Draymond Green is not here for the NBA’s new All-Star format.
He’s not alone. But he was certainly the most vocal Sunday night on the most prominent of NBA platforms.
The Warriors forward sat in on the desk for TNT’s coverage of Sunday’s All-Star festivities, which featured a mini-tournament for the first time. The tournament consisted of four teams playing in three games to crown a champion.
Three of those teams were made up of NBA All-Stars. The fourth was not. Instead, it was the winner of Friday’s Rising Stars tournament that featured first- and second-year players who were not selected as All-Stars.
‘What are we doing here?’
Before the tournament started, Green called that Rising Stars team “some team that no one wants to see.”
“I had to work so hard to play on Sunday night of All-Star weekend,” Green said, while speaking on the TNT desk. “And because ratings are down, because the game’s bad, we’re bringing in Rising Stars? That’s not a fix.
“I never played in the Rising Stars game. My first two years, I didn’t touch that game. And these guys get to touch the All-Star floor? On Sunday night?”
He wasn’t done there.
The first semifinal Sunday night featured Team Chuck and Team Kenny, both of which consisted of actual All-Stars. Team Chuck prevailed via a 42-31 victory, led by standout performances from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Victor Wembanyama.
Then the Rising Stars team, aka Team Candace, took on Team Shaq in the second game. Before tip of that game, Green again laid into the tournament and its first-to-40 format.
Draymond: All-Star format ‘sucks’
“You work all year to be an All-Star and you get to play up to 40, and then you’re done,” Green said. “This is so unfair to Victor Wembanyama, who just took this game very seriously; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who just took this game really seriously.
“When you’re talking about chasing after the points record — ‘Melo and Kobe, all of these guys who have had great scoring nights. They don’t get the opportunity to do that with this game.
“All so we can watch some Rising Stars. Now we get the treat of watching the Olympic team play against a U-19 team. Come on, what are we doing?”
Green then signed off the segment with his most candid take yet when asked to rate the format on a scale of 1-10.
“Ten being the best?” Green responded. “A zero. Sucks.”
After Team Shaq scored a 42-35 win over the Rising Stars, Green had his say again when asked if the team of Rising Stars proved anything to him with its effort.
“Yes, that they shouldn’t have been out there,” Green said. “That’s all they proved. They never belonged on that court.”
Tell us how you really feel, Draymond.
