evidence that had mounted against him, I’m in no position to really, really defend him, but I didn’t do what he said. I didn’t just sit there. Now if you want to take one particular show, what about all the other shows that I did? What about all the other times that I came to your defense?”
Green has played 12 seasons in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors and has expanded his presence into contributing to and creating original content in the sports media space. Green is appearing on Inside the NBA during the NBA Western Conference Finals on TNT while also continuing to host his eponymous podcast, The Draymond Green Show, through The Volume media company founded by Colin Cowherd. Smith believes he is going to be a star in the business but ultimately is not fond of what he did and the misrepresentation that he promulgated.
“If you’re going to have a problem with us, could you at least have the decency to contextualize properly and hold us accountable for what we’ve actually done or are doing instead of making something up just to garner favor with a cadre of individuals that you think is going to point the finger at us in a negative direction,” Smith said, referring to an incident earlier in the year involving Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. “Those are the kind of things that I think are weak as hell, and that is my problem.”
