Draymond Green didn't hold back when it came to Victor Vumbanyama's recent MVP case, making it clear that while he respected the message, he was frustrated that he even needed to speak out.
“Womby said, 'Defense is 50 percent of the game,' and it was like, oh, no one realizes this?” Green said, according to ESPN. “Doesn't anyone realize that 50 per cent of our games are played on that end of the floor?”
Wembunyama laid out his MVP case recently after a win over the Miami Heat, highlighting his defensive dominance, overall offensive impact, and his team's success against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While Green applauded the confidence, he questioned why it took a player saying it out loud to change the direction of the conversation.
“Everyone said he had a good point,” Green said. “Hello? What do you think? I hate that he had to do that to say that. All of a sudden, you turn on the TV and everyone's like, 'Actually, maybe Wimpy is the MVP.'”
Green then expanded his perspective, saying it's a broader issue of how the league as a whole evaluates defenses.
“It's an indictment of the game of basketball,” Green said. “Everyone wants to crush Luka Doncic when Luka doesn't live up to his defensive standards. But we have this guy guard the entire team and no one takes that into account until he says defense is 50 percent of the game. I want to give him a lot of credit for saying something so profound, but is it really that profound? But it's so true. But he still needs to say it.”
The veteran striker is no stranger to campaigning for awards himself and admits self-promotion has become part of the process.
“With these awards, if you don’t speak up, people don’t see it,” Green said. “In basketball, let's not act like everyone can open their eyes and know what's going on. … Until Evan Mobley finally said something last year, no one was going to give him Defensive Player of the Year. If you don't stand up and speak for yourself, it's not going to work.”
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