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Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors

The lengthy and in-depth interview given by for-now Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr to the New Yorker this week certainly raised some eyebrows for its candor, and Kerr’s ability to acknowledge mistakes. But maybe the most fascinating part of it is Kerr’s view no his relationship with star forward Draymond Green, which has been rooted in admiration and appreciation mixed with frustration and conflict.

Kerr has coached Green for 12 of his 14 seasons in the NBA, and it could be argued that Kerr’s innovative use of Green as a sort of point-center was the No. 2 factor (after Stephen Curry, of course) behind the Warriors’ rise as a dynasty 10 years ago.

But it’s also been a fraught relationship, as Kerr acknowledged, the hotheaded Green often clashing with the level-headed Kerr, even while the two grew to develop a fierce bond. The relationship is tested, it seems, at least once a year in a very public fashion–it happened in December of this past season, what Kerr called “a major blowout”–and Kerr conceded something stunning at one point in the interview.

He said, “There’s things he’s done that I can never forgive him for, and yet I will do anything for him.”

Warriors’ Steve Kerr Would Get Into ‘Knockdown Dragouts’

That’s a pretty strong statement from Kerr, and it does not take a Warriors insider to decipher what he means by “things he’s done.” In training camp back in 2022, Green lost his cool in practice with young guard Jordan Poole and landed a fierce punch on Poole, an ugly situation that was caught on video and leaked. That incident set the Warriors, after winning a championship the previous year, back on the wrong foot.

Kerr spoke of Green: “In my first five years, we would get into three knockdown, dragouts a year. Part of it was, I just had to show the rest of the team that I’m in charge. You have to do things by a set of standards. It’s a community that you’re building, not just a team—a little society with values and standards and expectations. And then you’re a community that has to police itself. The coach has to demand certain behaviors, certain habits.

“So then for a long time we had a truce. I understood him so well. He understood me. But this year we had a major blowout in December. He’s such a unique person.”

Draymond Green May Not Have the Patience for Coaching

The genesis of the question about Green was the notion that Green could one day be a coach in the NBA, a notion that Kerr did not necessarily agree with. Kerr was clear on his feelings about Green’s performance defensively for the Warriors–he called him, “best defensive player I’ve ever seen” and noted he’s played with Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen–but did not know if he has the mindset to be a coach.

“I don’t know that he’ll coach,” Kerr said. “He definitely has the brain for it. I don’t know if he has the patience. He’s an incredibly passionate, emotional guy, and that passion and energy has frequently gotten him in trouble. And I love him. I think he’s a really good-hearted person with an incredible brain, but if he wants to coach he’s going to have to learn how to control some of that emotion, that desire, and that fire that burns within him, and it’s not an easy thing to do.”