Charles Oakley was an enforcer during his time in the NBA and while some of those characters have mellowed down post-retirement, he isn’t one of them. A clip recently went viral on social media where Oakley, the head coach for the Killer 3’s in the BIG3 League, can be seen getting into a heated argument with Donte Greene during a game.
Charles Oakley & Donte Green cursing tirade and subsequent argument during last week’s Big 3 stemmed from Oakley refusing to challenge a play during a timeout, I’m told. pic.twitter.com/6w2VzenWqI
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) July 23, 2024
Oakley getting into such arguments was basically a nightly occurrence when he was in the league. He instigated many of those himself but that wasn’t the case in this instance.
Greene certainly overreacted to Oakley not challenging a call but his frustrations can be explained by the team’s struggles. The Killer 3’s are at the bottom of the standings and are the only team yet to win a game this season (0-6). With that clip going viral, Greene took to X to make it clear that he and Oakley had put this incident behind them.
“The crazy thing about the video going viral is that it’s 2 weeks old!! Conversations were already had and it was over and done with. Ballislife is WILD for putting that up so late. When y’all know yall put video’s out the same day or next.”
Greene then expressed his love for Oakley and stated that the incident was just him being very passionate about winning.
“But it is what it is. S/O to my OG Oak! Always love! Passion to win is real and it’s not for the weak out there!”
Oakley and Greene have been working together for quite some time now. The former has been the head coach for the Killer 3’s since 2017 while the latter was drafted by the team in 2019 with the 12th pick. In their very first season together, they made it all the way to the Finals, where they lost to the Triplets 50-39.
The Killer 3’s haven’t been able to get back to that stage since, however, and this season has easily been their worst ever. Frustrations would have been growing with each passing week and Oakley needs to ensure that the group stays together.
Greene, a co-captain on the team since 2021, has to do his part in that as well. The 36-year-old has been on quite the basketball journey after being drafted with the 28th pick of the 2008 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies traded Greene to the Houston Rockets soon after and they traded him to the Sacramento Kings before his rookie season began. He would go on to spend four seasons with the Kings, in which he averaged 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. Greene then spent years plying his trade in South America and Asia before returning to the U.S. to play in the BIG3.
Charles Oakley Spoke About The Difficulties In Coaching Today’s Players
Before Oakley took up the role as head coach for the Killer 3’s, he briefly worked as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats from 2010 to 2011. To say he didn’t like what he saw from today’s players, would be an understatement.
“It’s more almost like a daycare,” Oakley said on KG Certified. “You got to babysit these guys to get them to do something they getting paid to do. … I ain’t never seen so many guys that never want to get better.”
Coaching gave Charles Oakley a different perspective on the modern game. 🧐
NEW episode of KG Certified featuring @KevinGarnett5KG and @CharlesOakley34’s sit-down interview in Toronto, now available on the @shobasketball YouTube ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/nivBWZsnlQ
— All the Smoke (@allthesmokeprod) March 30, 2023
Today’s players are certainly very different from those who played in the 1980s and 90s like Oakley. They need to be coddled a bit and Oakley certainly isn’t interested in doing that one bit.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
