Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green recently praised the defensive performance of teammate and superstar Kevin Durant following their Christmas Day win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He even went so far as to suggest Durant could be the leading candidate for this year's Defensive Player of the Year award.

Now it seems Green has doubled down on his comments regarding Durant's defensive prowess. According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Green places his vote on Kevin Durant as the this year's Defensive Player of the Year.

“I think he is, if not the leading candidate right now, I don't think it's really a race right now with the way he's been playing on the defensive side of the ball, it's been spectacular,” Green said. “It's a thing now, which is impressive because it always seemed like it wasn't possible… if I had a vote, I would vote for him right now.”

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It did not take long for Draymond Green to essentially hand the top defender crown over to the Warriors' small froward. However, the latter's impact on both ends of the floor has now furthered his status among the league's most elite players.

Regardless, it is still difficult to imagine Green as the second-best defensive player on the Warriors, although he may attribute that to his role as “quarterback” of the Warriors' defense.

Kevin Durant has long talked about focusing on becoming a better defender coming into this season. However, he has managed to follow up on his words by becoming the current league-leader in blocks.