This week on Draymond Green’s podcast, he was joined by Jason Calacanis, a noted New York Knicks fan, to discuss the NBA playoffs—a tournament Green is observing from the sidelines after his team, finishing 10th in the Western Conference, was eliminated by the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament.
During their conversation, Green seized the opportunity to critique the Knicks’ current playoff performance, suggesting their success is just a fluke.
Green drew parallels between the Knicks’ current situation and past postseasons of the ’20-’21 Atlanta Hawks and the ’18-’19 Portland Trail Blazers, both of which he deemed as teams that had anomalously good runs but failed to sustain success thereafter. He questioned the relevance of these comparisons given that the Knicks are up 2-0 against the Indiana Pacers, despite losing key players to injuries.
“It was a fluke. That’s what the Knicks are setting ya’ll up for right now, and it’ll probably be another 15 years of misery that we all will sit around and laugh at,” Green explained, forecasting prolonged disappointment for Knicks fans hopeful for a turnaround.
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Green, having experienced an unpredictable run with the Warriors who won the title in 2022 amidst a period of inconsistency, cited his own team’s history as insight into the unpredictability of playoff performances.
He referenced challenges such as Ja Morant’s injury during the Warriors’ series against the Grizzlies and significant contributions from Jordan Poole that year.
Yet, the future for the Knicks could look different. With players like Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic, and OG Anunoby potentially healthy next season, and the allure of New York possibly attracting strong free agents, the Knicks have reasons to be optimistic. Furthermore, they have a burgeoning star in Jalen Brunson and a roster that still contends in the playoffs, challenging the notion that their current success is merely transient.
While it’s unlikely that the Knicks will transform into an NBA dynasty overnight, their current trajectory suggests they are as competitively poised as any team in the league, contradicting Green’s skepticism.
