Draymond Green and Kendrick Perkins are taking their beef to the next level after the Golden State Warriors veteran retaliated against the analyst. With Stephen Curry still at least three games away from his possible return, Perkins recently suggested that the Dubs should shut down Curry for the rest of the season. Perkins’ next shot was aimed at Green, suggesting that his mind was “definitely not on the game of basketball.” The floor general didn’t take it lying down and threatened to rewind certain videotapes.

“These guys need something to talk about every day, and so they made the biggest deal out of no deal,” Green said on his The Draymond Green Show. “So, going to the All-Star break, everybody is like ‘Oh my god! Draymond turned back the clock. Draymond played great.’ And then one game after the All-Star break, you have a rough game, and this guy goes, ‘I don’t know where his head at, but it ain’t on basketball.’ You are not allowed to have a bad game anymore!”

The Warriors star further personalized his jab at the retired player who averaged 10+ points or 8+ rebounds just once in his career.

“I think it’s very interesting, needless to say, yeah, Perk, you never had bad games (laughs),” Green said. “Perk, we’ve seen you play big fella… We’ve got clips. We got clips of your screen setters, we got clips of your jump shots, Perk, we got clips of your jump hooks. You’re playing Big Perk. So careful, man! We could start pulling clips now, Big Perk.”

Perkins has previously spoken about how he saw the darkness towards the end of his professional career. The 2008 champion fell out of the rotation with the New Orleans Pelicans and, despite signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, retired after the 2018 season. During his second stint in Cleveland, he was assigned to the G League, where he actually did well in 27 games, but called it the “most humbling experience,” which put him “back in real life.”

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

“I can promise you, Big Perk, I ain’t worried where you was at the end of yours,” Green said with a smirk.

While Perkins might have gone overboard suggesting that Green’s mind wasn’t in the game, the Warriors star’s struggles can’t be denied, and they’re scattered across his stat sheet.

The Warriors must face the harsh reality about Draymond Green

In his last game against the Boston Celtics, Green went scoreless in 19 minutes. While those numbers shouldn’t define his season, it’s hard to deny that Green is in the midst of, to say the least, a bad season. He is putting up near career-low numbers on both ends of the floor in a decade. He is ranked 11th among his teammates in the plus/minus. While his 112.4 defensive rating (per 100 possessions) is not bad, it is the worst he has posted in his career. 

Green’s game usually drops in the absence of Stephen Curry, and this season, it has been alarming. In the past six games without Curry (absence due to runner’s knee), including five games leading into the All-Star break, the former DPOY posted a minus-67, the worst among his teammates. 

“I’ve got to do a better job of helping Draymond,” head coach Steve Kerr said after the loss to the Celtics. “The game is so different without Steph. Those two guys have built such a rapport for 14 years now they’ve been playing together, and for sure in my 12, the two-man game with those two guys has been our bread and butter.”

However, to say that Green and Curry’s pairing has remained consistent is also not true. Last season, their pairing generated an average net rating of 7.3 (per 100 possessions). This year, it has dropped significantly to 4.4. On the brighter side, it has remained positive. However, Green is also posting the second-worst turnovers (3.7) per 36 minutes of his career. The last time he averaged worse than this was in the 2021-22 season, when he played just 46 games. 

Green remains a significant presence in the Bay Area. Given his leadership in the locker room, he is a big piece of Kerr’s roster. However, the Dubs appeared unsure whether he is still the solution to the championship puzzle, as free agency rumors earlier this month suggested.