Draymond Green has now joined Kendrick Perkins as the record holder for one negative NBA statistic.
Green has won four championships with the Golden State Warriors and one Defensive Player of the Year award.
He’ll absolutely make the Basketball Hall of Fame, though he does have some glaring weaknesses, which have shown up in this postseason.
The 35-year-old has never been known for his scoring, and that’s been highlighted even more in Stephen Curry’s absence against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty ImagesDraymond Green matches Kendrick Perkins NBA record
Without Curry, Green is supposed to be the Warriors’ second-best player behind mid-season trade acquisition Jimmy Butler.
And while he wasn’t suddenly expected to score 20 points per game, he really needs to up his offensive output to give his team a chance to make the Western Conference Finals.
That didn’t happen in Game 3 as he scored just two points in 29 minutes as the Warriors lost 102-97.
Last night, Draymond Green finished with more turnovers than field goals made for the 43rd time in his playoff career.
Nobody has done that more times than him. He’s tied at No. 1 with Kendrick Perkins.
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) May 11, 2025
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This is disappointing in itself, yet that wasn’t the worst aspect of Green’s performance. He had five turnovers and was ejected after his sixth foul.
His turnovers were particularly noteworthy because it was the 43rd time in his career that he had more of those than field goals made in a playoff game, tying Perkins for the record.
However, it should be noted that Green is somewhat disadvantaged by playing so many playoff games in his stellar Warriors career.
Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty ImagesDraymond Green improvement crucial to Warriors’ Game 4 chances
With the latest defeat, Game 4 in San Francisco feels close to a must-win for the Warriors. They don’t want to travel to Minnesota, 3-1 down in the series.
Steve Kerr’s team doesn’t need to change much to get over the line. It would be great if Butler (33 points) and Jonathan Kuminga (30 pts) performed exactly the same as in Game 3.
Brandin Podziemski can definitely offer more than five points on 1-10 shooting, but Green is definitely the player who can improve the most.
He needs to do a much better job defensively, particularly against Timberwolves second option Julius Randle, and scoring in double-digit points should be on the agenda.