Draymond Green endears himself to Jazz fans after tanking debacle

With all the controversy going on with the Utah Jazz right now, Draymond Green of all people has come to their defense. Given his history with Jazz players and alumni, Green is definitely not well-liked among Jazz fans (to be fair, not many fanbases, if any, are too fond of him), but after the league punished Utah for tanking, Jazz fans may take a liking to how he's defended the team.

On his podcast from a few days ago, Green defended the Jazz for the steps they're taking to avoid forking over their pick to Oklahoma City. More than that, Green called out the Thunder for trying to do what they did to build their title team.

(Props to him for the Training Day reference)

Green's logic is sound. He's basically letting fans know that Utah's not doing this just because they want a high pick, but they are trying to avoid the worst-case scenario, which, should it happen, massively benefits the Thunder, who, again, benefited massively from tanking not too long ago.

It should be noted that Golden State did the same thing the year they drafted Green, which might explain why he understands.

Do Green's words make up for his bad history with Rudy Gobert, or that he sucker-punched fan favorite Jusuf Nurkic a few years prior to this? No, but it's nice to know that despite his history with Utah, that won't affect Green's views on something that he clearly sees as unfair.

Green has never been afraid to speak his mind, warts and all. To be fair, his approach to basketball played a role in the Warriors' dynasty, but it was also the reason they didn't win more when the opportunity was there.

He could have easily gone with the popular sentiment that what the Jazz are doing is "unethical" as many have recently said, but nope, he gets it, and even if it's Draymond Green, it's nice to have such a big figure defend the Jazz when no one asked him to.

Don't be surprised if he criticizes the Jazz at some point

What Jazz fans just saw was Green speaking his mind about Utah, and he did so in their favor. He has also spoken negatively about the Jazz in the past. Most infamously, he definitely didn't make many friends in Utah when he criticized Rudy Gobert for crying following his All-Star snub in 2019.

When the Jazz become relevant again, which, by all estimations, will start next year, it won't be long before they garner more criticism as they become more successful. It's possible that Green will be one of their critics or maybe even one of their biggest skeptics if they turn out better than expected.

But if that's the case, it will just be Draymond being Draymond. He's shown here that the past doesn't affect his current thoughts. Love it or hate it, Jazz fans can certainly respect it.