Amid the growing uncertainty of his free agency, Draymond Green has been beefing with Stephen A. Smith over his journalism ethics. In his latest response to Smith’s comments, Green spoke on an incident that shows Steve Kerr and the 14-year Warriors veteran may not be as close as fans would think, despite winning four NBA championships together.
Stephen A. Smith apparently claims that Draymond Green’s issues with him stem from his disagreement with his actions when he had the controversial incidents with Rudy Gobert and Jusuf Nurkić.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Green tried to clarify that he has no problems with being held responsible or liable for the consequences of his actions.
“My head coach, Steve Kerr, came up to me and he said, ‘Man, it’s become incredibly hard to support you publicly,’ and I said back to him, ‘Don’t, I’m fine. I don’t need you to support me publicly. I’ll be alright, I can handle the things that I’ve done to bring things upon myself. I can handle them; I deal with my own s–t.”
“When I said it to him, I could see the weight lifted off his shoulders. Like, what? Yeah. Don’t,” Green recalled.
“If I can say that to a man that I’ve played underneath his tutelage for the last 12 years, won championships with, grew into the man that I’ve become today underneath, you think I don’t have that same sentiment when it comes to Stephen A. Smith?”
“If I can say that to this man whom I’ve spent countless hours with over the last 12 years. You think I don’t feel the same way when it comes to Stephen A. Smith?” Green concluded on the incident.
In December, during the 2025-26 season itself, there was an intense disagreement between Draymond Green and Steve Kerr that led to Green’s early exit from a game against the Magic. And since then, Kerr has mulled over retirement and returned for a two-year extension.
This adds another factor to be considered in the question of what Green is going to do now in free agency. It may be no longer a foregone conclusion that Green is returning to the Warriors in free agency. Especially since LeBron James seems to be heading to the East as well, instead of joining them in Golden State.
As of now, it seems that he is waiting till LeBron James figures out his free agency situation. Since the four-time NBA champion had reportedly declined his $27.7 million player option to give flexibility to the front office to sign James.
There are no indications of what his current intentions really are. But it is possible that instead of chasing money, Green wants to compete at a high level once again, which he may have realized that he can no longer do with the Warriors.
It will be interesting to see what Green says about his relationship with Steve Kerr if he decides to leave the Warriors this summer.
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