Danny Green has had the opportunity to play with two of the best basketball players in the world in Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James. He shared two stints with Leonard in San Antonio and then in Toronto, winning a championship with each team.
Now, Green is playing alongside LeBron, trying to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the glory once again. Green has been very outspoken about the difference between Leonard and James, and now he took things a little further, explaining the difference between the 2009 LeBron, who was still part of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the version of Kawhi Leonard we saw in Toronto and the current version of Bron in Los Angeles.
Danny sat with Omar Raja of ESPN to discuss several topics, including the time he first shared touches with LeBron in 2009.
“He [LeBron] is still doing the things he was doing in 2009,” Green said. “Obviously, he’s just more mature. He has kids that are older. He’s learned how to win. He’s gone to places and won three titles since then. Back then, obviously he was vocal, but not as vocal as he is now. His IQ was obviously great then and it’s even better now. He knows how to put guys in places to make them successful.
“So he makes the game easy. I think he did make the game easy (back in 2009) but it wasn’t on purpose. It was just him being so great and playing the game. Now he’s making the game easier by putting people in places.”
He also talked about Kawhi and the times they shared in Toronto, when they made one of the most incredible blocks ever, as well as talking about Kawhi’s famous buzzer-beater series-winning shot against the Philadelphia 76ers last season. He revealed he knew the team was going to make the Finals, especially knowing they had a very good group of players, led by Leonard, who was set to lead them to the Finals.
There is no better voice in the league to talk about Kawhi and LeBron than Danny Green, and we’ve learned about these two stars in the past few days thanks to the Los Angeles Lakers sharpshooter.
This year Leonard is going against Bron and Green in the battle of Los Angeles, trying to lead his Clippers to their first NBA title ever, just like he did with Toronto last season.
