Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green doesn't plan to retire anytime soon and is still playing at a level high enough to finish second for last year's Defensive Player of the Year, with eyes on it again. San Antonio Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama is playing at an MVP-caliber level this season. He's also considered the early favorite to win this year's DPOY, but not without Green's best effort.
Green, who won Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, is 14 years Wembanyama's senior, and won't back down as he chases what would be his first DPOY award in nine years, he said, per The Athletic's Sam Amick.
“It’s not like you just wave the white flag and say, ‘Ah man, he’s just gonna win (DPOY).’ It’s the same reason I’ve always loved to play against LeBron James,” Green said. “When you have an opportunity to go up against the best, it brings the best out of you, if you’re up for that level of competition. It brings your best out.”
For Green, figuring out what it would take is the fun part about defending in the NBA, which Draymond takes immensely seriously at this stage in his career.
“For a competitor like myself, how can I stop that for one more year? And it’s not that you want to stop it in order to see (Wembanyama) do bad. But how do I hold that off for one more year? As a competitor, that’s the thought,” Green said. “You know this kid has set out to be great. You hear all the stories. You see all the work he’s put in. You see the improvements, which requires a lot of work.”
At the start of the 2021-22 season, few believed Green and the Warriors had a championship run in them. Health was a factor, as All-Star Stephen Curry returned toward the end of the regular season and Golden State found its stride when least expected.
Warriors' Draymond Green excited for Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
The Spurs' 5-0 record was the best start in the Spurs franchise history. As the rest of the NBA is finding its stride, Warriors veteran Draymond Green knows how vital defense is for a team with championship aspirations, which is one of the many reasons Green takes pride in his defensive approach.
“As someone who’s been throughout this race for the last 10 years or so, how do you stay in the race? How do you make it a race? How do you continue to put your mark on something in a way that not many have? So that immediately becomes the mindset for me,” Green said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh man, he’s gonna win it.’ F*** that. He’s clearly one of the best. And when there’s one of the best up, you want to see how you stack up against that — even at 35.”
Seeing the ages of the players selected to last year's All-Defensive First Team, alongside his, he admits, made him smile.
