Draymond Green likes to take verbal shots at others, often those who don’t give as good as they get.
That has not been the case with Charles Barkley.
The tough-talking Green filled in for Shaquille O’Neal on Wednesday night on Inside the NBA. Before Game 2 between the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks, the show discussed Green’s NBA future, with Barkley chiming in to bluntly state the Golden State Warriors’ run as a title contender is over.
“It’s over for the Warriors,” Barkley said. “No disrespect. It is for every old team. You have your run, you get old … it just passed you by. Y’all had one of the greatest runs ever.”
Green took that personally and zinged the Hall of Famer.
“I think the goal is just to not look like you in the Houston Rockets uniform,” Green said, referring to the end of Barkley’s career. “Is ultimately the goal for us.”
Things were awkward between the two, as well as Green and the rest of the studio, for the remainder of the evening.
Barkley made the media rounds on Friday morning, joining Dan Bickley and Vince Marotta on their Arizona Sports 98.7 morning show, brushing off the joke and saying he has no problem comparing his career to Green’s.
“I never punch down. Draymond’s a good player. We’re not on the same level,” Barkley said. “I can hear it, but I don’t have to respond every time somebody says something about me. Draymond’s a really good player; he’s had a hell of a career, but we’re not on the same level.”
Later, he joined The Dan Patrick Show, where he reiterated that he doesn’t take it personally, though he made sure to zing Green and the Warriors a bit more to drive his point home.
“If Golden State was relevant, he wouldn’t be in the studio with me!” 😅
– Charles Barkley on Draymond Green pic.twitter.com/ajyOjQQwEX
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) May 8, 2026
“He took a shot at me but I don’t get offended because—I’ve said things about guys, they took personal shots at me,” Barkley said. “You know it’s so funny, last time you had me on the show, I told you I regretted those Rocket years, especially the last two where I sucked as a player. But I wasn’t turning down no free money, I had two years left on my contract.
“… The Warriors haven’t been relevant for three or four years. They been in the play-in. When you’re in the play-in, you’re not in the playoffs. … The play-in is something they just made up to add more games to put on a different network. The Warriors have been in the play-in I think four straight years. So they been irrelevant. And I know he don’t want to say it. … If Golden State was relevant, he wouldn’t be in the studio with me!”
Game. Set. Match.
Green has built quite a reputation for himself, fair or not. And if he’s going to take shots at media members while preparing for a post-playing career in that field, that reputation might cost him.