In an appearance on the Brownie and Rab Show, former NBA champion Draymond Green reflected on the history of his relationship with LeBron James. According to Green, he once “hated” LeBron James, and they were bitter rivals after clashing in the NBA Finals for four straight years. It wasn’t until a trip to the Caribbean in 2017 that Draymond began to view LeBron through a different lens.
“I hated LeBron, we had no relationship at all. I had a relationship with Mav [Maverick Carter] and Rich [Rich Paul]. The 2017 All-Star was in New Orleans, and LeBron had a plane going to Anguilla with Mav and Rich, and everybody was going.”
It’s no secret that Draymond Green wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s made a lot of enemies over the years by antagonizing and instigating the competition. LeBron James was one of his top rivals and he even tried to hit him during one of their Finals matchups.
The beef wasn’t just one-sided. LeBron hated Dray so much at the time that when Green asked him to come along, he got a whole new separate plane and vacation house to avoid rubbing shoulders with one of his most notorious rivals.
“I hadn’t decided where I was going after the All-Star game, so I asked Mav ‘Where are you going?’ And he said, ‘We’re going to Anguilla’ and I said, ‘Can I go?’ He said, ‘Yeah, let me see if there’s space on the plane.’ I don’t know if there was space on the plane or not, but I think LeBron probably said ‘You’re not flying with me.’ Mav gets an entirely different plane so I can fly with them. We had two houses on the Four Seasons right next to each other. I also don’t think there were two houses before,” said Green. “They got a new house because I think LeBron said, ‘He’s not staying in my house.’ LeBron used to be like ‘Yo, why do people deal with this dude, man?'”
It wasn’t until that summer that he finally came to a major realization: that he and James aren’t so different. They both have a strong sense of loyalty and are both passionate about their play on the court. Like LeBron, Green also started from nothing to work his way to basketball immortality.
“And so just me being around Mitch and Mav, me and LeBron naturally ended up being around each other more, because I’m tight with Rich and Mav. And then we started to build a relationship because I realized like ‘Dang, bro, he’s just like me. He uses the same lingo I use, he’s from a place just like me, and we started to build from there, but it started hectic.”
The first meaningful clash between Draymond and James was the 2015 NBA Finals when the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers to win their first NBA championship. It was the first of many playoff battles between the teams and set the stage for what would be a highly emotional rematch.
After winning 73 games in the 2015-16 campaign, the Warriors looked nearly unbeatable going into the postseason but not even they could predict the events that followed. In a fit of rage and frustration, Draymond Green swung on LeBron James after a hard screen which turned into a flagrant one and an automatic one-game suspension for too many flagrant foul points.
That moment completely shifted the momentum of the series and opened the door to what is now recognized as the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history. The vacation in Anguilla didn’t come until months later, during the 2017 All-Star break.
Kevin Durant was already a Warrior and LeBron James wanted to do everything in his power to take them down and spoil their run, just like the Mavericks did when he joined the Miami Heat in 2010. In four series against each other, the Warriors went 3-1 against the Cavaliers, going back-to-back with Kevin Durant to close out a historic era of prosperity.
Today, Draymond Green is one of LeBron’s biggest supporters, and he’s even been linked as one of his potential future teammates. To think that if Draymond never invited himself to hop on the plane with Rich Paul that day, he might never have seen LeBron for who he is.
