Draymond Green takes aim at Gallinari over Leonard case
From the 2019 trade to Kawhi’s $50 million: Draymond Green takes aim at Gallinari, who has since tried to tone down the controversy
Draymond Green did not mince words in responding to Danilo Gallinari. Following the Italian’s comments about Kawhi Leonard and the trade that sent him away from the Clippers in 2019, the Warriors player dedicated part of his podcast to the matter, challenging virtually every aspect of Gallinari’s version of events.
And he went well beyond the Kawhi issue.
Gallinari is one of those players with tremendous talent, capable of really giving you problems, but he was a little lazy. He wasn’t known as someone who gave everything he had to basketball
Draymond Green
Green then doubled down, also questioning the Italian’s approach throughout his NBA career.
He was one of those guys who could suddenly come in with a back problem, and he wasn’t always in the best physical condition possible, because what people said about him was that he didn’t really care that much
Draymond Green
Draymond: “Saying Kawhi ruined his career is ridiculous”
It all goes back to the summer of 2019. Leonard had just left Toronto after winning the NBA title and, before choosing the Clippers, had asked the franchise to build a team capable of immediately competing for a championship.
Los Angeles then decided to go all-in for Paul George, who was coming off a season in which he finished third in the MVP race. To bring him to California, the Clippers sent a massive package to Oklahoma City that also included Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Years later, and following the case involving Leonard and the Clippers, Gallinari revisited that trade.
It changed the trajectory of my career and put me in a difficult position by sending me away from Los Angeles. My NBA career wasn’t determined by a general manager or an owner, but by a player who decided that team wasn’t good enough and wanted something else
Draymond Green
Gallinari had then connected that situation to the financial penalty received by Leonard, arguing that Kawhi should have returned all roughly $50 million involved in the matter and donated it to charity, rather than simply paying the $700,000 that was required.
I think wishing for the NBA to take $50 million away from a player is disgusting. Carrying all this resentment just because you were traded? It wasn’t even the first time it happened to him. To make it seem like Kawhi Leonard ruined his career is bullshit
Draymond Green
“Kawhi could ask for it, but the Clippers made the trade”
According to Draymond, there is another issue with Gallinari’s version of events: Leonard could push for Paul George to be brought in, but he didn’t actually have the power to complete a trade.
The final decision still belonged to the Clippers’ front office.
Kawhi Leonard doesn’t have the power to trade a player. He can ask for it, but he can’t make that trade. It was the franchise that had to agree to it
Draymond Green
Green also believes that, looking at the Clippers’ situation in the summer of 2019, the decision to pursue George was fairly understandable.
I think even Gallinari would have chosen Paul George over himself. And if he wouldn’t have, then that would be ridiculous
Draymond Green
Gallinari clarifies: “Tone and context”
Meanwhile, Gallinari wanted to provide some context for his comments. Through the Instagram profile of A Cresta Alta, his podcast, Gallo explained that the discussion about Leonard’s $50 million had been made in an ironic tone, attempting to tone down a controversy that had become considerably bigger than it was when it started.
The clarification, however, came after the comments had already crossed the Atlantic and started making quite a bit of noise in the United States. Draymond evidently took them literally and responded without mincing words, turning what Gallinari had intended as an ironic remark into a considerably more heated clash.