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Draymond Green signed a four-year, $100 million contract to remain with the Golden State Warriors in free agency. Already 33, well past his prime, the four-time champion's new deal virtually assures he'll finish his Hall-of-Fame career where it started.
Still, there were rumors before free agency tipped off the evening of June 30th that Green really might take his talents elsewhere after an 11-year run in the Bay. What's one glamor team he surely wouldn't have joined in that alternate reality? The New York Knicks, whose legion of faithful Green recently called “f***ing delusional and miserable.”
Green's remarks came on a live recording of his eponymous podcast alongside Trae Young, as the pair discussed the “villain” reputation the Atlanta Hawks' franchise player gained while his team dispatched of the Knicks in the 2021 playoffs.
“And the reality is, I feel like where that all was birthed really was the series vs. the Knicks. Where, everybody…New York Knicks fans are f***ing delusional and miserable,” he said. “And I love New York so don't ban me from y'all city. But they're hard. They're a hard fan base. You go in the Garden, you're hittin' the shots, you're bowin', every timely shot you need to make you make, you're makin' every play. What I actually think now, and continuing to watch and continuing to pay attention to it, is you are—very much so—a showman. But yet that's been flipped—again, talking agendas—into being this villain.”
Young averaged 29.2 points and 9.8 assists per game in Atlanta's 4-1 first-round romp over the Knicks two years ago, hitting a tough floater just before the final buzzer expired to send the Hawks to Game 1 victory at Madison Square Garden. Even more memorably, Young bowed to the crowd after draining a deep triple as the Hawks salted away a series-ending victory in Game 5—seemingly embracing his role as Knicks villain.
Young insists he's never intentionally struck an outwardly antagonistic tone toward opposing fan bases, though, reminding Green that New York fans were already chanting “f**k Trae Young!” during Game 1 of that series.
Does that make them “delusional and miserable?” Among a host of other characteristics notoriously shared by the loudest, brashest Knicks followers, Draymond Green definitely thinks so.
