Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets has noticed. After the Warriors 103-94 victory over Houston, Jalen Green was asked about an exchange he and Draymond had during the game. He responded by saying all the two were doing was talking. Jalen then took the opportunity to turn it into a diss of Draymond.

And yet, longtime assistant coach Ron Adams pointed to Green’s intelligence as perhaps his greatest strength and the biggest reason he – along with Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels – is a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors is not the 2024-25 Defensive Player of the Year, but he got a consolation prize of sorts the day after he found out that he'd finished third. Green is the winner of this season's Hustle Award, the NBA announced Friday.