Draymond Green had some strong feelings on Wembanyama's statement.
Draymond Green grabbed headlines on Wednesday with a passionate speech after the Golden State Warriors' 109-106 win over the Brooklyn Nets when he launched into a minutes-long speech after being asked about Victor Wembanyama advocating for himself to be selected as the MVP.
What really got Green going was the fact that Wembanyama mentioned his defense as a big reason as to why he deserved the award. Though, to be clear, Green wasn't upset with Wembanyama for advocating for his defense. He was upset that defense had to be advocated for at all.
"I hated it and I absolutely loved it," Green said (via Anthony Slater). "The reason I hated it is because until Wemby said, 'Defense is 50% of the game.' No one realized that? ... The fact that he has to come out and remind people, 'Hey ya'll see what I do over there?' is an indictment on the game of basketball."
How the Media Perceives Defense
Green's outrage was directed at the overall basketball world, fans and media alike, for disregarding defense until, in his eyes, Wembanyama suddenly reminded them of it.
Like Wembanyama said and Green elaborated on, defense is quite literally half of the game and he in between his tirades of disgust, Green gave credit to Wembanyama for his defense and said that he very well could deserve the MVP.
Green had a lot to say about the way that defense is treated in the NBA, which makes sense considering defense is something that Green has prided himself on throughout his career, winning the DPOY award for the 2016-17 season.
He pointed out that defense is seemingly only brought up when it's used to indict players, but it's never brought up to celebrate them.
Only Using Defense As A Negative
Green mentioned how Luka Doncic's perceived lack of defense has been used against him when it comes to MVP talks, but that Wembanyama had to go out of his way to make a statement for his defensive value to even be looked at in his favor, despite how obvious of a defensive presence that he is.
The clearest takeaway from Green's statement is that while he said he "hated it," he certainly didn't hate that Wembanyama used his platform to speak up about it.
Green was passionate about the issue of players standing up for themselves and equally as passionate about the fact that some members of the media can ignore what seems obvious to the players.
He mentioned Evan Mobley speaking for himself to win DPOY last season as another example of the power of player advocacy and he gave a lot of credit to Wembanyama for having the confidence to do the same.
Above it all, Green clearly cares about defense and he wishes that more people that watch and cover basketball did too.