As great a basketball player as Draymond Green is, he has earned quite a reputation for being a disruptor on and off the court. His most recent outburst with head coach Steve Kerr is just another example of the same. Interestingly, franchise legend Tim Hardaway believes the entire ordeal could’ve been prevented if Stephen Curry had decided to be more involved.
Advertisement
The Warriors’ matchup against the Orlando Magic had the makings of an ordinary regular-season game. That would all change during a timeout in the third quarter. A fan video caught a verbal altercation between Kerr and Green, which lasted for nearly the entirety of the break in play.
Tensions were quite high, eventually leading Green to storm off the bench and head straight to the locker room. Of course, Green would later return to the bench. However, Kerr elected not to play him for the remaining 20 minutes of the game.
Tim Hardaway has always been a big fan of Green, but as expected wasn’t too fond of what had transpired during the game. He believes itr was an avoidable situation, and claims Stephen Curry should’ve stepped in ensure things blow up to this extent.
“Steph should’ve been the one standing up in that huddle,” Hardaway said on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “Steph should’ve been like, ‘Dray man, that’s enough. Let’s get back into it, man.'”
Hardaway isn’t the first person to criticize Curry for his reluctance to speak out against Draymond. This isn’t anything new. In the past, Curry’s lack of involvement has been masked by the team’s success. Unfortunately, this success has been a rarity this season.
“Don’t be sitting down there, catching your breath, thinking, ‘Here we go again,'” Hardaway said.
That being said, Hardaway did give Curry the benefit of the doubt by recognizing the two-time MVP’s persona. “Steph isn’t that type of person, but we don’t know what he said in the back after the game,” Hardaway added. There’s a good chance Curry addressed the issue behind closed doors.
If so, that is perfectly fine. However, it isn’t the best look for the franchise to allow Green to get away with this behaviour. They have already received considerable criticism for how they handled the Jordan Poole situation. Of course, this instance is on a much smaller scale.
However, a pattern is seemingly on the rise; something the Warriors will hope can be disrupted with a string of wins.
