LeBron James and Draymond Green flashed wide grins as they danced at a Bad Bunny Concert in Puerto Rico in July. They walked the streets of Monaco as fans gathered around them taking photos in 2024. They sang side-by-side at a Brent Faiyaz show in Toronto in 2023.
It’s shocking, considering just a short while ago they were engaged in physical and psychological warfare when the Cavaliers and Warriors met in four straight NBA Finals from 2015-2018.
There was palpable hostility. They trash-talked. They jostled. Things were so cantankerous that Green became irate when James stepped over him during Game 4 of the 2016 Finals, viewing it as a form of disrespect. Green responded by striking James in the groin, leading to him being suspended for Game 5.
Draymond Green and LeBron James vie for a rebound during Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals in Oakland. AFP via Getty Images
How does James feel about Green now?
“I love the guy,” James told the California Post in an exclusive interview. “He’s awesome. He’s a great dude.”
Just a short time ago, they were at the epicenter of the most storied rivalry in NBA history since the Los Angeles Lakers/Boston Celtics. While James and Steph Curry were the faces of those battles, James and Green were the souls of them. They were the fire. They were the corporeal embodiment of the intensity that made it so thrilling. (They’ll meet again Saturday when the Lakers host the Warriors at 5:30 p.m. on ABC.)
So, how did they go from hating each other to becoming travel buddies? It even surprises Green, who deemed it inconceivable.
“There (was) just no path to friendship,” Green told the California Post in an exclusive interview.
The game that changed everything
Everything began to shift during the 2017 All-Star weekend in New Orleans.
Green didn’t have any plans after the game, so he asked his close friend, Maverick Carter, where he was traveling. Carter was going to Anguilla with James. Green asked if he could join.
James was not pleased by this development.
“Maverick got a separate plane,” Green said. “We were going to the same place. We left within five minutes of each other. We stayed within 30 seconds of each other. And we took separate planes.”
Green didn’t think much of it at the time. But he laughs while recalling the story now. “I’ve flown with Bron now several times, there’s always an extra seat or two or three or four (on his plane),” he said.
Things were tense when they arrived.
James and Green were cordial. But it was awkward. They played cards a few times. They talked a bit. Slowly, they started realizing they had things in common.
“Respect,” James said. “That’s what it all boils down to. Respect and just admiration for one another. We both come from the Midwest. Both come from the struggle. He’s from Saginaw. I’m from Akron. It’s not much difference when it comes to Michigan and Ohio.”
LeBron James is fouled by Draymond Green during the third quarter in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
James and Green were both raised by single mothers. They grew up below the poverty line. They witnessed things during their childhoods that still haunt them. They defied the odds.
While they didn’t leave that trip as close friends, a seed of mutual understanding was sowed. They realized they’re both “all-seeing,” on and off the court. They realized they have similar world views.
But before they could move forward, they needed to clear the air.
“It took us also to have a man-to-man conversation,” Green said. “It wasn’t like, okay, we’re gonna be around each other and nothing has happened. Or that’s just that. No, it required us to sit down and have a man-to-man conversation of like, what has happened, what’s to be, who he is as a man, who I am as a man, what’s tolerated, what’s not tolerated. We talked through all those things. And then you quickly realize, damn, we’re actually a lot alike in a lot of ways.”
They discussed words that were exchanged. They agreed upon rules. But there was one thing they didn’t dare bring up: The incident in Game 4 in 2016.
“We never one time talked about the exact moment,” Green said. “Never. Not one time still to this day. One day, I want to talk to him about that moment.”
Their epic NBA Finals battles
In many ways, those four straight Finals meetings helped define both of their careers.
James was at the peak of his powers. He was a freight train with the agility of a motorcycle. There were no holes in his game. After he led the Cavaliers from a 3-1 series deficit during the 2016 Finals — a feat no other team in NBA history has accomplished — he called himself the greatest player of all-time.
As for Green, while playing against James, he transformed himself from a low draft pick (35th) who was undersized as a power forward into a four-time champion, four-time All-Star, nine-time All-Defensive Team selectee and Defensive Player of the Year in 2017.
“Without question, that brought out the best in Draymond and solidified who he was as a player in this league and the status that he’s held for so long in this league,” said Ron Adams, the Warriors’ longtime assistant coach who’s known as their defensive guru.
Draymond Green and LeBron James talk on court before warm up at T-Mobile Arena. Candice Ward-Imagn Images
Their battles were epic.
They guarded each other at times. They schemed against one another. They have two of the highest basketball IQs in the history of the game. And they were constantly trying to gain an edge over each other.
“There was a physical battle going on,” Adams said. “There was an emotional, psychological battle going on between them. And there was a PR battle going on in terms of putting pressure on the other in terms of the press. There were a lot of different aspects that made up that rivalry. But it was fierce.”
A true test for King James
For Green, James was always his measuring stick.
The first time he played against James during his rookie season in 2012, Green made a game-winning backdoor layup against Miami to lead Golden State to a 97-95 win. “That for me was a pivotal moment in my career early of like, oh, I can compete here,” Green said.
Then, when they met in the Finals, Green was put to the ultimate test.
While James had already long-established himself as the face of the league, Green was a blue collar worker. He poured out his heart night after night, using a combination of savvy and grit to take away angles, anticipate, and disrupt, becoming what Adams called “one of the greatest ever” on the defensive end.
“I love the guy,” James said of Green. “He’s awesome. He’s a great dude.” Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Green could guard any position. And James was the ultimate positionless player, who was able to cut through seas of defenders as a point guard just as easily as he could use his 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame to pound bodies down low.
“From Draymond’s perspective, he had to not only utilize every physical ability that he had, but every bit of cunning he had as a defender against a bigger, stronger, more superior athlete,” Adams said.
Those games were just as much intellectual challenges as they were physical ones.
Adams praised Green for being able to anticipate better than anyone where James’ spots were. The goal was to take away some of the weapons in his arsenal. Stopping James was an impossibility.
There was so much more happening on the court than the naked eye could perceive.
“When we’re playing basketball, it’s a chess match,” Green said. “Every play down the floor, I’m keying into what he’s trying to do. Even if he doesn’t have the ball, even if he’s not in the play, he’s trying to do something and vice versa. When he has the ball, I can see him scanning to know always where I am. And I’m trying to plug here and he’s trying to take advantage, knowing I’m plugging there and trying to get something else open.”
They’ve always deeply respected each other’s games.
Green has long-called James the greatest player of all-time. And James has praised Green for a large part of the Warriors’ success. “I think who’s mastered versatility over the last 10 years is Golden State,” James said on “Mind the Game” podcast. “And the main reason is because of Draymond Green.”
Brotherly love still comes with a little drama
While James and Steph Curry were the faces of the Warriors vs. Cavaliers battles, James and Green were the souls of them. AP
Even after Anguilla, things continued to be heated.
After the Warriors won the 2017 title, Green made fun of James for looking bald in a workout video. Then, while holding the microphone and addressing over a million people at his team’s championship parade, Green mocked James for claiming he never played on a superteam. James fired back, quipping “my name is in your head” on the “Road Trippin” podcast.
But James and Green kept spending time together. And their friendship kept deepening.
They’re both quick to laugh. They enjoy fine wine. They pride themselves on being great fathers. They have two of the most powerful voices in the league.
And after trying to live in each other’s minds during four years of heated competition, they understand each other better than most could.
James was there for Green during the lowest point in his career. Green contemplated retiring a few years ago after a string of incidents, including serving a five-game suspension for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold in Nov. 2023, followed by being suspended indefinitely for striking Jusuf Nurkic in the face in Dec. 2023, which cost him 12 games.
“When I’ve had my trying times, he’s one of the first people on the phone,” Green said. “Immediately, ‘Yo, what’s up? You all right? How are you doing? Need me for anything?’ Always.”
And Green has supported James. When the Lakers superstar missed the first 14 games of this season because of sciatica, Green regularly checked in on him.
“I went through that injury,” Green said. “I dealt with that in 2022, the year that we won (our last championship). …It felt good to say, ‘Yo, you might want to try this.’ It felt good to be able to give him a couple of tips about the body and recovery. That’s his wheelhouse.”
But even more importantly, Green has made sure to never take James’ accomplishments for granted. While many fans — and players — have become inured to his constant record-breaking, Green always pays him his respect.
“People get bored and accustomed to greatness that it’s then no congratulations,” Green said “…It sucks when people stop saying congratulations. We all want to be acknowledged for what we do. So, I try to be intentional about that.”
As for James, he went from not allowing Green on his plane to thinking of him as family.
“I call him a brother,” James said.
In many ways, their four straight Finals meetings helped define both of their careers. Getty Images
A lasting legacy
Their friendship now transcends basketball. They have each other’s backs. (So much so that Green apparently doesn’t talk to Stephen A. Smith because he criticized James’ son, Bronny.)
Green has gone from taking verbal shots at James to using his podcast to defend him. Their wives have become close. Green signed with James’ agent, Rich Paul, in Feb. 2019. And James even attended Green’s wedding in 2022.
But there are still certain subjects they avoid.
In addition to the infamous 2016 incident being off-limits, they’ve never talked about the details of their Finals meetings. There’s no bragging. There’s no poking. It’s still too raw.
Behind closed doors, they can enjoy their accomplishments, as Green most definitely does.
“It brings me great joy to know that I have the edge on him — I beat him in three NBA Finals, he beat me in one,” Green said. “It brings me great joy to know that I can walk in the basketball room and there’s something he can’t say to me. There’s not many things I can walk in the basketball room and I can say to him and he can’t have a rebuttal. It’s the one thing that I have that he don’t have a rebuttal to. And that thing brings me a great deal of joy.”
When asked if he ever brings that up to James, Green didn’t hesitate.
“No,” he said. “Not at all.”
Green has gone from taking verbal shots at James to using his podcast to defend him. Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Green went on to explain that they’re both so competitive that they know not to go there. The scars are too recent, too vulnerable. “You still feel those moments,” Green said.
Green has one regret when it comes to James: He never got to play with him.
He believes the incident with Nurkic cost him a chance to compete for his third gold medal alongside James at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“I’ve always wanted to (play with him)” Green said. “Saying I wanted to go to his team, that’s not the case. I’m very comfortable in my situation with 30 (Curry) and what we’ve built and what we have. But I think him and Steph shared the want to take the court together, and they got the opportunity to do that in the Olympics in Paris. I’ve always wanted the opportunity. Just to experience it, to see how he thinks, to see, all right, what I could do to help him and his thinking. Or what can I learn and pick up about what he’s thinking.”
The 41-year-old James, who has hinted he’s likely going to retire after this season or the next one, will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. But Green made it clear that he doesn’t see them sharing a uniform.
“I don’t see a path to it,” Green said three weeks ago before his name was involved in trade rumors for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Regardless, James and Green will always be connected. Their journeys to greatness are inextricably intertwined. They’re central figures of one of the biggest sports rivalries of the last decade.
They went from hating each other to developing an unshakable bond.
The two rivals turned friends embrace each other. NBAE via Getty Images
And despite all that’s unsaid between them, there’s something much greater that’s deeply understood.
“The battles that we had are going to be the battles,” James said. “They’re going to talk about that forever, the 2016 Finals, 2017. But at the end of the day, what we got going into the future will define us as human beings, as brothers, as husbands, as sons as we continue to carry out our own individual legacies and help each other out through our lives and our journeys. I love the guy.”
