The fortunes of the Golden State Warriors have not been good since the franchise last won a championship in 2022.
Despite future Hall of Famer Steph Curry continuing to play at an elite level into his late 30s, the rest of the team has not been consistently good enough to get the Warriors deep into the playoffs, let alone sniffing a championship.
The Warriors, however, have continued to maneuver. The team traded for Jimmy Butler at last year’s NBA trade deadline and reportedly explored a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo this winter.
But since that pursuit fell short, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins has taken the opportunity to dig a grave for the Warriors. In comments last week on First Take and even more strongly over the weekend on his Road Trippin’ podcast, Perkins argued Curry’s chances of another title in Golden State are zilch, in part because his longtime copilot Draymond Green is over the hill.
“Draymond Green, I don’t know where his mind is at, but it’s definitely not on the game of basketball,” Perkins said in part, while encouraging Golden State to shut down its top players and reset the roster in the offseason.
If any other commentator had given this take, Green may have dismissed it. But he and Perkins have a long history of arguing in public, and Green could not let the opportunity pass.
In the latest episode of his podcast The Draymond Green Show, the Warriors forward laughed off Perkins’ critique by reminding the retired NBA vet of his own game tape.
“Yeah, Perk, you never had bad games. Perk, we seen you play big fella,” Green said.
“We saw you, big dog. Like, you played. You know what I’m saying? Like to go in on one bad night Perk? You played. We got the clips. We got your clips of your screen setting. We got clips of your jump shots, Perk. We got clips of your jump hooks. Like, you played big Perk. So, like careful man. We can start pulling clips now, Big Perk.”
Draymond Green responding to Kendrick Perkins comments about him saying Draymond is not focused on basketball
“Yeah, Perk, you never had bad games. Perk, we seen you play big fella. We saw you, big dog. Like, you played. You know what I’m saying? Like to go in on one bad night… pic.twitter.com/GX8P90aC8y
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) February 23, 2026
However, Green admitted the days leading up to the All-Star break were “tough.” The Warriors were 2-4 in February before the break, and are 7-11 without Curry so far this season.
Perkins’ decision to highlight Green indeed felt purposeful, given that Green’s statistics this season are in line with his norms over the past several years.
In most cases, the instinct among athletes to bring up the lack of accolades among their critics rings hollow. Perkins’ unique combination of being a low-minutes journeyman and a massive contrarian on-air often seems to bite him with the athletes he analyzes.