It’s no secret that Draymond Green is one of the most notorious trash-talkers in NBA history. He not only talks smack but also deploys mind games cleverly to unseat his opponents and get on their nerves. During an appearance on Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast, Draymond Green recalled how he got into the head of former Portland Trail Blazers forward Mo Harkless and prompted him to tank.
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Green astutely used Harkless’ contract against him before the 2017 Playoffs to quash his confidence completely.
In 2016, Harkless had inked a 4-year/$42 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers. As per one of the clauses of the deal, if he shot over 35% from the three-point line throughout the 2016-17 season, he will receive a $500,000 bonus. After he hit the 35.3% mark with four or five games to go in the season, the former Trail Blazers forward completely stopped attempting three-pointers to retain his 35% average.
Harkless did get his $500,000 by finishing with 35.1% shooting from beyond the arc that season. But unfortunately, his Trail Blazers drew the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
Green weaponized Harkless’ reluctance to shoot in the last few games to get to him. The Warriors forward’s trash talking completely threw the Blazers player off his rhythm during the 2017 playoffs. Green’s trick worked perfectly as Harkless converted just 1 out of his 12 attempts from deep in the series (16.7%).
The Trail Blazers would go on to lose the series 4-0. Recalling the incident, Green told Teague,
“So we meet up with them in the playoffs right after he’s doing that and I said to him right away, ‘You gonna shoot tonight? Cuz you got your bonus or you still scared to shoot? Hey, he scared to shoot fellas, he don’t want to shoot tonight, he’s still worried about his bonus.’ He [Harkless] tanked the rest of the series.”
While Harkless did score in the 11-15 points range in the first two games of the series, he disappeared during the last two games as his team got swept in four games. Although he earned his bonus during the regular season, his long-range shooting percentage was slashed in half during the playoffs. As a result of chasing an incentive, he had lost his spark from the three-point mark.
Green explained that he knows that a huge part of shooting well is having confidence in your shot. Harkless had essentially traded his confidence for the bonus, which backfired on him in the playoffs.
It was a huge storyline during the series as Green’s taunts toward Harkless became viral.
While Jeff Teague understood Harkless’ decision to preserve his shooting percentage for a bonus, he admitted that these things don’t produce winning basketball. Green was clear that he isn’t a fan of such an approach because, in the long run, it can hurt a squad as was the case with the Trail Blazers in 2017.
Moe Harkless did shoot 41.5% from the deep during the 2017-18 season, but both his minutes and role took a big hit in the subsequent seasons as he faded away from the league by 2022.
