On Tuesday, the OKC Thunder hosted the Golden State Warriors in a highly anticipated matchup. Ultimately, however, the game proved anticlimactic, as Oklahoma City won by 24 points and rested its starters in the fourth quarter, with the game out of reach.
Following the contest, Draymond Green was asked an obviously leading question comparing this Thunder team to the Warriors team that dominated the NBA scene in the 2010s through the early 2020s.
Draymond ignored the slight passive aggression of the prompt and decided to be surprisingly transparent when it came to his take on the matter:
"You have to like each other, which you can tell they love each other, which leads to all the magic. You have to understand roles, which they definitely understand their roles. They got their top dog, they got their number two, everybody comes in and they know their roles... They are a well-oiled machine. They kind of just plug and play, which was how we were during that time," Green said.
Draymond Green sees similarities between Warriors and Thunder
Draymond went on to shower Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with praise, mentioning his "commitment to excellence" and how his dedication forces everybody to follow suit.
He talked about how the Thunder were playing without Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Kenrich Williams, and Aaron Wiggins against Golden State and noted, "It didn't seem like they were down anybody."
The forward's powerful words are more than just a comparison to one of the all-time great teams in the NBA. It's a verbalization of what the rest of the world is thinking, which is that the league has no answer for the boys in OKC.
When listening to Draymond's interview, it's difficult not to hear the demoralizing tone he speaks in.
It's clear he has no intention of downplaying what the Thunder have done up to this point. Their success is undeniable, even to a veteran who is cautious about not giving too much praise to his opponents.
Draymond flat-out said the quiet part out loud. Playing a hobbled Thunder team is tougher than playing any other team at full strength.
Being a championship team requires more than talented players. It requires a "next man up" mentality so players can step up accordingly when somebody goes down.
A team only wins when everybody on the roster is pulling in the same direction. It is clear that the Thunder were not only able to do that last season, but they might be doing more of it in 2025-26.
Following Wednesday's blowout win over the Lakers, the Thunder are now 12-1 and have yet to play a game with a full roster. Jalen Williams is expected to return sometime over the next couple of weeks, and Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins are dealing with different muscle strains. Their timetable is unknown.
Still, the Thunder are looking to set records this season, even if they have been unable to play with a fully healthy roster.
Their depth has allowed various stars to take their time to fully recover from injuries and should propel them toward yet another deep postseason run.