THE beef between NBA players Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks has become a gift that keeps on giving.
The Golden State Warriors forward and Memphis Grizzlies wing have provided half a decade’s worth of trash-talk in 2022-23, even before the regular season series between the two teams ended on Saturday.
Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks have been aiming shots at one another throughout the 2022-23 NBA season
Brooks started feuding with Green and the Golden State Warriors last season
NBA stars have a reason not to like Brooks, 27, who takes pride in adding fuel to the fire.
There’s a reason why he earned the automatic one-game suspension for collecting 16 technical fouls in a season.
The former Oregon standout can’t stop yapping about his rivals or committing fouls so dirty all TNT’s Kevin Harlan has to say is: “BOINK!”
In that, Dillon is a mirror reflection of Draymond — who missed Friday’s matchup with the Atlanta Hawks after reaching the technical foul suspension threshold himself.
And the similarities between the two only add to the entertainment value of their exchanges.
In all fairness to Green, Brooks started the feud — not just with the Michigan native but the entire Warriors organization.
The Grizzlies’ troublemaker’s egregious foul on Gary Payton II in last year’s Western Conference semifinals left the guard with a broken elbow, delivering a potentially huge blow to Golden State’s title run.
Even head coach Steve Kerr told him to “get the f**k out of here” after the play.
And it came only a few weeks after Brooks called out Warriors icon Andre Iguodala for never reporting to Memphis after arriving via trade in 2019 — and started the now infamous “Grizzlies dynasty” talk.
The Warriors couldn’t make their dislike for Dillon clearer during the first Grizzlies-Warriors clash of the 2022-23 season.
After making a three in spite of Brooks’ defensive effort, Klay Thompson provocatively hopped over the unruly guard as he slipped and slid on the court.
And when Golden State all but secured a 123-109 win over Memphis, Draymond stuck his tongue out and looked Dillon in the eye while walking past his arch enemy.
Brooks fired back recently, saying he “doesn’t like” Green and questioning the four-time champion’s credential as an NBA star in an ESPN interview.
Draymond then spent a huge chunk of one of his podcast’s latest episodes addressing Dillon’s remarks line by line — while calling him a “clown” and an “idiot” with poor understanding of basketball.
And he made sure it stung.
“If you ever wondered why the Memphis Grizzlies is not ready to compete for a championship, look no further than this idiot right here,” Green said.
He then added: “The dynasty starts after you, not with you. That’s just a fact.
“I know dynasty-like players. They aren’t clowns. That doesn’t work when building a dynasty.”
Similarly, Brooks pulled no punches when it was his turn to respond.
He stopped short of calling Green a blogger — before bringing up his infamous assault of Jordan Poole that is widely considered to have hurt Draymond’s reputation as a Warriors leader forever.
Unfortunately for Brooks, it’s difficult to ignore the fact he picked up a fight against a former Defensive Player of the Year with multiple championship rings while his biggest achievement remains the Pac-12 Player of the Year award.
Not that he cares about that — Green probably wouldn’t either.
