Draymond Green and Kevin Durant’s spat on the bench during Golden State’s loss to the Kings on Saturday made some wonder if there’s a little trouble in paradise for the top-seeded Warriors.
Green brushed off questions about the incident on Tuesday, telling reporters to go talk to losing teams about it and called anyone worried about “a loser.” However, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN, there was something to the back-and-forth between Green and Durant, as it was Green’s effort to light a fire under the Warriors newest star.
Sources told ESPN that Green, trying to use reverse psychology, intentionally and aggressively approached Durant with a bevy of choice words during a break in Saturday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings…
“F— you” obscenities were repeatedly tossed back and forth by both players, sources told ESPN. Durant was enraged. Sources said Green, knowing he had accomplished his goal, began winking and smiling at some of his teammates and coaching staff.
It isn’t hard to believe that Green was trying to get a rise out of Durant, who had 2-of-10 in the game with 10 points, and the effort clearly worked if that was the goal. Now, this report clearly comes from someone on the bench and if you were a member of the Warriors, whether it is completely true or not, you’d want people to believe this was a positive in the long run.
Haynes also noted that Green and Durant watched the Super Bowl together on Sunday, in case anyone was worried a friendship was broken. The Warriors will be fine, even if there are some legitimate sideline arguments and not just Green trying to incept Kevin Durant into playing with passion. As Steve Kerr noted, these kinds of things happen on competitive teams.
“It’s totally normal,” Kerr said. “You should have seen the Bulls back in the day. … It’s just competitive, heat-of-the-moment stuff.”
The Warriors are back in action on Wednesday night against the Bulls as they look to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
