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Former NBA Champion, Who Openly Told Draymond Green That Raptors Were Better Than Post Kevin Durant Warriors, Defends the GSW Legend

Published 06/30/2022, 12:00 AM EDT

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After the Golden State Warriors won the 2022 NBA championship, they were in the headlines for quite some time. All through the Finals, Draymond Green was in the headlines because he wasn’t in his best form and was struggling. Klay Thompson was in the news because he came back from two and a half years of absence and the Warriors were back in the playoffs and the Finals after the same amount of time.

Stephen Curry was trending the most because of his MVP-worthy Finals performances. Moreover, he won the Finals MVP unanimously. Then came the wild and crazy celebrations where fans enjoyed the fun side of Steph and Klay. And the two Warriors legends did enjoy it to the fullest.

But just as the celebrations ended, Draymond Green attracted the public’s attention again as he started to answer the NBA analysts and other doubters who rooted against the Warriors. And another NBA champ came in defense of him when asked upon.

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“Draymond is one of those players that just like, he just out there to win. He’s just out there to win and that’s it. And y’all can make fun of him and how he plays and all that. But he got four rings and a lot of money, so he’s doing something right.” Fred VanVleet, who beat the Warriors with the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals said.

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Earlier this year, he also made an appearance on The Draymond Green Show and talked about the 2019 NBA Finals.

Fred VanVleet says the Raptors were better than Draymond Green and the Warriors

Fred VanVleet talked about how the Raptors deserved the victory against the Warriors. Kawhi Leonard led the Raptors to a victory after the Warriors lost Klay Thompson to injury. The Warriors were already missing Kevin Durant, who got injured before the playoffs. That is why the Warriors were not at full strength. However, Draymond Green thought that if Klay wouldn’t have gotten hurt, they would have clinched the title. Fred, however, did not agree to that.

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While he did not agree with that narrative, he surely could understand why people felt that way. It’s been established very well that Game 6 Klay is something else. His combining with Stephen Curry and Dray in crucial moments is what makes the Warriors the team they are. Fred thought that the Raptors were much better than the Warriors without Kevin Durant. Now when Klay got injured in Game 6, the scales surely shifted in their favor and they went on to win the title. 

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WATCH THIS STORY: 5 times Draymond resorted to dirty fouls that occasionally got him ejected 

Having played against the Warriors and Draymond, his appearance on the podcast clearly shows that the two players know each other well. That is why Fred was quick to defend Draymond amidst his recent feuds with Skip Bayless and Kendrick Perkins. 

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Written by:

Chaitanya Sharma

587Articles

One take at a time

Chaitanya is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his engineering from SRM University. Having determined an interest in football and basketball, he was inclined towards having a job in the sports industry.
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Edited by:

Veer Badani