Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green believes he’s “got a lot left in the tank” after his team kept its 2026 playoff hopes alive.
“The same people that say I lost a step say I never had a step,” he told reporters following Wednesday’s 126-121 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in the play-in tournament. “They’re the same people that said I would never make it and I should be out of the NBA, I’m riding coattails. The list goes on and on.”
The four-time All-Star had a typical Draymond Green-like performance against the Clippers. He played 35 minutes and finished with seven points, six rebounds, nine assists and four steals.
The 36-year-old really rolled back the years in one sense.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard scored two points and attempted just two shots in the fourth quarter. With the game on the line, he was unable to make any sort of impact.
While it was a team effort from Golden State, Green was often the player guarding Leonard one-on-one or hounding him off the ball.
Green and Leonard displayed a level of mutual respect, with the former recalling his runner-up finish to the latter for Defensive Player of the Year in 2014-15:
The Warriors aren’t the force they once were. They won 11 fewer games compared to last year, and their two cornerstones, Green and Stephen Curry, aren’t getting any younger. Golden State needed 35 points from Curry just to get past a flawed Clippers team.
A reality check could come in the form of a first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, should the Warriors even get that far.
But you can’t blame Green for feeling a little more defiant after the effort he put together Wednesday.