Kevin Durant responded to Draymond Green on social media as the pair debated the importance of offense compared to defense for championship-winning teams.
After Green expressed his belief that defense was just as valuable as offense to the Golden State Warriors’ success during Durant’s tenure with the organization to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Houston Rockets superstar fired back on X.
Durant later wrote that “people purposely take my words outta context” and “just wanna dunk on me” in a separate post.
The 15-time All-Star previously discussed the importance of scoring when competing for a title on Netflix’s Starting 5.
“You have to score baskets if you want to win a championship,” Durant said (h/t Complex’s Mark Elibert). “Playing defense, we can get any of y’all in here to bend your legs… that’s easy […] When you talk about winning at a high level, against the best of the best, you cannot just do that and win a basketball game. You have to make shots.”
His comments elicited a response from Green.
“I think when you look at any team that won a championship, they had a great defense,” Green told Amick. “And if you look at most teams that couldn’t quite get over the hump, oftentimes it’s (because) they couldn’t get stops. That fact still remains, and I think that those who don’t believe it, don’t win. It’s very simple. Those who don’t believe defense is as valuable as it is, they simply just don’t win. I don’t think anyone’s ever really been hell-bent on caring about the opinion of those that don’t win, because your opinion equals zero.”
The perspectives of both players are understandable, as Durant served as one of the Warriors’ top scorers while Green anchored their defense during their three seasons as teammates from 2016-19.
Their shared tenure proved to be immensely successful on both ends of the floor, with Golden State making three NBA Finals appearances and winning two championships.
The Warriors ranked No. 2, No. 11 and No. 11 in defensive rating across Durant and Green’s three seasons together respectively (via NBA.com). They also ranked No. 1, No. 3 and No. 1 in offensive rating during those same three years.
For now, Durant has helped the Rockets start off with a 4-2 record in his first season with the team while Green and the Warriors sit at 4-3.
