NBA Realities

Washington Wizards guard Jordan Poole recently revealed that he had no bad feelings toward his former Golden State Warriors teammates despite how he left the organization. After facing the Golden State Warriors, he told the media that he still loves most of the players on the roster. 

“After the game, Poole told Marc Spears of ESPN’s Andscape he still loved “most” of the guys in that locker room, with the clear exception being Draymond Green, who punched Poole during training camp in 2022, a move that was a cloud over the team the entire season and killed the positive vibes for a team coming off a championship”.

Jordan’s comments made Warriors player Draymond Green apologize for his actions on Twitter. Green’s apology prompted Golden State Warriors fans to say he was the reason for the team’s current state.

Draymond green really ruined the warriors dynasty because he called Kevin Durant a bit*h during a game and punched Jordan Poole during practice.
by @iam_johnw

Warriors: Stephen Curry enables Draymond Green

At first glance, it is easy to blame him due to his numerous court incidents, including stomping on Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis in the chest. However, if we look beneath the surface, there is another person who needs to be blamed for enabling his behavior: Stephen Curry.

Curry has a history of encouraging Green after his incidents. Green was suspended indefinitely after hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face. On December 15th, 2023, Curry stated that he had a conversation with him about focusing on getting his mind right.

“The conversations yesterday were about him personally, making sure the focus is getting right, getting on a path that allows him to be who he needs to be as a person, as a man, a husband and a basketball player in that order,” Curry saidafter Thursday’s loss to the Clippers.

Curry has continued to show that Green’s behavior isn’t a problem for him. On July 27th, 2022, Anthony Slater and Marcus Thomson of the Athletic reported that Curry would be mad at the organization if they did not extend Green.

Curry wanted the extension to happen because he envisioned playing with Green for the rest of his career. The Warriors listened to Curry as 11 months later, they signed Green to a four-year 100 million dollar extension.

The Green negotiation wasn’t the first time Stephen Curry used his influence in the organization. In 2018, the Warriors signed guard Damion Lee to a two-way contract. Before  signing the contract, Lee only had 15 games of NBA experience with the Hawks. During those 15 outings, he averaged 10.7 points per game.

 Although it’s not rare for NBA teams to sign these types of players to two-way contracts, this case is very interesting. Lee became Stephen Curry’s brother-in-law eight months prior to signing the two-way contract. Lee would appear in 201 games over the next four seasons, averaging a career-high 20.6 minutes per game.

Why Curry enables him

Curry’s influence within the Warriors organization indicates that Green’s behavior isn’t problematic for him. If it were, he could simply go to the front office and ask them to trade Green to another organization. 

Curry’s action makes me wonder why he wouldn’t ask Green to be moved. He would say that he built a close relationship with Green over the decades they have played together.

However, I believe there’s a different reason behind Curry’s desire to keep Green on the roster. Throughout the years, Green’s behavior has allowed Steph Curry to sidestep criticism regarding the team’s previous shortcomings.

For example, the prevailing narrative is that the Warriors lost a 3-1 lead in the 2016 Finals; because Green got suspended for one game for punching LeBron James in the man region. The suspension made people forget that Curry shot 40.3% from the field on 17.7 shots per game during the 2016 NBA Finals.

If Green hadn’t been there, all that criticism would have been placed on Curry’s shoulders. Consequently, Curry likes to have Green on the roster because it gives him a human shield to avoid criticism.