Draymond Green used his podcast this week to take another profane shot at the New York Knicks, saying their run through the East does not make them a championship team. He said New York needs a true 1A player to win it all and made clear he was not impressed by simply getting out of the conference.
The comments came on Green’s self-titled podcast and landed now because the Knicks remain a live topic after their recent success, with every new critique drawing fresh attention. Green did not soften the point. “Just like Becky Hammon said, prove me wrong,” he said. “Absolutely double down.”
He then dismissed the idea that advancing out of the East should be treated as a major achievement. “Getting out of the East has never been a sure-fire thing to winning a championship,” Green said. “It’s the f---ing East! Of course you’re supposed to get out of the East.” He added, “That don’t just mean you win a championship because you get out of the East.”
That line cuts against a basic reality of the league: reaching the NBA Finals from the Eastern Conference is still a significant accomplishment, even in seasons when the conference is viewed as weaker than the West. Green’s argument is that the Knicks have not cleared the final standard that matters to him, and he has not offered them much credit for what they have done over the last several months.
His remarks also tied back to Becky Hammon’s comments in 2023, when she said she did not believe the Knicks could win a championship because Jalen Brunson was supposedly too small and not a true 1A dude. By invoking that criticism, Green kept Brunson at the center of the discussion while also widening the target to the team’s ceiling as a whole.
For now, the Knicks have not answered Green’s latest swipe. That leaves his latest podcast rant doing what his previous ones have done: forcing the league to decide whether New York’s progress deserves respect, or whether, as Green keeps insisting, anything short of a title still leaves the work unfinished.
