Draymond Green Dismisses Claims That Grizzlies Are Warriors Rivals

• Golden State Warriors Forward Draymond Green has said that they are not rivals with the Memphis Grizzlies
• The Warriors beat the Memphis in an entertaining Christmas Day duel
• The two teams have been involved in trash talk on the court and on social media

Draymond Green has rubbished claims that the Memphis Grizzlies are rivals of defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors ended a dreadful run with a 123-109 win over the Grizzlies in an entertaining Christmas Day showdown.

Although Green says they are not rivals the highly-anticipated Christmas Day clash had hints of a budding rivalry with instances of chirping especially from the hosts.

The 'rivalry' between the two began when the Grizzlies eliminated the Warriors from the play-in tournament. Steve Kerr's team then knocked out Ja Morant and Co from the playoffs last season.

Ghana's World Cup squad in 2022: Who is in, out, and why?

Football

Between and after those contests there was plenty of trash talk between players from the two sides. The Warriors did have the last laugh when they won the 2022 NBA title.

Morant added fuel to the fire when he said no team in the Western Conference concerns him, naming the Boston Celtics as the only threat, per ESPN.

Draymond on rivalries

According to NBC Sports, Green said that the two teams are not rivals, saying the Lakers vs Celtics and Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers are rivalries.

"I think the word rivalry is thrown around too loosely these days. A rivalry is Lakers-Celtics. A rivalry is us and the Cavs through those 2015, '16, '17, '18, '19 years. Those are rivalries."

Green added that the Grizzlies have to win enough to have a rivalry with another team.

"[The Grizzlies are] a great, young team that has a very promising future, but they haven't won enough yet to say it's a rivalry. That's no shot at them, it's just -- in order to be a rivalry, you've got to start hanging banners."

Yaya Toure's curse: What is it, the story behind it and is it true?

Football

Draymond's talk with Tatum

Sports Brief earlier reported on Jayson Tatum revealing his conversation with Green after the Boston Celtics lost the NBA Finals.

Tatum revealed he had a long talk with Green, who he says are close to about many things but most importantly the finals and life.

Draymond shared why it is hard to win an NBA championship and try and run it back.

He wasn't rubbing it in or anything. We just talked about the Finals, about life, about him getting married."