In this excerpt from The Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green answers a fan-submitted question about who he considers the best trash‑talker in the NBA. He first claims the title for himself, asserting that weekly listeners get to hear the league’s top trash‑talker. He then highlights Kevin Durant as a close second, describing Durant’s prolific one‑liners and the difficulty of responding to them. Green draws a parallel to Larry Bird, noting that effective trash‑talk requires wit and creative comebacks rather than simple insults. The segment ends with a transition to the next fan question about Green’s favorite player to guard, which is not answered in this excerpt. The tone is conversational, boastful, and humorous, with a confident sentiment toward his own trash‑talking prowess and admiration for Durant’s skill.
From @opticsplendor, who is the best trash talker in the league?
Well, the best trash talker in the league, I think you're a subscriber to this podcast, I hope. I hope you're a weekly listener. And if you are, you get the opportunity to listen to the best trash talker in the league weekly. I don't think there's any better trash talkers in the league than me. And I stand on that like Pepsi. I guarantee it. You heard what Frank Lucas said. I stand by my product. I guarantee that. No, but I think there is some guys who are good trash talk. I always tell people when they don't— I think you started to realize it now with like, the more he talks on Twitter or the more he's caught saying stuff to fans in the stands. KD. I've always told people like, KD was one of the biggest trash talkers to me since I came into the league. Like always have been, but he wasn't always like outwardly to where you could see it. But if you played against him, you knew. And it would be like disrespectful stuff. Like, "Hey, who is this?" KD would turn the dude around, like try and look at the back of his jersey. Like see his name on the back. KD would say stuff to people and you like, "Yo, you Kevin Durant." There's not really much I can say back. What are you gonna say back to Kevin Durant? I always had something to say. And I probably said something first, knowing me. But KD was one of the biggest trash— And KD got these one-liners. Like, "Oh, he drunk at the bar." KD hit somebody with a cross. "Hey, he drunk at the bar." You know, like— Not to get on— Like K got one-liners for days. Like I play dominoes a lot. E-40 got crazy one-liners. Gary Payton got crazy one-liners. Like KD got one-liners for days. And so I think if I'm not going with myself, I would have to say KD for sure.
It reminds me the way you're describing it, kind of like Larry Bird-ish where it's just like, he's always like, who is guarding me? Like what, who is this that you're sending at me? You know?
Who are you? And again, what were you going to say to Larry Bird? Like, oh, you not nice. Like some dudes talking, you like, bro, you trash. Like, why are you talking to me? Like, but like Kevin Durant talking, like, what are you going to say? Like, bro, you can't dribble. Like, ah, you can't shoot. Like you can't check. Like, what are you going to say? You gotta be real creative. And so for me, you know what I'm saying? I can create now. And so I can go there with him, but like Larry Bird, like what are most people gonna say? Like if, so if you not witty enough to just come up with comebacks, like that ain't got nothing to do with, oh bro, you suck. Or like, or you can't do this. Or you can't, like, if you ain't witty enough to come back with, to have comebacks, that's not like those things, then you screwed. And so I think that is a, that's definitely a good comparison. Yeah. For what I know of Bird, right? Like I never played against Bird. From what I've heard, what I've seen, I think it's a pretty good comparison. And obviously two great basketball players.
Yes, sir. Next one from @JakeVsMingo. Who is your favorite player to guard?
My favorite player to guard. My favorite player to guard. Is also KD. And the reason my favorite player to guard is, I think for me, that's the toughest challenge. Is I can't, like, what can I do to make it hard on Kevin Durant? He sees right over the top of me, 7 feet. He's probably a little quicker than me. He's probably a little more athletic than me. He's probably a little faster. So I'm supposed to lose that challenge. Like I'm supposed to lose that battle. What can I do to change that outcome? Can I take on that challenge that we all fail at? Can I be successful in taking on that challenge? Like I think for me, guarding the best and taking on that challenge of the best score to do it, like that's fun. Like I enjoy that. And more importantly, I get better guarding him because if I can do some things against him, like, that opens up some things for me to be able to do against anybody, you know? And so I think you always wanna play the best and you like always wanna like take on that challenge of the best. And I think Kevin Durant is the greatest scorer we've ever seen. To have the opportunity to guard that guy is incredible. And so I, I'd have to say that's my favorite guard because how many, how often do you get to say, I guarded the best or I went head to head with the best? best at said thing. Like you don't get to say that often. So, you know, I've had times where like I played good defense on him. I've also had a time where he put 54 up on me. Like it just is what it is. But I enjoy the challenge because it doesn't get any better than that when you talking about scoring the basketball.
