"I need this rift"- Draymond Green confesses he tried to ruin Steph Curry and former Warriors PG's relationship
Draymond Green admitted he didn't want Steph Curry to gel well with former Golden State Warriors point guard Chris Paul. Curry and Paul go way back before they became teammates in 2023. The two-time MVP worked out at the current San Antonio Spurs guard's camp in 2009 before his league debut.
Curry's mutual respect with Paul was something that remained tight since, despite their playoff battles in the past. That emerged during their stint as teammates last season, too. However, Green wasn't a fan of it. The Warriors forward believed their dynamic had to change for the team to attain the ultimate goal.
"I come in, and I'm watching him and Steph's relationship, and I'm like, that ain't going to work for us to be who we want to be -- [Paul] being kind of your big bro," Green said on his podcast.
The outspoken star didn't want Curry to defer to Paul when they became teammates. The former Defensive Player of the Year said that created differences between him and Paul.
"So I started being messy in between and creating a rift because I'm like, I need this rift in order for us to be able to move ahead," Green said. "They were super tight. I started intentionally creating a rift, because I felt like CP was using that to his advantage.
"And then, as I'm creating a rift with them, me and CP [clashed], and under no circumstances do I even want to correct it."
(44:24 onwards)
The Warriors didn't achieve their goal of winning a championship. It was a colossal disaster last year as they failed to make the playoffs, losing in the play-in tournament.
The Warriors didn't retain Paul for this season. He joined Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on a one-year, $10.4 million contract.
Draymond Green and Warriors in a better spot than last year after Chris Paul's departure
The trade to acquire Chris Paul's expiring deal didn't prove to be the right call for the Golden State Warriors. Not only did they lose a young prospect like Jordan Poole, but they also became older and had less flexibility in 2023-24 as Paul was on a $30.8 million contract.
The Warriors couldn't add the depth they needed to compete in the stacked Western Conference. As expected, the Warriors cleared a ton of cap space the following offseason by declining the team option on Paul and letting Klay Thompson depart in free agency, shedding roughly $75 million off their books.
That helped them add quality role players around Steph Curry and Draymond Green like Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De'Anthony Melton, who have helped the Warriors to a 7-2 start.