The NBA world was stunned to see Steve Kerr and Draymond Green hammer it out in an argument on the sidelines during the Warriors’ recent win against the Magic. While their front office and coaching staff may claim that there’s nothing to worry about anymore, the nature of the debate and the aftermath raised a lot of eyebrows across the league.
Among them were former NBA All-Stars Kenyon Martin and Tim Hardaway. Martin appeared on the Gil’s Arena show and spoke his mind on the incident.
“Let’s call a spade a spade. When should the person f*cking grow up? He’s 35, not 25,” said Martin.
“Coming from someone who had turmoil with a head coach in the NBA. Someone whom I disliked. We didn’t win anything together, disliked for certain reasons. When you’ve had success with someone, we get it, the game is emotional. I understand that. But how can someone that you’ve had this much success with get you to that level?”
Martin pondered if things got personal between Kerr and Green, and whether one of them crossed a line at some point in their scuffle.
“From what I gather, the relationship from everything has been player-coach, and they like each other from winning and having these things over the years,” Martin added. “You’ve built a major rapport with this man. Like, how can he get you to that point where you leave your guys?”
“I’m trying to put myself as much in this situation, because like I said, we’ve played the game similarly, with emotion and certain things,” Martin said while trying to empathize with Green.
“Yes, Draymond and I played the game similarly with emotion and pride. But to leave your guys for one, it just comes to a point where it’s exhausting. To Warriors fans, coaching staff, and Steph.”
It is understandable why Martin is extra critical of Green in his opinion. Their recent back-and-forths indicate Martin may have extra motivation to scrutinize Draymond Green.
However, the Warriors veteran Tim Hardaway appeared on Sirius XM NBA Radio and shifted the focus of the debate altogether onto Stephen Curry. He believes that Curry should have stepped up in that situation to calm Green down instead of sitting silently on the side.
“Steph should’ve been the one standing up in that huddle [during the Draymond and Steve Kerr incident], not somebody else. Steph should’ve been like, ‘Hey yo! Dray! That’s enough, man! Let’s get back into it, let it go! Let it go, leave it alone,” said the Warriors veteran.
“That’s what Steph [should’ve done], don’t be sitting down there, catching your breath, thinking all ‘here we go again! Here we go again, here we go again!”
“We know Steph isn’t that type of person, but we don’t know what he said to them in the back after the game,” clarified Hardaway.
Stephen Curry took a diplomatic route out of the altercation and said that he had left it up to the two professionals to sort it out amongst themselves.
The Warriors franchise is not expected to take further action to penalize any of the two entities involved in this altercation. While reports claimed Green had problems with Kerr’s defensive strategy, the Warriors head coach has claimed that Green is willing to go as far as coming off the bench if that’s what Kerr believes is right for the team in a specific matchup.
However, Kerr later confirmed that benching Green is not an option they are considering presently. He is currently averaging 8.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists while shooting 40.9% from the field.
The Warriors are set to face the Mavericks next game in a potential matchup between the Warriors’ former ‘Splash Brothers,’ Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. It will be interesting to see how this altercation impacts Green’s temperament in the coming games.
