{"id":602142,"date":"2026-02-14T04:42:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T04:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602142\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T04:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T04:42:21","slug":"warriors-draymond-green-regrets-name-calling-lebron-james-in-2016-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/602142\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors’ Draymond Green regrets name-calling LeBron James in 2016 NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warriors’ Draymond Green regrets name-calling LeBron James in 2016 NBA Finals<\/a> originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2016 NBA Finals<\/a> is a moment many Warriors fans have tried to blur out due to its unfavorable outcome.<\/p>\n

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One of the few events that helped the Cleveland Cavaliers win their only championship in franchise history was Draymond Green\u2019s late scuffle with LeBron James in Golden State\u2019s 108-97 Game 4 victory, which led to the Warriors\u2019 All-Star forward getting suspended for Game 5.<\/p>\n

Golden State eventually lost to Cleveland despite having a 3-1 series lead over James and company.<\/p>\n

During a live taping of \u201cThe Draymond Green Show<\/a>\u201d podcast with guest Skip Bayless, Green shared his thoughts on calling James a \u201cb\u2014h\u201d during the exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s my brother,\u201d Green told Bayless. \u201cAnd it\u2019s actually one of the moments I regret because when I use that word with people, [which] I pull out here and there on the court, but when I pull that word out, I\u2019m ready to fight.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo, I\u2019m saying this word to you so that you can get ready to fight me. And it\u2019s one thousand percent a fighting word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since that incident, both Green and James have developed a close friendship<\/a>, brushing away any of the past remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look back on that moment, it\u2019s one I\u2019m not proud of, especially with where our relationship is today,\u201d Green added. \u201cIt\u2019s one that, like I said, when I pull that word out, all respect is out the window, and my respect for [LeBron] is through the roof.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim getting over it was also me going to him and acknowledging that and speaking on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the heartbreaking loss in 2016, Green and the Warriors prevailed over James and the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals and won two more championships during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 NBA seasons.<\/p>\n

Who knows what could have happened if the scuffle had not happened, but for now, the 2016 NBA Finals will continue to be a forgotten memory for Dub Nation.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warriors’ Draymond Green regrets name-calling LeBron James in 2016 NBA Finals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2994,7,193,200,185,6,11,3202,255],"class_list":["post-602142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-playoffs","tag-2016-nba-finals","tag-basketball","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-draymond-green","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-skip-bayless","tag-warriors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}