Golden State Warriors four-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion forward Draymond Green has found himself engulfed in yet another controversy, this time on the heels of his questionable comments about New York Knicks star big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
On his podcast last week, Green started a rumor about “KAT,” claiming that the former No. 1 overall pick, perhaps, was sitting out of last week’s game against the Warriors because of the presence of Jimmy Butler.
“Some would say (Towns) didn’t play because Jimmy was in the building,” Green said on his podcast, recorded on March 5. “I saw KAT’s pops at the game yesterday. I got incredible love for the OG, his pops is an incredible man. But yeah, they say KAT didn’t play because Jimmy (Butler) came into town … I don’t know what was hurt. I didn’t look that deep into it to figure out what his injury was or nothing like that.”
It was later reported that Towns was on a bereavement leave, as he mourned the loss of his girlfriend Jordyn Woods’ close friend Sarah Holtzman.
To make matters worse, Green then issued a response, sending his well wishes to KAT, but didn’t take back the rumor.
As the former Defensive Player of the Year deals with the fallout from his latest drama, one of his former teammates is coming to his defense.
During an interview with Heavy.com, former Golden State center Festus Ezeli didn’t directly address the most recent happenings surrounding Green but had nothing but praise for the fellow 2012 draft pick.
“Draymond’s the best. Draymond’s actually an incredible teammate,” Ezeli, who won a championship with the Warriors in 2015, said. “If you think about him as a competitor, you’re not supposed to like a competitor. He’s supposed to rub them the wrong way.”
Ezeli was selected by the Dubs with the 30th overall draft pick in 2012, just five spots ahead of Green.
The 35-year-old former Vanderbilt star played 170 career regular season games (plus 55 playoff contests) across three seasons with the Warriors from 2012-16, before injuries derailed his career.
Ezeli said that his former frontcourt teammate brought just what the franchise needed as an “enforcer.”
“He’s somebody who is a winner. He won at Michigan State. He came to the Warriors as an undersized big man and to watch all the naysayers say, ‘Draymond’s not going to be able to guard anybody in the NBA.’ ‘What position is he going to play?’ All these questions they had about Draymond, and to watch him excel — he’s a future Hall-of-Famer in this league, he’s a four-time champion, his assists numbers are off the chain right now. … He has been instrumental in helping the Warriors defense become what it is. He’s a Defensive Player of the Year,” the native of Nigeria said. “All these things don’t happen without having an incredible love for the game, an unbelievable IQ and just a hunger and a passion for winning. I think Draymond Green was an incredible teammate. I think he brought the fire that the Warriors always needed because Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, these guys were such nice guys that you needed somebody to be an enforcer. That’s what I was when I played, and Draymond has been that from the beginning. He understands the importance of protecting Steph and so that’s what you see on a night in and night out basis.”
Ezeli Says Warriors Are a ‘Nightmare For Any Team in the Playoffs’
Among the other topics that Ezeli discussed with Heavy.com included this season’s Warriors team and their push toward the playoffs and what it was like to play with Stephen Curry.
He also talked about his upcoming participation in Michelob ULTRA’s 2025 “Play Like A Pro” program. The program will give fans a chance to “win superior access to ‘Play Like A Pro’ on some of the NBA’s most iconic courts and meet legendary players from around the league,’” according to a press release.
“Michelob ULTRA is teaming up with the Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic to create ‘Play Like A Pro’ — the ultimate basketball experience where fans have a chance to play on the team’s official court and interact with a franchise favorite during the event.”
“I’m excited about this. Michelob Ultra is giving the fans an incredible experience. They get to play at Chase Center, here on the court where the Warriors play. It’s something that I love because I love the Bay Area, I love our fans, I love the support that they’ve given me throughout my career,” Ezeli said. “So whenever I get a chance to give to the community, to give back to the fans, it’s a no-brainer for me to be a part of this. So I’m really excited to team up with Michelob Ultra to give these fans an incredible experience.”
The deadline for fans to enter for their chance to win one of five spots to “Play Like A Pro” is March 14. The Warriors’ activation is slated for Tuesday, April 8.
More details can be found at the event’s entry site.
Having gone 11-2 since acquiring Butler ahead of February’s trade deadline, Ezeli is confident in the Warriors (36-28) chances in the postseason.
“The wins and losses don’t matter to me. The standing doesn’t matter. What I really care about when I watch them play is how confident they’re playing, how well they’re playing. Obviously, you can see that through wins, but you can see that in the way they play defense. You can see that in the way they’re jelling offensively,” he said. “Jimmy Butler came into the lineup and without any practice, the team was on the road, he led the team to a 4-1 record and seeing that really gave me a lot of encouragement.”
The former Commodore described Golden State as a “nightmare” for any potential opponent come tournament time.
“You can see why Draymond went into the All-Star break so confident and said that they were going to win a championship. He said that because he understood the gravity that Steph has and the gravity that Jimmy Butler has and the pieces they have around them,” Ezeli said. “I think this team is a nightmare for any team in the playoffs. Like Draymond said, I don’t see any team out there that scares me for the Warriors. I think they have a puncher’s chance in every series they can face.”
Ezeli on Stephen Curry’s Early NBA Career: ‘You Knew That He Was Going to do Something Special’
By the time Ezeli entered the league, Curry was about to begin his fourth NBA campaign, but was still one more year away from his first All-Star team and two seasons away from his first MVP award.
The big man said he had a feeling early on that the future Hall-of-Famer was going to be something different.
“You never know what people are capable of. You know that people are great in the moment but watching him day in and day out as a teammate, watching the work he put in, watching the joy he brought to work every day, just watching his confidence grow, you knew that he was going to do something special,” Ezeli said. “But the all-time lists of any accord — he just got to 25,000 points and he’s about to get to 4,000 (three-pointers) in his career — numbers that you never even thought were possible, these are things that you can’t see at the time, but now if you look back, you understand why they’re happening. You understand how the work ethic came into play; you understand the perseverance.”
Ezeli revealed that people often ask him if Curry is “as nice as he seems” and the Nigerian replies that the 11-time All-Star is “even better.”
“Those times when Steph would roll an ankle and still come back on the court, that winning mentality, him being an incredible teammate, him being a great ambassador for the game; these are all things that helped us all,” Ezeli said. “You don’t make threes on your own, right? You need great screens, you need great passes, and his teammates rallied behind him because of the type of person he was, and we’re all wanting him to succeed, and you can see that every night. So, these are things that you couldn’t see at the time, but now, looking back, it all makes sense.”
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