Warriors forward Draymond Green has defended Russell Westbrook after ESPN’s Dave McMenamin likened Westbrook’s trade to Utah to removing a vampire from the locker room.
“You better be certain that that is the case. Because that right there could really affect someone’s livelihood,” Green said on his podcast. “That right there could make a team that was like, ‘We’ll sign Westbrook,’ be like, “Ah, but do I want that in my locker room?’
“Because he was in the locker room with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and if he’s a vampire in that locker room, then what’s he gonna be like in the next locker room?”
Green also said the “vampire” comment needs to come with specific examples and facts and that the comment “just felt like a shot at character.”
“And me personally, I know Russell Westbrook does not have bad character. I know Russell Westbrook is an incredible dude, so I didn’t love that, but again, I can’t 100 percent dispel that because I’m not in the locker room.”
These were the quotes McMenamin said on the segment NBA Today that Green wasn’t impressed with:
“This was the time to do it. Russell Westbrook was not going to be part of this team after the summer when his contract expired, and also when his contract came off the books the Lakers would have less money to deal with in the free agency period this summer.
“You get younger, you got shooting, you got switchable defenders, and as one source told me, you remove a vampire from the locker room. That meaning, a vampire sucks the blood out of the locker room. Russell Westbrook moves on.”