Draymond Green Walks Back NBA DPOY Comment About Wembanyama: ‘I Lied’

Victor Wembanyama's stock is clearly on the rise as the debate over whether he should win the NBA's Defense Player of The Year Award has turned into one of the most interesting subplots as we head down the stretch of the NBA regular season.

Enter the Warriors' Draymond Green, who a month after minimizing Victor Wembanyama's rookie season, has now turned the ship in a different direction when he fully walked back his comments by saying Wembanyama should be honored for his achievements.

“I lied. Wemby should be the Defensive Player of the Year because he is that amazing defensively,” Green said April 3 on his podcast. “The way he impacts the game on the defensive end — whether it’s off the ball, on the ball — it’s a problem. When you start driving to the hole, and like, guys may have a layup, maybe not, and they just turn out and go the other way, that’s a problem.”

It should be noted that a few nights ago in a game against the Denver Nuggets, Wemby recorded 9 blocks shots.

Back on March 6th, Green argued that team success should supersede individual performance, suggesting that Wembanyama not be recognized because his team, the San Antonio Spurs, had the league’s third-worst record.

MARCH 6th QUOTE FROM DRAYMOND GREEN
“Wemby is 12th in the league in steals and first in blocks — and those are great numbers. And as he continues in his career, and that team gets better … I personally don’t think that it’s this year,” Green said on his podcast. “Even if Rudy Gobert wasn’t having the season that he’s having and their team having the season that they’re having, I still don’t think you can give that award to somebody who’s on the 24th best defense in the league.”

THE BOTTOM LINE
A few days ago I posted a video on our YouTube channel about whether or not Wemby or Gobert should win the award, I came out in favor of Gobert, however, I did say that Wemby still had a chance to steal it away from Gobert if he went on a tear throughout the rest of the season. After watching him block 9 shots against the Nuggets the other night, I must say he has a legit chance to win the NBA DPOY.

Here's the video: