Draymond Green took no time to criticize Jusuf Nurkic at length after the Phoenix Suns‘ elimination. On his podcast, the Golden State Warriors champion had some harsh words for Nurkic as a player.
“Unfortunately, that is all, folks,” Green said on the April 29 episode of “The Draymond Green Show.” “You know, you’ve got to be really careful when you’re not that successful and you try to take jabs at people.”
Green’s first sentence refers to Nurkic posting that exact phrase on April 16 via his X account after the Warriors missed the playoffs.
Green continued, criticizing Nurkic for what he believes is a lack of impact on the game.
“When you don’t play a large enough role in your team’s success [and] when you can’t really affect the outcome of the game. Like, you can have 20 rebounds and lose a game. When you really don’t affect the outcome of the game, it’s really tough to take jabs at people because you got a jab in there and you can’t affect what your end result is. So, yeah. The big softie bowed out.”
Nurkic and Green exchanged barbs after Green sucker-punched Nurkic on December 12, 2023.
Draymond Green Fired Another Shot at Jusuf Nurkic
Green’s criticism of Nurkic didn’t stop with his show. After it came out that Nurkic has a playoff win percentage of 15%, Green mocked Nurkic via his Instagram story.
Not only that, Green’s choice of words referenced words that Nurkic used earlier when talking about Green. His exact caption on his story was, “Hope that brother gets the help he needs,” which was aggregated by Warriors on NBCS’ X account.
This is in reference to Nurkic’s first thoughts on Green after their altercation during that very game. Nurkic said, “That brother needs help,” during his postgame press conference.
Green very clearly took those words to heart, even though Nurkic could have had a much worse response, knowing that Green punched him.
Nurkic’s lack of playoff success dates back to his time with the Portland Trail Blazers. What’s even sadder is that the Trail Blazers went on a successful playoff run in 2019, making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. However, Nurkic did not play as he was nursing a broken leg. In every other postseason run, the Trail Blazers never made it past the first round with Nurkic.
Jusuf Nurkic’s Future With Suns
Nurkic was among the multiple new Suns who made their debut during the 2023-24 season. Phoenix acquired Nurkic hoping he would fit better around their three stars than Deandre Ayton would.
Nurkic played in 76 games, the most he had played since the 2017-18 season. He averaged a double-double of 10.9 points and 11 rebounds a game.
Nurkic has two years left in his contract, and there is no player or team option. After the Suns did not get the end result they wanted, they must decide if Nurkic should be their starting center moving forward. He may not have been their worst issue, but he didn’t help much during their short postseason run.
Since he plays on an affordable contract, it is possible they could trade him for someone who fits better.
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