Draymond Green has been under fire in recent years for his extracurricular activities on the basketball court.
From punching former Warriors teammate Jordan Poole before the 2022-23 NBA season to on-court incidents with Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert and Phoenix Suns big man Jusuf Nurkić this past season -- Green's reputation continues to be a heightened controversial topic.
But Marreese "Mo" Speights, his teammate with Golden State for three seasons, told NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole on the latest "Dubs Talk" that Green always had an "edge" to him and believes that's just a part of who he is.
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"Draymond is just a competitive kind of player," Speights said. "So he has that edge to him. It's an edge that he's always [had] to defend himself to a certain extent. Making sure he's letting people know that he's not on no B.S. So knowing him and being around him, that's who he is. He's just competitive. He's from Michigan. Saginaw is not a soft place, so he grew up with some guys. So for him, he's just got an edge. Certain guys could hide it, certain guys can't.
"And I feel like he did a great job over his career of keeping it to the side. It comes up sometimes because he's a human being. He's not perfect. But he's definitely a guy who's competitive and wants to win. He means well. He's a good teammate. But he's got a competitive edge."
Green most recently served an indefinite suspension that kept him away from the floor for 16 games after swinging and striking Nurkić in the face in December.
The four-time NBA champion returned to action Jan. 15 and his presence and impact immediately helped a teetering Warriors squad. Despite helping Golden State turn the page for the second half of the season, it ultimately was too late for the Warriors as they missed the playoffs for just the third time in 12 seasons after falling to the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Golden State Warriors
While Green's leadership undoubtedly has helped the Warriors win championships, his temper -- or "edge" -- has gotten the best of him at the worst times.
But if he's able to balance the two moving forward, Speights knows there's no counting out a Steph Curry-led Warriors team and believes they can win another title.
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