Draymond Green, much like Dennis Rodman, has always been one of the most impactful players on a basketball court, whose numbers after the game, would never tell you the same story.
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It might be the reason why he thinks he is as good as LeBron James making some people wonder about his sanity. He did mischievously say it on the live telecast of the All-Star event to make it more dramatic.
However, a particular statistic might tell you that the Warriors’ point forward is not as absurd with his take as the part-time NBA analyst for TNT sounded on live television during the 2023 All-Star Game.
Only LeBron James has more Playoffs points, assists, rebounds, blocks, and steals total than Draymond Green
Apart from his once All-NBA level elite defense, the 2017 DPOY is not a specialist at any skills on the basketball court. However, he is the true definition of “Jack of all trades”, if that phrase fits well at all with anybody.
He might have played in just 8 post-seasons compared to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 18, Scottie Pippen’s 16, or MJ’s 13 but Green is just second to the King (15 postseasons) when it comes to totals of points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals in Playoffs.
Is Draymond Green underrated historically?
LeBron James is the only player in NBA history who matches or exceeds all of Draymond’s career playoff totals for PTS, REB, AST, STL and BLK.
During his playoff career, GSW is +10.0 PTS per 100 poss w/ Draymond and -3.7 w/o him.
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) February 19, 2023
https://t.co/EXVoM4JZ6rhttps://t.co/m19YUDyymL pic.twitter.com/8p3uNP00fM
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) February 19, 2023
Insane! These Tweets might have come a day before Green’s take, but it does prove he is absurdly underrated. Some fans believe the same.
he definitely is a game changing talent
— Kris Johnson (@PointForwardPro) February 20, 2023
Draymond green is criminally underrated, he is an amazing defender, and he is so underrated on offense, he is so good at setting up his teammates, the offense in golden state really runs through him.
— Sam (@Sam58986737) February 19, 2023
I’d say Dray is very underrated. Most NBA fans have a lot of trouble liking players who don’t score 20+ pts a night.
Dray does all the little things that make his team better at an absolutely elite level. He’s basically in practice what Ben Simmons was supposed to be in theory
— O-Line Co. (@SamHathaway13) February 19, 2023
The best of the lot.
He should be viewed as the greatest role player of all time.
— Action Costanza (@FlightDavis1) February 20, 2023
When it’s all said and done, Green should be a First Ballot Hall-of-Fame
It’s not a surety as of now with his dying popularity in the NBA community as a player, but Green in his prime was phenomenal. The 32-year-old still has a lot to offer to teams that want to win a championship, and he might be looking for a job too for the 2023-24 season.
But his decline to impact this season shouldn’t come in the way. Neither should his career averages of 8.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.4 steals, and a block per game.
As unbelievable as it may be, this is the same man with better combined-career statics apart from just one man in the game of basketball. Green is probably the most impactful player in his heyday when he is rolling with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. No matter who they are playing.
For what it’s worth, we should never forget his impact on the game wherever his career goes after the Warriors if he does leave. And if somehow he misses out on the NBA’s greatest-100 players of all time when the list comes out, he must be a First Ballot Hall of Fame by then to not be sour about the snub.
