Draymond Green 'Won't Slander' Kevin Durant and Hypes Devin Booker After Trending Ejection Video

Even though Draymond Green and Kevin Durant have had an at-times contentious relationship, the Golden State Warriors forward praised for his former teammate after the Phoenix Suns ended his season with a 111-96 win in the play-in tournament.

Despite the Suns' success this season after trading Durant last summer (starts at 13:24 mark), Green said "there will be no Kevin slander" because he's still a great player when thinking about how Phoenix improved compared to its disappointing 2024-25 campaign.

Green did praise Devin Booker for leading the Suns on a quick turnaround that got them back into the postseason:

"They're about to rebuild they're getting rid of Kevin, Brad Beal's gone...give Devin Booker credit...everybody's like, 'yo he's chasing money and he's just gonna stay there and die and why is he standing there and not requesting a trade' and he put his head down and led a group."

Green's hype for Booker was interesting because it came after both players were ejected late in the fourth quarter after Green hit the Suns star with hard foul that led to them engaging in an extended back-and-forth verbal debate.

Warriors-Suns Highlights

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The Suns were arguably the NBA's biggest disappointment last season, finishing with a 36-46 record. It also wasn't clear how a path to success was going to be attainable after giving up so many assets to acquire Durant and Bradley Beal.

Durant, in particular, took the failures of last season and his departure from Phoenix to heart. He was traded to the Houston Rockets in July.

After hitting a game-winning shot in the Rockets' 100-97 win over the Suns on Jan. 5, Durant said it "definitely" meant more to do it against them because he felt "scapegoated" by the organization and was "kicked out of" Phoenix.

There was also criticism aimed at the Suns and Booker when he signed a two-year, $145 million extension last summer. It was considered a "desperate" move for a franchise looking for any sort of positive press, while Booker was also dinged for being paid like a superstar who hasn't often performed at that level in his career.

The Suns quickly rebounded with a 45-37 record this season. Booker was an All-Star selection, averaging 26.1 points and 6.0 assists per game in 64 starts during the regular season.

Durant seems like a safe bet to make the All-NBA team after leading the Rockets to 52 wins and the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.

Even though Green and Durant haven't always seen eye to eye on things, there is clearly still a level of respect from Green toward his former teammate.

There are a lot of reasons that things didn't work out for Durant in Phoenix, but things seemed to have worked out well for everyone involved after they separated last summer.