"Big softie" - Warriors' forward provides savage response to rival's playoff exit

In the wake of the Phoenix Suns' calamitous playoff exit on Sunday, it didn't take long for Golden State Warriors' forward Draymond Green to return serve on rival big man Jusuf Nurkic.

After Green hit Nurkic in the Warriors' meeting with the Suns on December 12 -- which resulted in an indefinite suspension -- the two have exchanged verbal jabs that ignited following the pair's first rematch at Chase Center in February.

Golden State Warriors' veteran Draymond Green has labelled Jusuf Nurkic a "big softie" while criticizing his lack of impact

After Green and Golden State were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament by the Sacramento Kings earlier in the month, Nurkic took to X/Twitter to post a "That's all Folks" gif clearly directed at the former Defensive Player of the Year.

Unfortunately for Nurkic, the post didn't age overly well with he and the Suns embarrassingly swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves just two weeks later. That provided ample opportunity for Green to respond who wasted no time on his latest podcast episode.

"Ironically the tweet may have spoiled even faster from the big softie. Yeah, that is all folks. You've got to be really careful when you're not that successful and you try and take jabs at people...When you really don't affect the outcome of the game, it's really tough to take jabs at people."

- Draymond Green

Green just added to some rather negative post-game implications for Nurkic, with the Bosnian now holding an unwanted record that did the rounds on social media. According to Statmuse, Nurkic's 3-17 playoff record is the worst win percentage of anyone with at least 20 playoff games in their career.

Nurkic had a solid first season in Phoenix, averaging 10.9 points, 11.0 rebounds and four assists in 27.3 minutes per game. Regardless, Green's right in suggesting that the 29-year-old's lack of impact on the Suns' fortunes makes it a risky proposition to be taking jabs.

As entertaining as it may be, the Green-Nurkic rivalry is hardly an influential one given neither player will be impacting the final three rounds of the postseason. At the very least the feud does make for a storyline to follow ahead of the pair's first meeting next season.