SAN FRANCISCO – Draymond Green has one number on his mind as his 14th NBA season, all with the Warriors, winds down.
The number is 10, representing how many All-Defensive teams Green would be on if selected this season. Only five have done so in NBA history: Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Scottie Pippen. Green would make it six, joining five Hall of Famers, which is an honor he too will one day be able to call himself.
Little did Green know, he already added an extra zero to the end of 10 in another impressive department.
Draining two 3-pointers against the Houston Rockets on April 5 gave Green 100 3-pointers on the season for the third time in his career, and the first time in a decade. He last reached the mark 10 years ago in 2015-16 when he finished with exactly 100 3s during an historic season.
“Really?!” Green said in response to NBC Sports Bay Area when told about getting to 100 3s.
Does that mean anything to him?
“No,” he says, laughing and shaking his head after an ugly 110-105 win against the Sacramento Kings.
While the accomplishment isn’t going to make Green pat himself on the back, learning of that stat makes Warriors assistant coach Anthony Vereen beam with pride.
This season has been a non-stop adjustment of sorts for Green so deep into his career. His co-stars Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler have missed months due to injuries. Personnel has made Green’s job on offense different than usual, keeping the ball out of his hands compared to the past and making him have to learn to play more off the ball.
Those factors have made Green shoot from deep more than ever, averaging a career-high 4.6 3-point attempts per game. The game before he reached 100 threes, Green got to 300 attempts behind the 3-point line for the second time in his career, and he’s now just 22 attempts away from a new career high with two games left in the regular season.
“It really shows that he has bought into evolving his game,” Vereen says. “He’s somebody that wants to be competitive and he wants to help this team in any way he can. At one point, that was sacrificing shots during the glory days. And now for this team, for us to have success, it’s like re-waking up that part of his game of being aggressive on the offensive end, of not turning down shots, of being willing to take five, seven or even 10 threes in a game. It’s a lot of credit to Draymond for really putting in work to feel comfortable to take these shots. That only comes with confidence, with reps and with a belief that he has to do this for our team to be successful.”
The Warriors still have the greatest 3-point shooter in history, who also has the most recognizable celebration in sports. Steph Curry’s Night Night has gone global among stars of all kinds. Green has thrown it up on multiple occasions, and his own 3-point celebration might be the most fitting of any athlete.
Curry’s Night Night is the ultimate sign-off to close a game. When Draymond watches a 3 of his own go down, you know all about it, hearing him yell out ‘Boom!’ Vereen had a helping hand there, too.
“Man, I don’t know where the f–k Boom came from,” Green says. “Just started saying it with AV.”
Getting to the origin of Green’s booming celebration is also knowing what kind of coach Vereen is. He’s here to keep it light and connect the Warriors’ big men through custom handshakes. He also isn’t afraid of confrontation to make his players better and has been seen going back and forth with Green before, and even was the calming presence that could sense Draymond needed to go to the locker room during a heated in-game exchange with head coach Steve Kerr this season.
Vereen also uses basketball history as a tool to teach the game, and as a reminder to his players of their own past accomplishments. The birth of Green going ‘Boom!’ began with a trivia question: Who are the only players to have 100 threes, 100 steals and 100 blocked shots in a single season? The answer? Robert Horry, Rasheed Wallace, Shawn Marion, Kevin Durant, and … Green, when also had 119 steals and 113 blocked shots 10 seasons ago.
“It started with that trivia and me saying, ‘Dray, it would be great if you could get back on that list.’ I got a loud voice and every time he takes a three now I’ll say, ‘Add it to the list!’ And then when he makes it I come with the ‘Boom!’ The guys on the bench got into it and it just became a thing,” Vereen said. “He makes a three and everybody’s gonna yell ‘Boom!’ now. But it started with that list of 100 threes, 100 steals and 100 blocks.
“Do you know how rare that is? How good you have to be at this game to do that?”
Extremely rare, and extremely good.
Neither can remember the exact moment the Boom was born from Vereen’s trivia. But it didn’t start on the practice court. Green and Vereen first let their yell out during a game, and soon, the Warriors all joined in.
Green giving his Boom is as suitable as it gets for any one person. His game is loud, and his presence is heard and felt. Every triple Green splashes from deep, a part of his game the other team invites, is a chance for him to let you know life is all about respect from someone who always has earned every ounce.
“It works,” Green says. “Mothaf–kas hate to see me Boom. It hurts when I’m Boomin’.”
The one word yelled at the top of Green’s lungs in the direction of the opposing team is the perfect representation of what Vereen knows he’s going to bring to the court. Hearing a chorus of booms from teammates and fans shows the impact Vereen’s trivia question has made.
“Anything you can do where the whole team can participate, it’s a great thing,” he says. “Everybody does the Night Night when Steph does it. To see us all yell boom when he makes a three, that’s just another thing that keeps us connected to have all of us on the same page.”
Kerr smiles at the mention of Green’s celebration, saying he “thoroughly enjoys it.” There’s something else behind Kerr’s enjoyment. Few know and understand Green’s fire like Kerr.
Having the other team’s coach feel the fire makes Green’s Boom that much better for Kerr.
“My favorite part is Draymond always yells at the opposing coach,” Kerr says. “It is definitely a nice touch.”
Coaches, according to Green, rarely clap back. Except one.
“No, they don’t talk back too often. They don’t say much. Sometimes. Like, Ime Udoka will say something,” Green said.
The Rockets head coach welcomes physicality. He wants Houston to have an identity of toughness, playing their own version of Bully Ball. He’ll let his players hear how he feels, and even players on the other side if he needs to.
Narrowly escaping the Warriors on Easter Sunday in Curry’s return had to have been a relief for Udoka. First, he had to feel the wrath of Green’s Boom from his one and only 3-point attempt against the Rockets. Luckily for him, Green’s only three of the game came a minute and a half into the first quarter.
Standing in the right corner right in front of the Rockets’ bench, Green caught a bounce pass from Brandin Podziemski when Kevin Durant stepped inside the paint and turned his back on his old teammate. As soon as the ball trickled through the net, Green turned to the Rockets’ bench, started shuffling and screamed out ‘Boom!’ at Udoka.
“Yeah, it was fun. He’s lucky I didn’t get more 3-point attempts,” Green joked.
Halfway through the third quarter of that same game, Green and Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. got into a tussle in front of the Warriors’ bench. The Boom can be felt in other ways. But the two exchanged jerseys after the game and Green confirmed he was just repeating “Don’t do that” to Smith in their grabbing match. The Boom can even be tamed and matured at 36 years old.
The jersey still hangs in Green’s locker a few days later and reads “Much love legend!” Draymond doesn’t remember the wording he wrote but says it’s something along the lines of “Keep going,” and that it’s all respect between two great competitors.
Picking a favorite of Green’s Booms gets a long pause and a tough decision from Vereen. He lands on two examples for his own personal reasons, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they’re also at the top of Green’s list.
As a Houston native himself, every game against the Rockets is special to Vereen. The Warriors and Rockets have had countless battles over the last decade, with Green in the thick of the action. Sharing Booms together in Houston last season during the playoffs is a memory that will last a lifetime.
And the same goes for when Klay Thompson returned to Chase Center as a member of the Dallas Mavericks for the first time. Both teams badly wanted to win in a competitive display of what made the trio of Curry, Green and Thompson so special. The Mavs wanted to give Thompson his revenge, and the Warriors wanted to remind him whose house this still is. Green, giving the Mavs two loud booms, brought even more electricity to the building.
“It brings back good memories right now,” Vereen said of his favorite Booms.
Behind Green’s right shoulder on the wall of where he records his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, hangs a picture of he, Curry and Thompson together as teammates, standing shoulder to shoulder in their blue Warriors jerseys. Hanging behind his left shoulder is a picture of Green with his arms up in admiration of Curry turning to his longtime teammate and hitting him with his iconic Night Night in the gold medal game at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
Choosing between the two celebrations is an easy admission for Green, crowning Curry as the champion.
“No, no,” Green says. “That’s the Night Night. It’s also more frequent.”
The Night Night is forever, and Draymond Green, in all aspects of life, will always bring the Boom.
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