After elevating the Golden State Warriors’ defense once again with his positional versatility, teammate communication and opponent trash talk, Draymond Green completed another routine that has become critical in ensuring those qualities endure.

Following the Warriors’ recent loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Green spent about an hour on the trainer’s table. Then, he received a massage, performed stretching exercises and iced his aching 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame. In his 14th NBA season, the 35-year-old Green has maintained a more disciplined training regimen in hopes to prolong the defensive excellence that he displayed in his prime.

“I know physically he looks a little different. But it’s the same impact defensively – guarding five guys, talking, communicating, making those extra effort plays,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “Even when he’s out of position, he always seems to be in the right spot. It’s kind of uncanny what he does. There’s a reason he can be as versatile as he is because he has a high IQ. That’s the thing that’s the most consistent, no matter if it looks different than earlier in his career.”

Unlike when Green helped the Warriors win four NBA championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022) in six Finals appearances (2015-2019, 2022), the Warriors are hardly considered an NBA title favorite in the 2025-26 campaign.

Following their win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, the Warriors rank eighth in the Western Conference. Amid Jimmy Butler’s season-ending ACL injury and an inconsistent supporting cast, the Warriors became one of many teams interested in acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks before last week’s NBA trade deadline. Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy stated adamantly that Green’s “name was not in conversations, other than the ones where teams called me and asked about him.” But on his podcast, Green said that Dunleavy told him that the Warriors would include either him or Butler in a trade package with draft picks if the Bucks became receptive to an offer. The Bucks didn’t express interest and kept Antetokounmpo.

The Warriors pivoted quickly by acquiring center Kristaps Porzingis from the Atlanta Hawks for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield. Questions persist about Porzingis’ durability after playing in only 17 games this season while dealing with both left Achilles tendinitis and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which has affected his heart rate and breathing. The Warriors maintain optimism that they can improve Porzingis’ durability and plan to play him shortly after the NBA All-Star weekend (Feb. 13-15). They became intrigued with Porzingis partly because of how he would complement Green well as a reliable rim protector.

“Draymond’s always been one of the toughest guys for me to play against. So I know who he is and how annoying he is for other guys,” Porzingis said. “So to have him on my side now is pretty cool. I think his experience, his knowledge and his edge on the court is something that’s going to be a good mix.”

Green has dealt with his own injuries this season, missing a combined nine games to manage his right foot (three), right ankle (one), lower back (one), rib (one) and an illness (one). Hence, Green’s extensive post-game routine. But the Warriors rank 10th in total points allowed (113.5) and have held opponents under 100 points in 11 games this season. Plenty of that has to do with Green, who has a chance to make his 10th All-Defensive Team this season. Only Tim Duncan (15), Kobe Bryant (12), Kevin Garnett (12), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (11) and Scottie Pippen (10) have appeared on as many All-Defensive teams.

“He’s still elite,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Green. “It’s amazing how many plays he blows up and what he sees on the court. His mind, his ability to process before the rest of the nine players can do on the court. He can still do all of that. He’s not what he was five years ago athletically and not quite as quick. But he makes up for that with his brain. So in my mind, he’s one of the great defenders in the game.”

Green spoke extensively with EssentiallySports about his defensive longevity, what it would mean to make 10 All-Defensive teams, and why he fared well this season with defending certain NBA stars. Green also shared his outlook on how many more seasons he can play.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.

How would you evaluate your defense compared to other seasons?

Green: “With this season, obviously, as you get older, it’s not as easy to get steals or blocks. So you have to affect the game in a different way. For me, it’s not different. I’m making maybe less than spectacular plays. But as far as just overall, I still try to keep up with the same things: mess up a team’s offense, plug in where they’re trying to get the ball to and make them do things that they’re not trying to accomplish. I think I still do that at a very, very, very high level.”

Kerr said that you’re still ‘elite.’ He said that your athleticism is not what it was five years ago. But he said that you make up for it with your smarts and knowing tendencies. How do you view that?

Green: “I’m definitely not as reliable athletically as I was five years ago. As you continue to get older, that’s the thing that goes. But I think for me personally, I just try to outthink people. I know what you’re trying to get to. I watch more film now than I necessarily used to watch because knowing tendencies is so much more important when you’re not as athletic as you were. So what do you do to make that up? If you don’t do anything to make that up, then you just lose. I still want to be an elite defender. But the reality is that I am getting older. So the spectacular make-up, something, every now and then, you can do that. But for the most part, you got to have great positional defense. So I’m lucky that I’ve always been a good position defender. I’m playing well in position defense. But as you get older, you have to be even more impactful. You got to see things a snap quicker than you’re used to seeing. I don’t think Steve could’ve said it any better. I’m definitely not the same athlete I was in year nine as year 14. But at the same time, I still think I’ve been covering up ground quite a bit.”

What does your film prep look like?

Green: “With the film work, the league is changing. It’s a different style of play today than it was even three years ago or two years ago. So I’m making sure that I’m staying on point. As tendencies change in this league, you have to stay up on that. You have to know what teams are trying to do to you. If you don’t, you’re automatically up against the 8-ball. So it’s really about knowing and understanding what it is that these teams are trying to get to. Guys’ games are changing. So I’m making sure that I’m still on top of everything that a team is trying to accomplish. Most teams are patterned on the offensive end. So how can I f— up their pattern? How can I mess up their pattern? How can I make them go against their pattern and do something else? People aren’t as good when you do that.”

What would it mean to you to make an All-Defensive team for the 10th time in your career?

Green: (shakes his head). “Wow, I can’t even say that would be a dream come true. I’d be lying to you if I said that was a dream come true. I wasn’t a great or even good defender coming into the NBA. That’s something that I had to work to become. But what it would mean to be just in the conversation with the guys that are a part of that group, those are all first-ballot Hall-of-Famers and all legends of the game. To be in that conversation means that you impacted the game at a very high level. That’s all I want when it’s all said and done – that I impacted the game at an elite level when I was out there on the court. When you can make 10 of any type of team in the NBA, that’s special because those are the most special players in the world.”

From one defender to another: when you look at Duncan, Garnett, Kobe, Kareem and Pippen, what do you take away from what those players did defensively?

Green: “No. 1 was tenacity. All of those guys that you just named wanted to defend. Kobe wanted to defend. Scottie wanted to defend. Kareem wanted to defend. For all of these guys, it was their mission to defend. I always say that defense is about will. You have to want to do that. Nobody is going to wake up, come out of the womb playing basketball and be like, ‘I’m going to play defense.’ That’s something that comes from within: ‘I want to do that, I want to stop you, I want to dominate.’ So that’s the thing that everybody shares: tenacity and they’re all winners.”

Tactically, what did they do considering they all played different positions?

Green: “Kobe’s ball pressure was elite. He was smart as hell. Kobe would run through a brick wall. Scottie had long-a– arms and was smart. With the length that Scottie had to be able to guard, Scottie could guard a 6-foot-1 point guard and move with him and not miss a step. Scottie’s lateral movement was elite with the way he used his length. Tim Duncan never had athleticism over anyone. But he out-thought everyone. That was special. There was no one that could think like that. Kareem had the length with the way he blocked shots and covered the rim. He dominated the paint in an era when it was a complete paint game. But he still dominated. His rim protection was elite. KG had tenacity. He brought rim protection. He called out everything. He was the brain of the defense. On every play, he was loud as hell. There was the leadership that he provided. He was bouncy as hell. He would stop stuff at the rim. He was a great pick-and-roll defender. He brought great rim protection. Especially in his younger days, KG was an animal.”

What’s your favorite defensive performance?

Green: “My favorite defensive performance is the Memphis game when I had a triple-double without the points (four points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and five blocks in a 122-107 win on Feb. 10, 2017). I felt like if I reached my hand out, it was almost like a magnet. I reached my hand out, and I would come up with a steal. I reached my hand out, and I came up with a block. I just felt like I was in such a groove that game that I couldn’t do any wrong. I was just falling into the right spot. I was making plays that I would have no idea I would make. I just felt like that, I was in a crazy rhythm defensively.”

Which matchups do you think you’ve been most effective with limiting a certain player or making them uncomfortable?

Green: “I think all the power forwards that came through in our day when we were making our ascension. You had a lot of good power forwards in this league that were All-Stars. I had to go through them to become who I became. But I went through them. I went straight through them.”

I looked at some of your matchup data this season. You limited a lot of players, including Wemby [Victor Wembanyama; 8-for-21], Sengun [5-for-12], Zion [Williamson; 5-for-12] and KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns; 1-for-6). What were the keys to those performances?

Green: “No. 1 is taking on the challenge. You have to want that challenge. If you don’t want that challenge, you lose. These guys are too good. They are too good. You know what they’re trying to do. So, No. 1 is taking on the challenge. Then the second thing is I’m going to take the aggression to them. I’m not going to wait on my heels for them to make a move. These guys are great for a reason. So I’m going to take the fight to them. I’m going to make them do what I want them to do. Sometimes, guys get the better of me. Sometimes, I get the better of guys.”

With how much uncertainty there was with the trade deadline, to what extent did you envision what a defensive identity would look like with you with Giannis, or you with the Bucks or if the Warriors kept the group intact?

Green: “I didn’t get into the hypotheticals. That’s not something that I can control. I didn’t want to trigger my mind into something that is not the case. But if you put me next to any good defender, we’re going to be very good. I would do all I can to make him better.”

You don’t have Jimmy [Butler] for the rest of the season. But with your presence, the Porzingis move and the rest of the roster, what can this team do defensively?

Green: “This team can still be really good defensively. It requires buy-in. Everybody wants to defend at a high level and everybody wants to be on a string. You add in Porzingis with the rim protection that he can provide, I think that the team can still be good defensively.”

Given your enduring value as a defender, how do you compare/contrast what your dynamic was like when you played with Andre [Iguodala] and an evolving center rotation versus now?

Green: “Different lineups require different things. When we go small now, we’re smaller than we were when we went smaller before. The game has changed quite a bit. It’s about understanding who you’re out there with, what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses. Then you try to put them in positions to play their best defense. Then I try to put myself in the best position to cover their weaknesses.”

I understand the point that you made that you never dreamed of making 10 All-Defensive teams. But now that you have a resume, how many DPOY awards do you feel you should have had at this point beyond the one you won [in 2017]?

 Green: “I struggle to say I should’ve had more because that means it’s taking something from someone else. I respect all the guys that have been able to win the award. I do think there were a couple of years that I could’ve won just like the guy who won it. But I don’t like to get off into saying, ‘I should have won this one that year’ because there is somebody that did win. Am I going to make statements that essentially undermines their greatness or makes their season award less validating? I don’t like to do that.”

So you view that as the same as when people have the All-Star snub conversation?

Green: “Absolutely. I think that’s for other people to talk about, but not me. I don’t want to diminish anyone’s accomplishments. The guys who won it deserve to win it. I didn’t win it. And that’s just how it goes.”

We chatted during the pandemic in 2020 about your upcoming work at TNT. Then, you said you think you have “another six or seven years left.” What’s your outlook on that now?

Green: “I feel great. I feel like I can go another two to four years. I think for me, I always want to try to compete at an elite level. If I can’t do that, then it’s not as fun. But what I will say is that I have more left than I thought I would at this point. So as the years have gone by, the outlook on when I’ll be done has changed. I thought I’d get to Year 12 and that I’d be breaking down. But by the time I got to Year 12, I felt like I was still getting better.”

Why don’t you think that’s happened?

Green: “Because I’ve been learning how to take care of my body. I’m just really learning the maintenance side of it and having a great staff that we have. All of those things make a difference. But most importantly, it’s about learning to take care of the body. That’s one of the greatest gifts that an athlete can do. I’m always making sure that I’m doing the things I can do to keep that one or two-step burst so I can get there, cut an opponent off and make a stop when we need a stop. I’m working on all of those things.

One of the best things for me and one of the best rewards I can get is that people still don’t want to bring me into the action. That’s huge. As a defender, when you get up into an action, guys wave me out and say, ‘Get me out of here. Bring someone else.’ There’s no better stamp of approval than that. I’m in year 14, and they still don’t want to bring me into the action. But when they do, I’m ready for them.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for EssentiallySports. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.