Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green is currently on a promotional run for his podcast, The Draymond Green Show. The 34-year-old stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live recently for a short conversation. During their chat, Green was inevitably asked about the ongoing NBA Finals and his experience playing on basketball’s grandest stage. He was also asked a rather puzzling question about the NBA Finals since he has been there six times.
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Kimmel asked, “You’ve won four titles, you’ve lost in the Finals two times. Which is worse, losing in the Finals or not being in the Finals at all?” Green’s response to the question was a bit surprising.
He said, “I’d rather not be in the playoffs at all.” After his bizarre answer surprised Kimmel and the show’s studio audience, the four-time NBA Champion went on to explain why it’s better to not be in the playoffs at all if you’re not going to win the Championship.
Green explained that taking an early exit from the season means that a team gets to have 17 weeks of summer. That time can be utilized for a better comeback the next season. However, if a team gets to the NBA Finals and ends up on the losing side, they hardly get nine weeks to not only recover from the vagaries of a long season, but to also regroup and comeback as a better side.
Green said that there are a few additional disadvantages to losing the NBA Finals. He added, “Everyone is expecting you to get better, come back in better shape, and it’s like, ‘Dude I just had the same seven weeks off that Boston [Green’s pick as the 2024 winner] had.'”
The other side of the coin is that the team that wins the Finals, gets to be “complete idiots, drink whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want.” So basically the team that loses the Finals gets treated like any of the other 28 teams, while they had to undergo almost the same arduous journey as the NBA Champions.
According to Green, even if the winning team is out of shape the next season, no one bats an eye because they won the championship. However, the losing team is held to a different standard.
From an athlete’s perspective, Green’s take makes a lot of sense. Because players get torn to pieces by the end of every exhausting season.
During the 2015-2019 period, the Warriors played in five consecutive Finals and the effect of that was seen on the team in the subsequent years. They had to recover for the next two years, following which they finally were able to regroup and make another Finals appearance in 2022.
On the flipside of Green’s argument, it’s disheartening for fans if their team doesn’t get past the regular season. For instance, the second half of the 2010’s belonged to the Warriors not only because they won titles in 2015, ’17, and ’18, but also because they played in the Finals in 2016 and 2019.
