“LeBron James coaxed me into fighting him in the 2016 NBA Finals”: Draymond Green reveals whether he regretted getting ejected in Game 4 between Cavs and Warriors or not

Draymond Green claims he doesn’t regret being ejected in Game 4 of the NBA Finals but claims LeBron James coaxed him into a fight. 

LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers formed quite the mid-2010s rivalry with Draymond Green and his Golden State Warriors. The two squads met in the NBA Finals four years in row, locking down their respective conferences. As most know, Steph Curry and company won the overall series 3-1, with the Cavs snagging a Finals win in 2016. 

Those 2016 NBA Finals were the most important of any of the 4 as a 73-win team was now faced with the challenge of upholding their regular season status in the Playoffs. Gaining a 3-1 lead over the Cavs, seemed as though the Warriors had it in the bag.

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Unfortunately for them, Draymond Green and LeBron James would end up in a tussle in Game 4 with less than 3 minutes left on the clock and the Dubs up by 10 points. This altercation between the two led to Green being suspended for Game 5. 

Klay Thompson dropped 37 but it wasn’t enough to combat LeBron and Kyrie’s 41 points each in Game 5. the Warriors would achieve something that series that they hadn’t that entire season: lose 3 straight games. 

Draymond Green on his altercation with LeBron James in Game 4. 

Draymond Green was on thin ice with the refs in the 2016 Playoffs. He had been racking up flagrant fouls throughout the postseason, with his one on Steven Adams being the most famous one. With a 4th flagrant being called on Green for trying to take a strike at James’s groin, he was suspended from Game 5.

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Fast-forward 7 years later and Draymond Green has opened up about whether or not he regrets having stirred up a fight with James, on the ‘Old Man and the Three’ podcast. 

“I can’t promise you I wouldn’t react the same way. But what I do know is, I think LeBron coaxed me into that. I know for sure today, he couldn’t coax me into that.” 

“I don’t regret it because s**t happens and I learned so much from that and if we do win that series, I don’t think we get Kevin Durant. And if we don’t get Kevin Durant, I’m not sure our run would have continued.”