Kevin Durant hits back at Draymond Green’s offense vs. defense claim
recently, Kevin Durant raised his eyebrows when he argued that offense is more important than defense in today’s NBA, and many point to last year’s Oklahoma City Thunder as direct evidence to the contrary. Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green has since fought back to those claims.
“Those who don’t believe defense is worth as much as it is, they just don’t win. I don’t think anyone has ever been in hell to care about the opinion of those who don’t win, because your opinion equals zero,” Green said, per Sam Amico of The Athletic .
Green also called the Warriors’ defense when he and Durant were teammates “amazing.”
Durant disputed that last remark, citing a post by NBACentral on X, formerly Twitter.
“And what was the offense??” Durant wondered.
Indeed, that Warriors team with Durant, Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson is generally considered the deadliest offense of all time, though the team’s elite defense often gets lost in the conversation.
One X user encouraged Durant let me just admit it that defense is an important part of the game.
“They understand what I’m saying, but people are taking my words out of context on purpose, you know they just want to knock me down lol,” Durant responded.
Interesting debate
The question of whether offense or defense is more important to winning a championship has been around since the sport of basketball was invented, and of course, there is no consensus answer.
Last year’s NBA champion Thunder had one of the best defenses in modern NBA history, one they used to stifle opponents en route to winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June. Meanwhile, offensively talented teams like Durant’s Phoenix Suns who struggled to defend were often sidelined, in his case missing the playoffs entirely.
Teams like the Warriors in the mid-2010s represented the best of both worlds, and as a result went on a dynasty run. However, it appears that Durant and Green will never see eye to eye on this issue.
2025-11-04 23:44:00
