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“I’m No Idiot”: Draymond Green Breaks Silence on Team USA’s Paris Olympics Snub

Published 01/30/2024, 1:40 AM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

Team USA released its 30-player pool for the Paris Olympics 2024 and there were a lot more veterans on that list than there were in last year’s FIBA World Cup team. However, Draymond Green, who helped the United States bring its last two golds home, didn’t make it.

And recently the 4x NBA Champ took time to address his feelings about the snub which will make it difficult for the 33-year-old to make it to the national team before he calls it a day.

Draymond Green opens up on Paris Olympics snub

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Talking to the reporters at Chase Center for the first time since the said list came out, Draymond Green on Monday said, “I would like to believe that there’s some guys in that pool that I’m just not as good as.” He continued, “didn’t quite think it would be so many great players in the pool because it just hasn’t been [that way] over the last couple of Olympic cycles. Then you look up and all of a sudden the ‘who’s who’ is there. “I’m no idiot. You go with the who’s who and you figure it out.”

via Getty

Green went on to relay how it is still a “brotherhood” for him and this snub will not hamper his relationship with Team USA or the players preferred over him. Given his recent blatancy, this reaction must come as a surprise even for the Warriors loyalist.

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Whether he is being honest or not will remain a mystery until Green makes further remarks. But could it be his image that compromised his selection and not the decline in his career?

Team USA might not be willing to risk it with Draymond on the world stage

It could work the best for everyone if Warriors’ Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green could run it with Steve Kerr at the Olympics for the first time. And having LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, and several other superstars from the NBA could compensate for what the Warriors are lacking right now.

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Not a team in the entire world would come close to beating that team, no matter who starts and who comes off the bench. However, Team USA does not look ready to risk it with Draymond like the Warriors currently are.

It’s been quite a couple of years for Green. Since his fight with Jordan Poole before the start of the 2022-23 season, his image has taken a nosedive league-wide. Multiple alterations with other NBA players and suspensions after them do not help his case either.

In hindsight, it could turn out to be something positive for the Dubs. The Warriors might get a Draymond Green who has a lot to prove before they give up on him.

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What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

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Written by:

Akash Murty

11Articles

One take at a time

Akash Murty is an NBA Content Manager at EssentiallySports. He has a writer's portfolio of over 2100 articles in his 21 months as a writer/editor. Basketball has been his go-to sport to follow for more than a decade.
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Edited by:

Sameen Nawathe