They were once teammates. The two basketball minds that blended perfectly to define the Golden State Warriors’ golden era. Yes, we are talking about Kevin Durant and Draymond Green. Their shared passion for the game has brought them face-to-face multiple times. And it happened again when Durant recently fired back at Green for questioning the contribution of offensive power on a winning team.

This back and forth has resulted in multiple responses from KD, where he went to the extent of saying,  “people purposely take my words outta context” and “just wanna dunk on me” in a separate post. Now Green is making his side clear with a long monologue.

Not with malice, but with conviction. “And my response to KD is number one, like I said, this ain’t no beef. Ain’t no beef between KD or Draymond,” Green said. “But we going to talk our **** because that’s what we both do and we both love to do it. And we would do this sitting together with each other, and y’all don’t see it, we’ll do it.”

The entire debate began when KD pointed out on Netflix’s Starting 5 that offense is more important than defense on a championship-winning team. Green, the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year and 9x All-Defensive team member, was quick to reply, saying that “teams that play defense win championships,” a statement that quickly drew attention online.

Durant caught wind of it and fired back on social media with a simple yet sharp response: “And the offense was?”  Fans immediately interpreted Durant’s reply as an insinuation.

After the social media buzz made it seem like he was calling out KD, Green had to make sure fans understood the full story. “I know there’s been a lot of talk over the last couple days about KD offense versus defense debate,” he began, before adding, “I love the way KD mix it up with people on Twitter… me and KD gonna always talk basketball and we gonna bump our gums a little bit.”

As he explained, his comment about defense was about balance. “The fact of the matter is you have to be top 10 offensively and top 10 defensively to win an NBA championship. That’s just the facts of the matter,” Green said. He even gave Durant credit. But, he reminded everyone, “offense with no defense, we’ve seen that in NBA years past… show me a team that don’t play defense, I’m going to show you a team that don’t win championships.”

Ultimately, Draymond made it clear there was no shade behind his words. “KD responded to me saying that… and what I’ll say to K is, I said people that don’t win championships,” Green continued. “Kevin Durant has two championships. So I don’t even know why he took my statement as a hit at him.” He made clear that his intentions were not to “lessen KD’s championships.” When you invite unwanted chatter around your comments, then damage control is the only thing that can work. However, Dray is not one to shy away from being opinionated.

Draymond Green fires back at ESPN’s “First Take” crew

First, Draymond Green says something. Next thing you know, there is a domino effect across the sport. This time, it is a cross-sports topic. In the same video, he clarified his comments on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. On his podcast Why Is Draymond Green Talking About Football?, Green called Prescott “a bum.”

This remark quickly found its way to ESPN’s First Take. Stephen A. Smith, Marcus Spears, and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo each took exception. What stood out was Russo’s strange claim that Draymond “wouldn’t get any playing time on the 1986 Boston Celtics.” Obviously, Dray had to give back.

But he chose a measured and clever counterattack, instead of taking offence. On The Draymond Green Show, he gave props to Stephen A. and Spears before addressing Russo directly. “When you name these names, one thing’s for certain, Mad Dog—when you throw these names out there, I got a seat at this table,” he said

By comparing his four NBA titles and two Olympic gold medals to Celtics legends like Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, and Bill Walton, he proved that he is no less, if not equal to them. Then came his line: “It actually don’t f***** matter. It’s irrelevant.” Green ended with grace, “No disrespect taken… I appreciate you for actually pretty much admitting I’m a Hall of Famer.” In the end, Draymond not only defended his legacy, but he flipped the entire argument.