Draymond Green vs. Kenyon Martin Beef Turns Petty as Retired Star Goes Off on Live Rant

Former NBA player Kenyon Martin and Draymond Green continued their beef as the former responded to Green's recent comments.

Draymond Green vs. Kenyon Martin Beef Turns Petty as Retired Star Goes Off on Live Rant

Draymond Green (Left) and Kenyon martin (Right) (Image credits - Firstsportz)

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Draymond Green and former NBA player Kenyon Martin have been going at it lately. Green has often been viewed as a controversial player and one of the few tough guys in the modern-day. The former Defensive Player of the Year is known for his on-court antics throughout his NBA career. But along with his antics, the forward is known for bringing in tenacity that has propelled the Golden State Warriors to four NBA championships in the last 10 years.

Martin was a former number one overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. The former Denver Nuggets forward was critical of Green’s antics on Gil’s Arena podcast saying Green does not do anything to someone who would do something back and labeled him as a ‘fake tough guy’.

Green, who has a podcast of his own ‘The Draymond Green Show’ fired back at Martin by calling Martin an underachiever for a number one pick, pointing out he only made one All-Star appearance. Green went on to claim that even if he were to stop playing now, he would still have had a much better career than Martin.

Fans on the internet got into the act and started picking sides. Recently, Martin went live on Instagram and responded to Green’s comments about being an underachiever.

You stated that I was an underachiever, let’s get into that first. Underachieving? Not so much brother, if what I got into it for was different than most people then yeah but when I got into it for was to play for 15 years. Check. Being drafted number one, select few. Year two, making it to the finals. Year three making it to the finals, year four being an All-Star. Played in the toughest power forward era there could possibly be. Underachieving, no. Held my own. Yeah.

Draymond Green has Stephen Curry as a teammate

While Green is the defensive wall and the voice of the team, the best player is, undoubtedly, Stephen Curry. Widely regarded as the greatest shooter of all time and one of the best point-guards in the game, Green has benefitted greatly by playing with Curry and Klay Thompson. The duo formed the greatest backcourt shooting in NBA history.

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Draymond Green (Left) and Stephen Curry (Right) (Image credits – San Fransisco Chronicles)

But credit has to be given where it is due. Green has often provided the defensive stability and is usually the primary ball-handler of the team while Curry is off the ball. The forward was voted as the DPOY in 2017, selected as a 4x NBA All-Star and 9x NBA All-Defensive Team.

But Martin was having none of that and called out Green for his performances when Curry is not on the court.

So we are talking careers and talking numbers, right? Steph Curry, we all know is arguably going to go down as the best point-guard ever. He is the best shooter ever. So did a little digging and a little birdie told me that games that Steph has played without Draymond, he is 53-38 in those games. Flip that same coin, you have played 128 games without Steph, the same little birdie told me the record is at 52-76. Under .500. So who needs who? Who is underachieving?

Players tougher than Draymond Green in the NBA

Modern-day NBA has often being called out for being too soft, especially by the players who played in the 80s and 90s. The game has evolved a lot, particularly in offense, with all the perimeter shooting.

But a lot more fouls were permitted back in the day. The NBA officially banned most forms of hand checking in 2004 to increase scoring and promote a faster-paced, more offensive game. Players are no longer able to rely on physical contact to stop perimeter players. Martin continued to rant while live and gave his list of power forwards better than Green. He added:

You did not make it to my list because you did not fit the criteria of the question asked. Did it upset you? That’s my personal opinion. Not nobody else’s. In Gil’s show, I said I can name 200 basketball players better than Draymond Green. I dumbed it down to power forwards. We got Giannis, Anthony Davis, Dirk, Charles Barkley, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Denis Rodman,…..(just to name a few). I could go on and on. And guess who did I not mention? Me. Talking hoop.

While Martin gave a list of around 50 power-forwards, it is safe to expect another response from Green pretty soon as the beef turns even more petty.

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