By RJ Saunders
The NBA Finals concluded over a month ago, but there is no love lost between the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson and the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green.
According to reports, the two players got into a fight at a Los Angeles nightclub following the telecast of the ESPY Awards on July 18. Thompson was able to land a few punches at the Warriors’ forward before the two were broken up by LeBron James (Thompson’s former Cavs teammate) and Kevin Durant (Green’s teammate).
James left the party shortly thereafter.
With this fight, you cannot say that Green didn’t get his wish of wanting to fight Thompson. Green, no stranger to controversy, offered the challenge to Thompson following their Game Four altercation during the NBA Finals. Green told Sam Amick of USA Today Sports that if the Cavs’ forward wanted to fight him, that wouldn’t be a problem.
“I can’t meet him outside of (the arena), because I’ll still get fined,” Green said. “But I can meet him in the streets any day. So, you can say (that) somebody (should) meet you at the bus, (but) I’m not (going). I’m going to keep taking care of my family. I’m not going to meet you at the bus.”
“But you know (in) the summers, you can meet anybody anywhere,” he continued. “So, all that ‘Meet me outside, meet me at the bus,’ like I ain’t interested in giving up no money for that. But if you want to see me somewhere else, that’s fine – anytime.”
It’s understandable why Green wouldn’t want to get fined; he has already amassed the second-biggest total in fines in league history ($376,000), only trailing now-teammate DeMarcus Cousins ($431,000).
According to Tweets from Jason McIntryre, a well known reporter, Green approached Thompson in an attempt to squash their beef:
https://twitter.com/jasonrmcintyre/status/1024344748729856000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1024344748729856000&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthebiglead.com%2F2018%2F07%2F31%2Fdraymond-green-tristan-thompson-espy-fight%2F