Draymond Green, since May of 2022, has started his podcast in an attempt to create the new wave of NBA media and recapture media narratives. For the past few seasons, Green has been extremely vocal on his podcast during the Playoffs. He always tries to give an unfiltered perspective on any media narratives, trends, and everything relevant around the NBA world.
This season, Draymond partnered up with the Warriors legend Baron Davis and renamed his show “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis” as the legend agreed to become his permanent co-host.
Before Game 1 against the Clippers, the Nuggets staff put towels marked ‘We Believe’ in every seat of the arena. This did not sit well with Draymond. In his reaction video for game 1, Draymond voiced his concern to Davis over the Denver Nuggets allegedly stealing the Warriors’ slogan. Their conversation went like this (39:00 onwards):
Draymond: “They have some towels on their seats and about their playoff run, and they say ‘We believe’.
Baron: “I mean that’s just—”
Draymond: “Should somebody get fired?”
Baron: “So original and unoriginal. Man, come on, Denver, just call me I’ll give you a slogan. This ain’t going to work.”
Draymond: “Somebody should be fired.”
Baron: “Somebody should be fired. This don’t work. In Denver, you got to come up with something for Denver.”
Draymond: “It don’t work. People actually still say to us like “Yo, we still believe like we believe.”
Baron: “I say that too about the Warriors, I always say it. Come on, Denver, that’s like a Warrior mantra. Like we always like, ‘we still believe’. That’s kind of like where we’re placed, that we believe is we still believe.”
Draymond: “Somebody should be fired. That’s ridiculous, somebody should be fired.”
Is Draymond Green Right To Be Pissed Off Over Nuggets Borrowing Warriors’ Slogan?
On the face of it, it seems adequate that Draymond Green is unhappy with the Denver Nuggets about this. Considering that ever since Draymond was drafted by the Warriors, they have used this slogan for over a decade. However, Draymond failed to dive deeper into the history behind this slogan to truly claim its ownership.
This slogan in reality dates back to the 2004-05 season. This is years before Green was even drafted to the NBA. The Sacramento Kings, as part of their playoff marketing campaigns, started this ‘We believe’ slogan. However, in the playoffs of 2006-07, the Warriors borrowed the slogan from Sacramento, and it has stuck around ever since.
Having used this slogan for nearly 20 years, the Warriors may feel they naturally own it. However, they are not the true creators of this slogan. And hence Draymond Green is not right in being pissed off when another team (the Nuggets) is doing to them what they did to another team (the Kings). One can only criticize Nuggets for using the slogan as a 3rd seed playing the 6th seed Clippers, while the roots of this slogan show it was originally used in the context of an 8th seed Warriors upsetting the 1st seed Mavericks in 2006-07. But Green and Davis are being a bit too harsh in calling for the firing of whichever Nuggets staff member came up with this idea.
Draymond Green’s History With The Nuggets
Draymond Green has faced the Nuggets twice in his playoff career. First time in his rookie year where he averaged 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 6 games in the 2013 Western Conference First Round. The last time Green faced the Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs was during the 2022 NBA championship run for the Warriors. The Nuggets lost that series in 5 games. Green averaged 9.6 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.4 rebounds in that series.
Will the Warriors take up his concerns and force the Nuggets to not use their slogan anymore? Or will this matter not get escalated further? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
