Warriors’ Draymond Green Slams Suns GM for Failing Kevin Durant

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green seems to be enjoying his offseason.

First, he took great pleasure in the Phoenix Suns getting swept out of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves due to his ongoing feud with big man Jusuf Nurkić. Now, less than a week later, he was back on his podcast talking about the Suns. But this time, he is taking some shots at their general manager, James Jones.

In Jones’ exit interview following the Suns’ disappointing first-round loss, he said the team would be focused on trying to find ways to maximize their superstar Kevin Durant.

“I tell you, that’s a constant focus for us to continue to figure out how to maximize Kevin Durant,” Jones said to reporters. “No one has done it yet. I believe we will be the first team to do it because if we can maximize him, we can maximize our entire roster.”

Green took offense to these comments, and understandably so. Durant has only been able to succeed in the postseason with one team, and that’s Green’s Golden State Warriors.

With the Warriors, Durant won back-to-back NBA Finals and Finals MVP awards. Without the Warriors, Durant appeared in one NBA Finals, where his Oklahoma City Thunder lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

While Green said he understood that Jones was trying to be a leader for his team, he was “baffled” by these comments that no one has been able to maximize Durant.

“Sometimes when we go down those rabbit holes we go a little too far. And we exaggerate things a little too much. Because James Jones was on the team in 2017 that lost in the NBA Finals to Kevin Durant, when Kevin Durant was with the Golden State Warriors,” Green said on The Draymond Green Show. “And when you get your ass bust like the Cavs got their ass bust, I have a hard time believing that James Jones… could then come out and say that no one has been able to maximize Kevin Durant.”

Green said Jones and the Suns must not be watching prior film on when Durant was most successful during his tenure with the Warriors, or else he wouldn’t be making these comments. He also made it clear that the Suns were at fault for not maximizing the 14-time All-Star.

“I’m sorry, but you didn’t maximize Kevin Durant,” Green said. “Don’t say nobody has maximized Kevin Durant because you’ve been on the wrong side of Kevin Durant being maximized.”

How could the Suns have better maximized Durant? Green had some thoughts.

“I’m gonna give James Jones a little word of advice,” Green said. “You want to maximize Kevin Durant? Go get a point guard. You want to maximize Kevin Durant? Put him in positions to score. You want to maximize Kevin Durant? Take some of the other weight off his shoulders. But until you do that, you will be singing this same tune that nobody maximized Kevin Durant because y’all didnt.”

It’s hard to argue with Green, who went in-depth on his podcast about how the Warriors were able to maximize Durant during his three-year tenure in Golden State. Durant’s tenure with the Warriors was one of the more dominant stretches in NBA history, as the team went 182-64, making the NBA Finals all three times and winning two of them. Additionally, Durant tore his Achilles in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, while Klay Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6. Those injuries played a part in the Warriors’ inability to complete the three-peat.

While Durant hasn’t found postseason success in either of his stops since Golden State — Brooklyn and Phoenix — he has been the same superstar player even after the torn Achilles.

This year, Durant averaged 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 52.3 percent from the field, 41.3 percent from deep, and 85.6 percent from the free-throw line. He’s made the All-Star team in every year he’s played since his third year in the league and doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.

If the Suns are struggling to maximize Durant, though, he could look to find a new home this offseason. There have been reports that a return to the Warriors is a “realistic” possibility, and, as Green points out, that is where Durant has experienced by far the most team success in his career.

So, if Jones doesn’t want Durant to request a trade this offseason, he may need to start studying some of Durant’s Warriors film to figure out how to truly maximize one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. At least that’s Green’s advice to him.