Draymond Green didn’t hold back in his postgame media session following the Golden State Warriors’ blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
When asked what’s the biggest difference between how the Warriors were playing down the stretch last season and how they’ve started this season, Green said: “I think everybody was committed to winning and doing that any way possible. Right now, it doesn’t feel that way.”
Green continued: “I think everyone has a personal agenda in this league. But you have to make the personal agenda work in the team confines. If it doesn’t work, you kinda got to get rid of your agenda. Or, eventually the agenda is the cause of someone getting moved.”
We can’t know for sure who this quote is about, but many on X are speculating that it’s Jonathan Kuminga.
Kuminga got off to a brilliant start to the season, but he had a brutal two-game stretch entering Tuesday. He played better against Oklahoma City, but he still had five turnovers and struggled on the defensive end.
In his postgame media session, Jimmy Butler also called out the team’s lack of fight, especially on the defensive end.
Kuminga has been guilty of losing defensive focus throughout his career, though, to be clear, the Warriors’ current slump has as much to do with the veterans as anyone else.
Green and Stephen Curry had miserable performances Tuesday and haven’t played consistently well since the first week of the year.
But the Warriors front office is very unlikely to blow up the Green, Curry and Butler veteran trio, which once again leaves Kuminga as the likely odd man out.
Kuminga signed a two-year, $46.8 million contract with a team option for the second season. He’s not eligible to be traded until Jan. 15.
In the meantime, Golden State will have to deal with the ramifications of this quote for at least the next two months. A trade feels as inevitable as ever. This kind of quote doesn’t come out for teams that are planning on standing pat at the trade deadline.
At 6-6, the Warriors are not yet in any major trouble in the standings. But if they don’t stop the bleeding on this six-game road trip, that could change quickly.