Steve Kerr turned down an interesting request from Draymond Green during the regular season, according to a new story.
ESPN’s Marc J. Spears published a story on Monday ahead of the big Western Conference playoff series between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. The story was about the close relationship between Green and LeBron James despite the players being on opposing teams.
According to the article, Green is close enough to James that the Warriors veteran wanted to travel to Los Angeles to be part of the TNT broadcast when James broke the NBA’s all-time scoring record on Feb. 7.
The Warriors had a home game against Oklahoma City on Feb. 6 and were traveling on Feb. 7 to Portland for a Feb. 8 game against the Trail Blazers. The Warriors were battling for a playoff spot at the time, so Kerr denied Green’s request. Green told Spears that he understood the decision.
“Steve said, ‘I don’t think that’ll be great for our team. While we’re flying out on the road, you’re flying to LA, guys see that, guys see you on the TV calling the game. This is a big game for us against Portland.’ I said, ‘All right, respect. No problem. I’ll be there with my team,'” Green said, according to the story.
The Warriors lost to Portland anyway, but they ended up making the postseason as the No. 6 seed. Even though Golden State lost that game, it would have reflected poorly upon Green and perhaps caused friction within the locker room had he left the team to go call that Lakers game.
Now, we will get to see the Warriors and Lakers go at it. James has faced the Golden State dynasty in the NBA Finals while a member of the Cavaliers, but this will be his first time facing them as a Laker.
