Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Rivers doubled down by saying Green is a future Hall-of-Famer, but not because of his offense. “You were the luckiest basketball player I think I’ve ever seen,” Rivers said. “You were drafted to a franchise with a Hall of Fame front office, Hall of Fame coach, the greatest shooter of all-time and perhaps a top-five player of all time … not to mention one of the most lethal scorers of all time and arguably a top-10 player of all time, Kevin Durant, the same guy you chased off because you talk too much. “There are clips of you getting a rebound and driving in a straight line and getting a wide-open layup because everyone’s fanning out to guard the actual talent on the team. Steve Kerr made your career. How dare you? Coming at me, ‘Oh, I wish I could give my son $200 million if I was a coach.’ Yeah, the NBA doesn’t give coaching jobs to guys who may or may not sucker punch one of the players and staff.”
Austin Rivers responds to Draymond Green for his, “disrespectful,” comments yesterday: pic.twitter.com/7ZV2fJg2Ts
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) May 5, 2026
In a previous episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” Green expressed how he feels he could have done more during his NBA career and that Kerr might have been a factor. “As much as he's done for me in basketball, a part of me thinks he's hindered me in my career and what I could have become,” Green stated. “But what he's also helped me become. Like you got to take the good with the bad, man. “You know, when I think of who I was offensively as a player and who I became, I think a part of that is due to him. I don't hold that against him. I'm forever grateful that he still put me in a position to be successful and that I could become Draymond Green despite my offensive role on our team.”
Draymond Green: “The big question is: what’s next for this Boston team? Is it the end of the Jaylen Brown–Jayson Tatum era? I would say no. I don’t think it’s the end of their era. Look at the success they had this year with Jayson Tatum out most of the year, and then with Jayson Tatum coming back and them having success, ultimately getting ahead to a 3-1 lead. Obviously, they squandered the lead away, but you got right where you wanted to be.
Per league sources, new Bucks coach Taylor Jenkins signed a long-term deal with a salary that is well north of $10 million annually. Jenkins isn’t the highest-paid coach in the league, as that honor goes to Golden State’s Steve Kerr at $17.5 million annually (for now, as he continues to contemplate whether to return). Miami’s Erik Spoelstra is second (approximately $15 million). And Jenkins, the former Memphis Grizzlies coach who was once a Bucks assistant in Antetokounmpo’s early days, is up there now.
But, Warriors forward Draymond Green doesn’t think the performance was a “legacy game” for Embiid, who has now reached the Eastern Conference semifinals for the sixth time in his career. “I know a lot of people are saying, ‘Yo, is this a legacy game for Joel Embiid?’ and I say no, 'hell no,' ” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show.” “Joel Embiid is a great player, Joel Embiid is an NBA MVP, Joel Embiid is all of those things. Gold medalist, perennial All-Star, one of the best bigs in this league. “Joel Embiid, also for those same reasons, is the reason that a game in the first round, I don’t care if it’s Game 7 or Game 2. … It’s still a first-round game and we’ve seen Joel Embiid in the first round. In order for Joel Embiid to have legacy games, Joel Embiid has to get to the conference finals and then Joel Embiid needs to help push that team to the NBA Finals.”
Advertisement
Green said he believes the people stating that it was a legacy performance are the same ones who will be ready to blame Embiid if the 76ers fail to reach the conference championship – somewhere Embiid has never been since entering the league in 2014. “I hate when people try to set guys up like, ‘Aw man, this is a legacy game for Joel Embiid,’ only to set him up to try to tear him down in the weeks to come,” Green said. “I don’t like stuff like that. There’s no way a guy of Joel Embiid’s stature can have a legacy game in Round 1 and he still hasn’t accomplished, ultimately, what he wants to accomplish.”
Draymond Green responding to Austin Rivers - “Austin, you and I averaged the same amount of points in HS and I say HS cause that's when you were at your best. Should he really talk about my NBA career?… The guy received the biggest bailout in US history when his dad gave him 42 million dollars.”
Warriors F Draymond Green will be making three upcoming appearances on “Inside the NBA” on ESPN, filling in for Kenny Smith starting on Wednesday. Green, who is repped on the media side by WIN Sports’ Josh Pyatt, will be doing so as a TNT employee, similar to the other members of the show. His other appearances for the postseason will come later this month, including during the conference finals.
Internally, there's a belief Sheppard has the potential to develop into an all-time great, such as former Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, if given enough time and the right conditions. Externally, there is less of a consensus on Sheppard. "More like Steve Kerr," a rival scout quipped, when asked about the Nash projection, envisioning Sheppard as an undersized, reserve 2-guard instead of a pure point guard who could serve as an offensive engine.
VanVleet was supposed to buy Sheppard more time. But ultimately, the Rockets believe Sheppard has the right temperament to grow from the ups and downs of this season. "He just flashes so much greatness you can't teach," a team source said. "From Steve Nash to Steph Curry, none of those little guards play great their first few years. We're still big believers in Reed."
Advertisement
League sources tell The Stein Line that ESPN's top executives have been lobbying Steve Kerr aggressively to try to convince him to return to the world of NBA broadcasting, but the Warriors are expected to meet with Kerr as early as Monday to resume discussions about his status. I'm told Golden State has been operating internally in recent days as though it is more likely than not that a common ground can be found with the 60-year-old on a new deal that would keep him in place coaching Stephen Curry.
NBA Courtside: Michael Porter Jr thinks James Harden is the most unstoppable offensive player of all time: “He changed the game. Him and Steph changed basketball completely. In his prime, people were guarding James from behind him. I’ve never seen that, ever.”
Michael Porter Jr thinks James Harden is the most unstoppable offensive player of all time:
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 2, 2026
“He changed the game. Him and Steph changed basketball completely. In his prime, people were guarding James from behind him. I’ve never seen that, ever.” pic.twitter.com/B5NAYZhzqQ
Yet sources have insisted this week that the Blazers are as interested in actually trying to land Antetokounmpo for themselves as other frequently mentioned suitors such as Miami, Minnesota, Golden State and New York. I'm also that Portland engaged in trade talks with Milwaukee as recently as the Tuesday before the league's annual in-season trade deadline (which always falls on a Thursday) before various interested teams finally conceded that the Bucks were not truly willing to part with Antetokounmpo even as they were already spiraling to a 32-50 finish.
Draymond Green: I have a player option after this year. Well, right now going into the summer, I have a player option. I'm never going to stay somewhere where I'm not wanted, right? So I'm not in a situation where it's like, ‘I got to opt in to get this money or it's over for me’. I'll have some other options, I believe, right? But ultimately I do know that they want me to still be here. That's great and a music to my ears and a pillow on my heart. Like I'm forever grateful for that.