Draymond Green Says Warriors Wouldn’t Have Won ’17, ’18 Finals Without Durant

KD helped Golden State win back-to-back NBA titles in 2017 and ’18.

During a collaboration event between their two podcasts, JJ Redick asked Draymond Green for his opinion on whether Kevin Durant gets enough credit for his role in helping the Warriors win NBA titles in both 2017 and ’18. 

Golden State won a championship before he joined the team in 2015 and will now raise another banner after beating the Celtics earlier this month in the Finals.

“I don’t think that team wins another championship if Kevin doesn’t come,” Green said. “Now you may say, ‘But y’all won the fourth one without Kevin.’ But there’s a gap in there where teams started to figure us out.”

“We would not have beat the Cavs without Kevin.” 😳

Draymond Green talks about the importance of Kevin Durant to the Warriors success in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals.

(via: @TheVolumeSports) pic.twitter.com/KbPUeNTSao

— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) June 28, 2022

After the Warriors beat an injured Cavaliers team in 2015 to win the NBA title, they lost to the same team the next year after posting an NBA-record 73 wins during the regular season. Durant joined the squad in free agency that offseason and in both championship runs over the following two years the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in the Finals. In 2018 they also beat the Rockets in seven games in the Western Conference finals to get there. 

Watch the NBA online with fuboTV: Try for free!

Redick decided to ask Green whether they would have beaten Houston in 2018 without Durant.

“Yeah, we was beating them for sure,” Green said on the Rockets. “That team was never gonna beat us.”

Then Redick followed up by asking whether they would have beat Cleveland in their Finals matchups. 

“We would not have beat the Cavs coming back around without Kevin,” Green said. 

• Inside The Warriors: Report: Kevon Looney Expected to Re-Sign With Warriors

For more Warriors coverage, go to Inside The Warriors. 

Sports Illustrated may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.