Draymond Green remains a game-wrecking, historically good elite defender in April 2026. That's remarkable after nearly 15 years, obviously, and Green's heroics on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers showed that a large part of why the team elected to keep Green while rumors were swirling at the deadline is because his on-court production can still be elite when it needs to be.
Even if Green was washed up, he's done enough for the franchise that keeping him around as long as he wants is totally fine. But with each masterful walling off of Kawhi Leonard in the fourth quarter, Green further proved that the Warriors' continued belief in him as an elite player is for good reason.
If the Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, it will likely once again be thanks to Green's defense. After that, the Oklahoma City Thunder would loom... And then Warriors fans would see that, unfortunately, there is a limit to what Green's defense can do.
That's not a slight on Draymond, for the record. No one person can shut down the Oklahoma City Thunder — no five people have been able to do it for the past two years, in fact. Shutting down Kawhi Leonard while Steph Curry bombs away deep 3-pointers made Wednesday's game feel like 2014 all over again. There may be a brutal series with the Thunder on the horizon, but that wakeup call can wait another day.
Even Draymond Green will struggle with a potential Thunder matchup
In four matchups this year, the Thunder beat the Warriors by a combined 81 points. That's not particularly encouraging for Warriors fans.
Against a team like the Clippers, Draymond's singular defensive effort to take out the opposing team's star combined with Steph Curry's heroic scoring can lead the hobbled Warriors to a win. Against a team like the Thunder, who have so many more weapons who can all take over a game, the Warriors' two stars will have to be at their absolute very best to even make it competitive. At 37 and 36 years old, that may not be a fair ask.
To say the Warriors have risen from the dead time and again might actually have been greatly exaggerated. With Steph Curry and Draymond Green, they might just be alive. Playing the Oklahoma City Thunder is not fun for anyone, but for now, Warriors fans can at least sleep well knowing Draymond Green is still who the Warriors thought he was.
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