The New York Knicks and their entire fan base believe that the Knickerbockers are NBA Finals contenders, but Draymond Green doesn’t agree at all with that assessment. The Golden State Warriors big man took to his podcast (The Draymond Green Show) on Thursday and made a point to declare that the Knicks aren’t a title threat. Draymond Green says that the Knicks aren’t contenders.“The Knicks, I just don’t believe that they’re contenders. I don’t think they have what it takes to win at the highest level”(via @DraymondShow) pic.twitter.com/SN1OyKRueS— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) October 30, 2025 “The Knicks, I just don’t believe that they’re contenders,” Draymond said. “I don’t think they have what it takes to win at the highest level. I think you can stifle their offense and make it hard on them, and I just think that, ultimately, (with a couple key) guys that don’t really wanna defend, it makes it tough to win at the highest level.” The Knicks are 2-2 so far this season. It’s not crystal clear who Draymond was referring to when he alluded to guys not wanting to defend, but one can assume that at least one of them is point guard Jalen Brunson, whose defensive rating of 118.2 last season was mediocre, at best (for context, Dennis Schröder’s 116.6 was 25th among guards (with lower ratings being superior), while OKC’s Jalen Williams was 1st with a 107.3 defensive rating). It’s easy to surmise that Draymond was pointing the other finger at Karl-Anthony Towns, who, despite being an offensive talent, does not always provide top effort on the defensive end. Story continues below advertisement If New York’s weakness is defense, they may have made a mistake in firing Tom Thibodeau and bringing in Mike Brown, whose specialty is offense. Perhaps the Knicks’ brass was thinking that Thibodeau’s defensive principlies — and hard-nosed defenders like Josh Hart — will ensure that New York’s stays effective on that end, while Brown improves the Knicks’ capacity to score. Knicks fans are certainly hoping that’s the case, and that Draymond is dead wrong.