Opinion: There Is No Way That Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green Should Have Been Ranked As A Better Player Than This NBA All-Star

ESPN ranked Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors as a better player than Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers.
Opinion: There Is No Way That Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green Should Have Been Ranked As A Better Player Than This NBA All-Star
Opinion: There Is No Way That Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green Should Have Been Ranked As A Better Player Than This NBA All-Star /

Draymond Green will likely be a Hall of Famer, because of his role on the Golden State Warriors over the last decade. 

He's a 3x All-Star, 3x NBA Champion, 6x All-Defensive team player. 

He's earned the right to be considered one of the greats. 

However, The Warriors did not have a great season last year, and Green was good, but not great. 

On the year, Green averaged 7.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game. 

He also averaged 1.7 steals per game. 

Passing, rebounding and steals wise they are really good numbers. 

On the other hand, he shot just 27% from the three-point range.

ESPN recently came out with their top-100 NBA players and the list can be seen here on their website. 

Green came in ranked as the 37th best player. 

His ranking put him ahead of several players who had a better season including Domantas Sabonis (who was ranked 40th) of the Indiana Pacers

The Pacers did not have a great season either as they (like the Warriors) had to play in the play-in tournament and did not advance to the NBA Playoffs. 

However, Sabonis was an All-Star last year, and put up an incredible numbers. 

On the year, the two-time All-Star averaged 20.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. 

He also averaged 1.2 steals per game. 

The Warriors (39-33) had a better record than the Pacers (34-38) but at the end of the day neither team made the playoffs, so team performance is not relevant here. 

Green's stats have never been what makes him great, he is one of those guys that does it all. 

In a way, he is the NBA's greatest role player of all-time. 

That being said, the Warriors are not winning NBA titles right now and were just an average team last season. 

Therefore, Sabonis was an actual star and Green was just a role player on a mediocre team. 

Is Green better all-time than Sabonis? 

Of course. 

Have stats ever truly mattered for Green's success? 

Nope. 

Doesn't matter. 

After last season, Sabonis should be ranked as the better player heading into the 2021-22 NBA season. 


Published
Ben Stinar
BEN STINAR

Ben Stinar is a former beat writer for AllPacers.com. He is a 2021 Hilltop30 Scholarship Fund recipient.