Warriors’ Draymond Green On Playing Center With Back Injury: ‘I’m Cut Out For It’

Draymond Green told NBA reporter Anthony Slater of The Athletic that he’s ready to play center for the Golden State Warriors despite dealing with a back injury. 

Green is currently starting at center for the Warriors. 

“It’s definitely more taxing because at the five you are involved in every possession,” Green said. “At the four, fours don’t crash every time. You may not have to box out every possession. At the five, you got to box out every play. Fives are trying to get the ball every play. Even something as simple as that, let’s call it 20 more box outs a game. That’s contact. That’s a battle. So it’s definitely more taxing. But I’m cut out for it.”

In the Warriors’ 137-116 win over the Memphis Grizzlies last night (3/20), Green put up 10 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 24 minutes while shooting 5-of-10 from the field.

“I can do it. I’m cut out for it,” Green said. “I don’t overly worry about it because I know we have fives that are perfectly capable of taking over and doing what we need them to do. It’s not something I think about.”

The Warriors are 36-32 on the season. They are in 10th place in the Western Conference standings. 

After the Grizzlies game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told NBA reporters that Green is “best suited at the five in the modern game.” Green is listed at 6-foot-6. 

“He’s best suited at the five in the modern game,” Kerr said. “Everybody spreads you out and makes so many 3s. But we are playing Draymond with Trayce for a handful of minutes. We like that defensively. We like that Trayce can be the lob guy and Draymond can space the floor.”

A four-time champion, Green is averaging 8.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.9 blocks on the season.