The Golden State Warriors forward has a warm welcome in mind for his former teammate when the teams meet for the first time of the 2024-25 season on Nov. 12.
The war of words between Draymond Green and anyone who will listen to him rages on. That’s right — it’s time for a little preseason hot goss and trash talk.
Green’s latest target? His former teammate and Dallas Mavericks free-agent addition Klay Thompson.
Green may have offered this response with the requisite love for his teammate of 12 years, but he was recently asked how he would guard Thompson when the two meet on the court as competitors for the first time for the “Sloane Knows” podcast. That podcaster is 17 years old, so just know that these comments were mostly made in the spirit of good fun — but we also wouldn’t be surprised if the first thing Green does when he’s on the defensive end of the floor against a lineup that includes Thompson is exactly what he said he’s going to do.
“I’m running through his chest,” Green said. “He’s my brother, but he’s not with us. He’s with the opps.”
Warriors vs Mavs is going to be fun pic.twitter.com/x7IXBdqJ7Z
— Sloane Knows (@sloaneknows) October 1, 2024
The Warriors host the Mavs in the teams’ first meeting of 2024-25 on Tues., Nov. 12. That will be a TNT game.
Even more recently, on the latest episode of Rachel Nichols’ “Open Run” podcast, Thompson responded to Green’s latest wanton threat of physical violence — with a laugh.
“If so, I’ll take two free throws,” Thompson told Nichols. “I’m a pretty tough guy. I think I can handle it.”
Thompson admitted it would be a little weird to see the jerseys he played in for 12 years as the opposition for the first time.
“But once the ball tips, and I start running around, it’s just going to be basketball again, and luckily I’ve had great success shooting in that arena. So hopefully that translates, and it feels good to be going in there with some reinforcements. Probably a lot of emotions at first, but once the competitive juices start flowing, I’ll be just trying to do everything to win.”
On Open Run, Klay responds to some trash talk from Draymond, who recently proclaimed: “I’m going to run through his chest.” Klay: “I’ll take the two free throws. I’m a pretty tough guy – I think I can handle it.” The Mavs head to the Bay to play the Warriors early in the season. pic.twitter.com/JTofWo7dRm
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 17, 2024
Thompson has played 398 career games in The Bay, before and after the team’s jump from Oakland to San Francisco in 2019. He averages 20.1 points and just over three rebounds per game on 46% shooting from the field and 42.1% shooting from 3-point range on his former home court.
The Mavs’ free-agent forward found his first real shooting rhythm of the preseason in Thursday’s final tuneup against the Milwaukee Bucks, scoring all 11 of his points in the second quarter on three made 3-pointers. Thompson and the Mavericks open the regular season on Thurs., Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m. against the San Antonio Spurs.