With boots on the ground in Paris, Brian Windhorst has been the go-to reporter regarding the United States men’s basketball team’s quest for a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
But when it comes to his assertion that Serbia presents the biggest challenge to Team USA, the ESPN senior writer is getting some pushback from one of the NBA’s loudest voices.
“Stop it,” Draymond Green said on Wednesday’s episode of The Draymond Green Show, before playing a clip of Windhorst making his case for Serbia. “Here’s why that doesn’t work: That doesn’t work because they have [Nikola Jokić], no question. They don’t have a guard that can compete with Tyrese Haliburton. That is zero disrespect to Tyrese Haliburton. But Tyrese Haliburton has been the guard out of the rotation on Team USA. Tyrese Haliburton is a two-time All-Star, he’s going to continue to be an All-Star, and Tyrese Haliburton, a soon-to-be one-time gold medalist, is working on building a Hall of Fame resume. That is currently the trajectory of his career.
“He’s the guard out of the rotation. With the exception of Team USA and Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander], probably the best guard in the Olympics… if Serbia had Hali, it would be a different story. They could compete more. But they don’t have the guard play, they don’t have the play around Joker to be able to compete with Team USA… so, there’s that. Windy, I totally disagree with you actually.”
So who does Green think presents the biggest challenge to Team USA?
“The next best team in the Olympics is Germany. They’re the second-best team,” Green, who won a pair of gold medals with Team USA in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. “The gap between one and two is very significant. But one and two is Team USA and then Germany.”
Green proceeded to note that while the Germans might not have the same talent as teams like Canada, their continuity has compensated for that. But ultimately, the four-time All-Star admitted that when it comes to threats to Team USA, they’re all fighting for second place.
“I’m really only saying these things to stop the noise,” Green said. “Stop trying to compare to compare people to the United States of America in basketball. And stop trying to make it like these teams can compete with Team USA in basketball. They can’t.”
It’s unclear how Green’s weighing in would help “stop the noise,” but that’s a story for another day. And while his analysis is certainly appreciated, he’s making somewhat of a strawman argument against Windhorst, who wasn’t claiming Serbia would beat Team USA; he was just proclaiming them the biggest potential threat, just as Green had done with Germany.
At this point, Green is just as much of a polarizing presence in the media as he is on the court, but the reality is that he’s going to maintain that presence for years — and likely decades — to come. While his response to Windhorst might have been flawed, he clearly knows how to play “the game” (heck, we’re writing about him here), with the only thing from his analysis missing being a trademark shot at Rudy Gobert and the French.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.