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Stephen A. Smith Reveals Why NBA Players Were Furious With Warriors Mishandling Draymond Green vs Kevin Durant Episode

Published 08/22/2021, 11:30 PM EDT

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The world rarely gets to see two teammates of a champion team fighting each other on the court. When they do, it feeds curiosity, and a controversy becomes inevitable. Exactly that happened in 2018 when an altercation between Kevin Durant & Draymond Green led to things that left a taint on an organization as huge as the Warriors’.

In a November 12, 2018, game against the LA Clippers, an OT loss to the Warriors had led to the escalation of their internal differences. Almost three years to that night, and the wounds are still fresh because of the way the Dubs Nation had mishandled everything.

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Stephen A. Smith revealed how the NBA players hated the punishing of Draymond Green

On that Monday night, Draymond had a rebound and KD was open to receive a pass. However, the former chose not to assist and rather kept the ball to eventually turn it over. A moment later, it was Klay Thompson sitting between the two, yelling at one another as DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Iguodala tried to calm the situation.

The next thing everyone knew was the Warriors removing Draymond off their game against the Hawks. That suspension did not sit well with many players, even outside the franchise. 

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As Stephen A. Smith revealed in a recent interview, “You know why they were offended? Because two player, two teammates, going at each other the way that they did, how is that anybody else’s business once the game is over? Y’all handle that. That’s where a lot of people lost respect for the Warriors organization, fair or not. That was the thinking amongst the players I spoke to…”

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The occasions when Green lost his cool and proved expensive to the Warriors

Back in the NBA Finals 2016, Draymond attracted a suspension in the crucial Game 5 which the Warriors eventually lost. If not for that loss, LeBron James would not have won his only championship for the Cavs and the GSW would be 4x Champions. 

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Prior to that, in Feb 2016, the same hot-headed big-mouth Draymond had yelled at coach Steve Kerr during the halftime of a game against OKC. So it’s nothing new for Draymond to piss his not just the refs but his teammates off. Yet, one can’t deny that his place holds massive importance for the success of the Warriors.

So Bob Myers and his men must attend to the issues surrounding him in a better manner. Just as SAS added, “Draymond was like, y’all go F this up. This really at the end of the day is for me and KD to handle. I may have been wrong, but I have my own reasons.”

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If you’ve already seen the latest interview of Kevin Durant & Draymond Green, what else did you infer from it? Help us know in the comments section below.

Watch this story – Six NBA Predictions Involving Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant that Can Blow Your Mind

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Written by:

Sourabh Singh

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Sourabh Singh is an NBA sports analyst for EssentiallySports, who has been working with the site since May 2020. Prior to this, he functioned as Managing Editor at WittyFeed, followed by a stint at Decathlon. The Sports Management graduate leads an active lifestyle, veering to the mountains for off-trail adventures.
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