Welcome to Beef Week! Over the next few days, The Ringer will continue its retrospective exploration of the past 25 years by delving into one of the quarter century’s defining features: delightfully petty feuds.
There was once a time when even Stephen Curry didn’t know what to make of Draymond Green.
For much of the summer of 2012, Curry kept hearing about the “hefty” second-round pick who wouldn’t shut up. The one who made his veteran mentors nervous, made every play imaginable, and made Warriors coaches and officials excited about the future.
Green had a reason for the bluster. All his life, he had fought immense odds to make it to the NBA. As a kid, he played against adults at the Civitan Rec Center in Saginaw, Michigan, developing a deep bag of tricks to compete with bigger and more talented players. As a teen, he led Saginaw High to three straight state championships, earning himself a scholarship to Michigan State. And in four years in East Lansing, he went from a freshman who could barely bench 135 pounds to one of the premier defenders in the country. Then he was selected by the Warriors with the 35th pick in the 2012 NBA draft.
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Curry, meanwhile, was going through a metamorphosis of his own. The first three years of his career were undermined by injuries and full of losing. Facing pressure to lead the Warriors back to the postseason, Curry had no time for new teammates cosplaying as tough guys.
“I just knew we were trying to win, and everybody was telling me he was going to be the steal of the draft … before [he] even stepped foot in a practice or summer league or a game,” Curry told me in 2021. “I didn’t really know what to expect, honestly, in terms of how he would show up and his intensity and personality on a day-to-day basis.”
He—and the rest of the NBA world—would find out soon enough. In his rookie season, Green averaged just 13 minutes per game, though coaches noted his stout defense on elite scorers like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant. The next year, Green averaged 22 minutes as Golden State made a surprise return to the postseason. The following season, new coach Steve Kerr inserted Green into the starting lineup over the injured David Lee—and Draymond and the Warriors have never looked back. That third season established Green as one of the best defenders and most creative playmakers in the league, as he helped the Warriors win 67 regular-season games and the 2015 title.
“I’ve never seen somebody that confident coming in from day one and challenge the status quo like that,” Curry said.
Over the next decade, Green helped the Warriors to heights the franchise had never seen. The fire that fueled his rise from a second-rounder to a four-time NBA champion has proved contagious throughout the entire organization.
“Draymond, don’t ever change, if you’re watching this,” Kerr said in 2016, after winning Coach of the Year. “Keep yelling at me. I’m gonna keep yelling at you. It’s the best. He provides the edge that this team needs. Without Draymond, we’d be in trouble. We would be too quiet and too nice.”
Of course, that edge also turned Green into arguably the singular NBA beef purveyor of his generation. At one time or another, Draymond has gotten into it with just about everybody. He can’t help but meddle with, curse at, and grate on opponents, teammates, and coaches alike. It’s why he’s received more than 200 technical fouls in his Hall of Fame career. The story of Draymond Green—and that of the Warriors—can’t be told without diving into his various beefs, large and small. So as part of The Ringer’s Beef Week, that’s exactly what we’ll do.
Vs. LeBron James
Timeline: 2015 to 2017
Style of beef: Made for TV
What happened: Ultimately? Draymond hit LeBron in the nuts with 2:50 left in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals. But prior to that? Green’s contempt for his rival had been brewing. At the time, James had everything Green wanted: status as the best player in the game and the kind of off-the-court power Green aspired to. And over the course of the playoffs, Green had been on a fouling tear that threatened to overshadow one of the best postseason stretches of his career. In the first three rounds, he committed technical and flagrant fouls as diverse as his multifaceted game, from kicking Steven Adams between the legs to body-slamming Michael Beasley. In the Finals, Green was tasked with guarding James, who throughout the series made a point to test Green’s maturity.
It all came to a head (or a hand?) in the closing minutes of a Warriors blowout win, when James, at the top of the key, baited Green into the now-infamous disqualifying act. Green responded by calling James a “bitch” and yelling other obscenities that James didn’t take kindly to. “I’m all cool with the competition; I’m all fine with that,” James said following the game. “But some of the words that came out of his mouth were a little bit overboard.”
Green retroactively received his fourth flagrant foul of the postseason, triggering an automatic suspension for Game 5, while James received a technical of his own. A couple of days later, at Oracle Arena, Kyrie Irving and LeBron combined for 82 points, saving the Cavs’ season and forcing a Game 6. The Warriors wouldn’t win another game in the series, and Green’s shot at LeBron would forever be attached to his legacy.
The fallout: After the groin hit, the LeBron beef simmered for years—a body blow from Green the next season, a trolling social media post here and there, and even a shirt referencing the Warriors’ revenge title during the 2017 parade. But in the midst of competition, LeBron and Green began to develop a mutual respect for one another, and eventually a strong friendship.
“It started off hectic,” Green said of his relationship with James on The Brownie and Rab Show in April. But Green and LeBron were both close with Maverick Carter and Rich Paul, and eventually they started spending more time together. “We started to build a relationship because I realized, Dang, bro is really just like me. He uses the same lingo I use. He’s from a place just like me.”
Now, Green’s close relationship with James proves he’s capable of squashing a beef. Draymond draws a clear demarcation line between on-court competition and off-court friendship. “People are going to complain about [us being best friends], but best of friends work at Google and Apple,” he once explained. It’s a mindset that has helped Green maintain his standing within the Warriors, within Klutch, and within the league—so long as the party in question feels the same way.
Why it was a turning point for Draymond’s career: This was the first time Green’s antics cost the Warriors anything of consequence. Had he not gotten suspended, there’s a good chance Golden State would have captured its second straight NBA title and cemented its season as the greatest of all time. Golden State staffers and players alike had long overlooked Green’s transgressions because he was such an integral part of the franchise’s success. But Green’s beef with LeBron on the biggest stage imaginable began to chip away at the viability of that logic.
Vs. Jordan Poole
Timeline: 2022 to present
Style of beef: All you can eat
What happened: During training camp on the eve of the team’s first preseason game in 2022, Green and Poole got into a verbal skirmish on the practice floor. Green got in Poole’s face, Poole shoved Green, and Green punched Poole into the stanchion behind the east basket of the Chase Center practice facility. The next day, TMZ leaked a video of the incident, leading to an indefinite suspension for Green. This amounted to banishment for the second-to-last preseason game, as the team opted to play him in the last preseason game and start him for opening night. He was also allowed to receive his championship ring from the 2022 title with the rest of the team.
Two days after the incident, Green said personal issues had carried over onto the court, and Poole was the unfortunate recipient of his ire. Then Green added that Poole had said something that you should never say to another man, prompting a rumor that Poole called Green an “expensive backpack” for Curry. The incident opened a rift between the two players that persisted throughout the entire campaign, leading to a cold war in the Warriors’ locker room and a beef that may never end.
More on Draymond Green
Today, Green and Poole have no relationship, other than occasional jabs. Following a loss to the Warriors, Poole (then playing for the Wizards) said he had love for the guys in the Golden State locker room—well, most of them—leading to a rare Green apology. Meanwhile, Green continues to talk about the fallout in public, including during an appearance on The Pivot Podcast in which he apologized but said he and Poole don’t come from the same background.
Behind-the-scenes anecdote: Prior to the punch, Green shared a bond with Poole that they had built during the youngster’s first few years in the league. Taking the then-20-year-old under his wing, Green was both a believer in Poole’s talent and a defender of his fit in Golden State when other veterans were slow to warm up to Poole’s easygoing, joke-throwing personality.
“I was a big advocate of his,” Green told me in 2022. “I think a lot of people didn’t like his attitude early on, and I loved it. I was a rookie that talked, so I’m not going to go tell another rookie to shut up because y’all think, ‘Oh, you young. You shouldn’t say a word.’ I don’t roll like that. And so right then and there, I’m like, ‘Oh, you getting under people’s skin. OK. I love that.’”
Why it was a turning point for Draymond’s career: This beef permanently changed how the basketball community viewed Green. No longer could Green claim that his fire was an indispensable part of the Warriors’ formula; instead, it had led to his team’s undoing and foreshadowed what was to come in the latter part of his career. Green and Poole will always be linked to the unraveling of the Warriors’ two-timeline plan, and the punch will leave a permanent stain on Green’s legacy.
Vs. Charles Barkley
Timeline: 2017 to 2020
Style of beef: Stewed
What happened: During a number of TNT broadcasts of Warriors games during the 2017-18 season, Charles Barkley made a point to call out Green. Most notably, during a halftime segment in the postseason, Barkley said he’d like to see someone punch Green in the face, to which Draymond responded: “He’s seen me a million times. Punch me in the face. If you're not going to punch me in the face when you see me, then stop talking about it.” From there, Barkley apologized, which Green’s teammates didn’t buy, which then kicked off a weekslong news cycle.
It was far from the only heated exchange between the two. The back-and-forth barbs between Green and Barkley sound like something you’d hear on Succession. Over the course of years, they traded insults, jabs, and threats. Barkley mocked Green’s single-digit averages in points, rebounds, and assists. Draymond retorted that Barkley wasn’t smart or accomplished enough to talk basketball with Green before adding, “Barkley should stop before I take his job, though.”
The fallout: Sure enough, executives at Turner Sports did in fact think Green had TV potential—not in place of Barkley but next to him. Sensing a potential star pairing, Turner invited Green to appear on Inside the NBA during the pandemic. Green, whose Warriors hadn’t made the playoffs, joined the Inside the NBA crew in Atlanta for a series of shows. In the greenroom, Green discovered he and Barkley were more alike than not.
“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever been around in my life,” Green told me in 2021. “And it caught me so off guard, because it was the total opposite of what I was expecting.”
Why it was a turning point for Draymond’s career: The long-gestating verbal tiff foreshadowed how good Green could be in a studio show and how, like Barkley, he could stir up some controversy if needed. But more impactful for Green, this beef opened the door to a potential basketball afterlife as a pundit, changing the anatomy of what a disagreement with the forward looks like—especially in the age of The Draymond Green Show. Now, like Barkley, Green has a permanent megaphone to air his grievances.
Vs. Kevin Durant
Timeline: 2018 to 2021
Style of beef: Cold
What happened: When Durant signed with Golden State in the summer of 2016, the Warriors immediately turned into one of the greatest teams of all time. It was the beautiful game on steroids. But after winning his first title in 2017, Durant admitted that the championship didn’t fulfill him the way he expected it to. During the following two seasons, whispers of Durant’s discontent permeated the Warriors’ orbit, and his impending free agency loomed over Golden State’s 2018-19 campaign—much to Green's frustration. Tension between Green and Durant reached a boiling point in the waning moments of an early-season matchup against the Clippers in 2018. Green called Durant out after Green himself didn’t pass Durant the ball on a crucial fourth-quarter possession, and the two exchanged heated words in plain view on the court.
Behind-the-scenes anecdote: On the way to the first home game following the incident, Durant posted a video of himself on his IG story rapping along to Jay-Z’s “Lucifer” (which is a bop).
The fallout: Durant probably would have left Golden State even if he hadn't gotten into it with Green. The two remain friends to this day, and in recent years, Green has even tried to recruit Durant back to the Bay. It hasn’t happened (yet), but their relationship has endured. Following a home win over the Pistons last season, after getting Steph Curry to sign the ball used to score his 25,000th point, Green bragged in the locker room about how he can add this to his personal collection, which includes the ball Durant used in 2024 to become the all-time leading scorer in Team USA Olympics history. Green’s relationship with Durant mirrors the Bay Area’s complicated bond with the mercurial future Hall of Famer: There will always be love shared, and fond memories to look back on, but the ups and downs of their connection will always be dissected.
“Me and Kevin been had a great relationship,” Green told me in 2019, a few months after the Clippers kerfuffle. “We had the moment we had in November, but I don’t have any close friends that I haven’t gotten into it with in a major way. I’ve gotten into with my brother—my blood brother—in a major way. That’s just what it is, but tough times build character, and that’s what I’ve done.”
Vs. Rudy Gobert
Timeline: 2017 to present
Style of beef: Bourguignon
What happened: In the opening minutes of a November 2023 game against the Timberwolves, Klay Thompson got into a scuffle with Jaden McDaniels, prompting Rudy Gobert to go in to help his teammate. That, in turn, prompted Green to run in from the other side of the court to choke the 7-footer in one of the more textbook wrestling moves to occur on an NBA court.
What seemed like a strange, isolated incident had actually been brewing for years. In 2017, Green and Gobert were the two leading candidates for DPOY (Green won). Then, Draymond made fun of Gobert in 2019 for crying after not making the All-Star Game. Not to be outdone, Gobert tweeted “Insecurity is always loud” after the Poole incident, and then Green subtweeted the same message after Gobert punched his own teammate, Kyle Anderson (pot, meet kettle). Green later went on his podcast to call Gobert “soft” and, in a diabolical display of the dozens, compliment the Frenchman for standing up for himself.
The fallout: The choke earned Green a five-game suspension. A month later, he was suspended indefinitely by the NBA for smacking Jusuf Nurkic in the face. After the latter disciplinary action, Gobert said he had “empathy” for Green and that he was sad the game was getting taken away from the Warriors forward. When the two faced each other in the 2025 postseason, neither player engaged in either verbal or physical combat. So I guess we can say this beef has settled into a simmer.
Why it was a turning point for Draymond’s career: As part of a broader stretch in which Green seemed to be picking fights with almost everyone he played against, the Gobert beef felt like a potential inflection point. His multiple absences throughout the 2023-24 season set the Warriors back in the playoff race. They also changed his standing around the league, which had enabled his abrasive behavior for years but was running out of leeway. It even cast his future with the Warriors into doubt, as the front office had to ask itself whether Green was the right running mate for Steph in the latter years of his career.
Ultimately, Green has stuck around. At 35, he remains one of the preeminent defenders in the modern game, finishing third in voting for 2025 Defensive Player of the Year. His synergy with Curry is the kind that will eventually fill a room in Springfield, and his burgeoning relationship with new teammate Jimmy Butler could give the Warriors one more shot at another ring during the Curry era. Of course, those two will probably get in a shouting match or two before it’s all said and done. But the beauty of Draymond is that they just might end up better off.
