Even the greatest defenders fall for fakes.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has never been afraid to stand on what he believes in and to act on it, so when a quote from NBA legend Kevin Garnett surfaced on Twitter, Green pulled no punches with his response.
The tweet about Green’s 2022 altercation with Jordan Poole however, was from a parody account TheNBACentel, and the quote was made up.
“Draymond punching [Poole] is like a senior punching a freshman who’s half his size and then walks around talking himself up as if he’s like that. Come try me Dray,” the fake Garnett quote said.
In response to the tweet, Green, 33, quote tweeted the account and wrote out a response to Garnett.
Green said he did try to challenge the former Celtic but was ignored.
“I tried you when I was a Rookie KG, and you started talking to yourself like I wasn’t talking to you. What’s that like? The freshman picking on a senior citizen that’s double his size,” Green tweeted.
But Garnett — for real this time — came to clear the air, tweeting out that the message was a “fake tweet” from the parody account.
“That’s a fake tweet. “NBA Centel”… @elonmusk see wtf is happening. Fix it,” the 47-year-old tweeted.
Musk, the Twitter CEO, apparently did just that, and TheNBACentel account has since been suspended.
Green has since deleted his quote tweet, but the damage has already been done for the four-time NBA champion.
Forward Kevin Durant, Green’s former teammate with the Warriors, replied to the initial tweet from parody account asking the champion to “chill.”
“Nah yo, u gotta chill. Do something bout this @god,” Durant tweeted.
It’s been a week with plenty of fodder on social media for Green, who rehashed his October 2022 altercation with Poole on a recent episode of “The Pat Beverley Podcast with Rone.”
“I don’t just hit people,” Green said in clip released on social media. “I’ve been in this league 11 years, I ain’t just hit nobody… Dialogue happens over the course of time…
“You’re usually not triggered by something that fast to that degree. … We know things you have to stand on. As I admitted before I was wrong in the way I handled it for the situation and where we were.
“By the way. I wish him well. I was showing him the ropes in this league. I think he’s got a bright future, super talented, super skilled… I don’t have any hard feelings towards anything. I wish him well on his journey.”
However, Poole’s father, Anthony, was none too pleased by the comments.
“I’m stand on this that’s is some bs,” Anthony wrote. “Jp was his guy and he avoid me all last yr. He is a soft as bitch and I’m standing on this and he didn’t apologize to me and my wife. So he lame and me and him can meet anytime he want.”
“That’s so cute…,” Green wrote back. “It’s impossible to avoid you an arena for a year champ. I got get my family from that family room every game.
“And stop using those words, they usually don’t go over well amongst men.”