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Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and LA Lakers superstar LeBron James are known to have one of the closest friendships in the NBA.
Despite being on rival teams, Green and James can often be seen interacting after games, and regularly hang out in the offseason. This has led to some criticism from fans who don’t like to see opposing players acting buddy-buddy. However, according to Green, he still draws a line on his friendship with James.
During a recent appearance on LA Clippers superstar Paul George’s podcast, “Podcast P with Paul George,” Green spoke about the evolution of his friendship with James. He said that while he and the Lakers superstar are close, he still has no friends once he steps on the court.
“Well, I think No. 1, when you step on the court, there are no friends,” Green said.
“Here's what I will say: As I've gotten older in my career, I don't just go out on the court with the ‘I hate you’ mindset. And I used to go out with the 'I hate you' mindset to everybody and not be able to separate the two.”
Green added that he sees his relationship with James as a brotherly-type bond.
“As far as us being as tight as we are, like, that's my big brother, love him to death,” Green said.
“And ain't nothing changing that — the only thing changing that is our relationship continues to grow. And it is what it is.”
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Draymond Green says fans shouldn’t worry about players’ personal lives
Later on in his podcast appearance, Draymond Green added that fans shouldn’t even worry about players’ personal lives as it doesn’t have any impact on them.
“What I'm here to tell people is you probably shouldn't concern yourself with that because there's nothing you can do about it and it doesn't affect your life,” Green said.
“Even if I go out and lose this game, it doesn't affect your life unless you decided to put money on it and that's your issue. And even if I go win this game, it doesn't really affect your life. So you probably shouldn't invest your time in wondering about our relationship.”
The Warriors forward then reiterated that nothing anyone says or does will ever change the respect and love he has for LeBron James.
“But like, there is a respect and a love that's there that no basketball is going to change, no game is going to change, no series is going to change,” Green said.
“That love and that respect and that brotherhood is there. Ain't none of this changing that. And if you wanted to or if you hoped it will or you think it does, I'm sorry but I'm not sorry. None of these things are changing that. If you think that I'm going to go back to that and take that same disrespect and disrespect my brother, I'm sorry I can't.”
