Draymond Green has repeatedly expressed his lack of admiration for Grant Williams, and his sentiments were on full display following the Golden State Warriors’ 97-84 victory over the Charlotte Hornets at the Chase Center during Friday’s NBA action.
The game, marred by a late confrontation between players, saw tensions escalate when Warriors’ guard Lester Quinones attempted a layup in the closing seconds, which Hornets’ Miles Bridges contested and subsequently goaltended, leading to a physical altercation under the Warriors’ basket. Amidst the chaos, Williams was at the heart of the dispute, drawing near the Warriors’ bench and directly into Green’s critical eye.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, Grant Williams, Charlotte Hornets Updates
Green didn’t hold back in his critique of Williams during a lengthy rant postgame. He questioned the unwritten rules that provoked anger over late-game scoring and singled out Williams for his misplaced toughness and excessive chatter, which Green suggested contributed to Williams’ departure from Dallas. He contrasted Williams’ behavior with the demeanor expected of a potential NBA Players Association president, pointing out that previous presidents like C.J. McCollum and Chris Paul managed their roles without resorting to unnecessary toughness.
“Yeah, I don’t really understand why people get so mad at like somebody scoring at the end of the game,” Green told reporters. “It’s like this dumb unofficial unwritten rule that everybody get mad. Like if y’all were winning by 13 points, would you get mad if he laid the ball up? I doubt it. And so it’s kind of like a sore loser type thing.
“You want to be the president of the [Players Association] and stuff, man. You can’t be out here doing all that stuff. You don’t see CJ McCollum running around being a tough guy. Chris [Paul] was tough as hell as the Players Association president, but like CP is six feet, like you got to have some nastiness to you to be that great and be six feet tall.
“I don’t know what Grant Williams out here doing, man. He getting into it with everybody this year and then he came over to our bench and thought he was about to have a friend. Ain’t no friends for you over here, my man, like you got to go down there and talk to your guys. You can’t come over here and talk to us about what just happened with our players. Like no, we support [Quinones].
“Also, there’s a two-second differential in the shot clock. Would you like us to take another turnover? We got enough turnovers on this game as it is with 22 turnovers. You want us to get 23? You also cannot press down 13 with a minute to go and then somebody shoot a layup with 22 seconds to go and you get mad. With 2:45, we took our stars out, go sit down, it’s over. Game is over, go sit down. They didn’t want to go sit down. So if y’all still playing, they play, don’t stop now because there’s 22 seconds left and you finally feel like it’s out of reach. Clearly, we thought it was out of reach at 2:45 which is why Steve [Kerr] took everybody out.
“So now that you think it’s out of reach is OK like, ‘Oh it ends now.’ No, it doesn’t work like that. And so I’m really sick of guys with this like, ‘Oh you scored at the end.’ Like bro, you should have did that a long time ago.
“And yeah, man. Pray for Grant Williams.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, Grant Williams, Charlotte Hornets Updates
Green emphasized his support for his teammate Quinones and justified the layup by highlighting the shot clock’s imminent expiration. Despite the game’s outcome being virtually decided, he critiqued the Hornets for continuing to press. He lamented the double standards in NBA player reactions to late-game plays and called for Williams to reconsider his game approach and interactions with other players.
This incident adds another chapter to the ongoing narrative between Green and Williams, which dates back to the 2022 NBA Finals confrontations and continues through public jabs, including one by Steph Curry at the ESPY Awards. The Warriors’ collective disdain for Williams was underscored by this latest incident, further straining his reputation among the Warriors’ ranks.
