Draymond hilariously recalls trash talking Kobe as rookie originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Draymond Green notoriously is known as one of the NBA’s biggest trash talkers, but the Warriors forward still learned a hard lesson from a legend during his first professional season.
In an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Green shared a hilarious story about trying to get teammates Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to join in on his banter with opponents, an invitation the Splash Brothers swiftly declined.
“I remember I walk into the locker room on the first day, I’m sitting next to Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], and I’m like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to talk trash to everybody!’ Green told Kimmel. “They was like, ‘You’re on your own, we don’t really do that.’ I’m like, ‘Y’all better talk trash with me or we’re going to have a problem.'”
Green continued by recapping his first NBA encounter with Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, with the Los Angeles Lakers legend impervious to the Warriors forward’s attempt to engage in a bout of trash talk.
“So I go out, being the dumb rookie that I am, and I try to trash talk Kobe Bryant,” Green explained to Kimmel. “Mind you, I get into the game, I probably played 24 seconds that game. I get in the game for a defensive stop to take us to overtime in regulation. Most people run a play … but Kobe just flashed to the ball. So he flashed to the ball, and it’s just me and Kobe. Mano a mano. And I lock up, I get to sitting down. We know what shot Kobe is going to. Shimmy, fadeaway over the left shoulder — he missed.
“I said, ‘Yeah! Let’s go baby, we’re going to overtime.’ He said, ‘C’mon young fella, that aint have nothing to do with you, I just missed.’ So you get him back like, ‘Yeah, you know I locked that up!’ Meanwhile he just walks away looking like, ‘Whatever.’
“It hurts, it really does.”
Green then revealed how much he cherished the opportunity to square off with Bryant, before hilariously detailing how the Hall of Famer got the best of him in the mind games he typically comes out on top in.
“It was my first time playing against Kobe, before that game I missed all my pregame stuff because I watched his whole pregame warmup, starstruck,” Green told Kimmel. “And then we have that moment, and he leaves me feeling like trash.”
Green and Bryant would end up facing off eight times in their NBA careers, with Golden State coming out victorious in five of those games. While Green has continued to be one of the more vocal players on the court during his decorated career with the Warriors, it’s safe to say he never forgot his welcome-to-the-league moment courtesy of Bryant.
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