With the NBA All-Star weekend ongoing, conversations about the league's on-court product are once again at the forefront. Though interest and revenue in the NBA are growing, discussions around whether NBA games have stagnated hang over the league even as it tries to evolve its All-Star format.
On Saturday, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green got candid about the state of the game. Green is set to compete in the Skills Challenge Saturday night, paired with Warriors teammate Moses Moody.
When asked if he though the NBA game was boring, Green was blunt. "Absolutely," he said, via the Associated Press.
The four-time NBA champion referenced an interview where the late Kobe Bryant said that the game had become "accidental basketball."
"He couldn’t have been more right," Green said of Bryant's comments.
Green spoke about a recent Warriors game against the Los Angeles Lakers, saying that it was "refreshing" to go up against a strategic player like LeBron James. Golden State has played the Lakers twice in the past month, losing both games.
"Every possession is some type of chess move," Green said Saturday of playing against James. "You don't get that today in the NBA, often. ... You don't just get that on a regular basis. It's just who can run faster, who can hit more threes, it's no substance. I think it's very boring."
Most critiques of the league's on-court point to the high-scoring games and the excess of three-pointers. A suitable example is a recent game in December, where the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz combined for 44 three-pointers, tying a record set during a double overtime game in 2023. The Suns won the game 134-126.
Ironically, one could argue that Green's teammate Stephen Curry played a hand in the three-pointer's rising popularity in the NBA. But Green says that he wants to see more of the kind of creativity that James brings to the game.
“You want to be one of the teams that aren’t playing an accidental game,” Green said. “That’s the challenge.”
