'You've got to go do what Steph did': Draymond Green not putting Kevin Durant in GOAT debate
DALLAS – Draymond Green was bound to say something about this.
The Warriors veteran forward weighed in on Kevin Durant addressing why he’s not in the GOAT conversation in an interview with The Arizona Republic.
“Because I went to the Warriors,” Durant said in an exclusive interview last week. “Why shouldn’t I be in that? That’s the question you should ask. Why not? What haven’t I done?”
Winning two of his four NBA titles with Durant at Golden State, Green offered his take on his podcast on why Durant isn’t in the GOAT debate that’s been between Michael Jordan and LeBron James for years.
Green isn’t questioning Durant’s championships, saying, “there’s not a championship that’s not real,” but added Stephen Curry wasn’t fully recognized for his greatest until he led the Warriors to the 2022 title to give him four rings and won finals MVP without Durant.
There’s where Green draws the line on why Durant isn’t in the GOAT conversation.
“If you not giving Steph that credit, which people didn’t,” Green said. “As a fan of basketball, I’ve watched Steph do everything. When I watched him do what he did in 2022, he took steps up for me. He’s up in that conversation now. Yeah, he’s there now. You’ve got to go do what Steph did to get to that conversation in my opinion.”
Durant has two finals MVPs (2017 and 2018) to Curry’s one, but only one regular season MVP to Curry’s two. Green did say Durant is one of the greatest scorers ever.
“No one ever says LeBron James is a scorer, but he’s scored the most points of all time because it ain’t the flashy. LeBron is going to get to the bucket, he’s going to get to the cup. He’s going to get it done, but people always say KD is the greatest scorer of all time. You could make that argument.”
James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 39,643 points in 1,461 games while Durant is 10th with 27,956 points in 1,022 games.
“The way KD score the ball is so effortless,” Green continued. “That’s what KD do. He’s never seen a bad shot. He’s going to get you 31 points on 14 shots. He’s going to be 10-for-14, 6-of-6 from the line, 2-for-2 from 3. That is a normal KD night. As effortless as anyone we’ve ever seen and KD works. One of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen.”
Durant is fifth in the NBA in scoring at 29.6 points a game on 53.1% shooting going into Wednesday’s matchup at Dallas to begin a seven-game road trip. He’s third in the NBA in 3-point shooting at 46.4%.
Devin Booker and Durant are among a 41-player pool for Team USA’s 12-man roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Durant has three Olympic gold medals and is the all-time leading scorer for Team USA in Olympic competition.
Booker won his one with Durant in 2021 for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as it was moved forward a year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Have an opinion about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Draymond Green isn't putting Kevin Durant in GOAT conversation
