The veteran opens up about the Warriors’ offseason moves, last year’s lessons, and why he believes Golden State is a contender again in 2025-26.
It’s Oct. 21, and the NBA is officially back, set to host a pair of games on Tuesday night to kick off the 2025-26 season — Kevin Durant and the Rockets go to Oklahoma City to take on the defending champions, while the Warriors are traveling south to play LeBron James and the Lakers. For veteran Golden State presence Draymond Green, it’s no surprise that he’s heading into the new year feeling good about his team.
“We definitely feel the confidence, and obviously, everybody say every year, ‘Man, we want to come in, we want to compete for a championship.’ When we don’t have a chance to compete for a championship, I won’t tell you that,” Green said in an upcoming episode of Network with Rich Kleiman.
Last season, the Warriors jumped out of the gate hot, winning 12 of their first 15 games. But some tough stretches in November and December led the team to reevaluate its roster, acquiring Jimmy Butler just ahead of the All-Star Break to add to some star power alongside Green and Stephen Curry. The move worked, with Golden State closing the season strong to earn a spot in the Play-In Tournament, where it defeated the Memphis Grizzlies to advance and face the Rockets in the first round.
Green and Co. took the second-seeded Rockets out in seven games, matching the team up with Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. The Warriors would end up falling after Curry went down with an injury early in the series, changing everything.
“Last year at the All-Star break, I said, ‘We’re going to win the championship,” Green told Kleiman. “I wholeheartedly believed that. I think if Steph never gets hurt, things could look different. However, I do understand that that’s a part of the game; gotta take the good with the bad. That’s a part of it; we weren’t healthy.”
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Despite coming up short last season, Green believes he saw enough from himself and his teammates — along with the impact of some key offseason additions such as Al Horford — to be confident that Golden State will be a contender this year.
“What last year showed me was A.) We’re still right there. We’re still a very tough team to beat, we can still beat anyone,” Green said. “And now you add in the pieces that we brought in. Al [Horford] brings another big who can go toe to toe and guard some of these bigs. That veteran presence that we need.”
Tune into Boardroom and Yahoo Sports for the full conversation between Green and Kleiman, dropping this Thursday.
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