Former Spartan Draymond Green Talks Hypothetical Match-Up Between His Warriors, Shaq's Lakers

Former Michigan State men's basketball star Draymond Green said one of his Warriors championship teams of his choosing would beat Shaquille O'Neal's.

Sep 25, 2022; San Francisco, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) poses with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophies during Media Day at the Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Former Michigan State forward Draymond Green and his championship Golden State Warriors teams have often been compared to Shaquille O'Neal's Los Angeles Lakers teams as the two most dominant NBA dynasties of the 21st century.

On a recent episode of "The Big Podcast with Shaq," O'Neil gave Green a scenario: one of his championship-winning Warriors teams of his choosing against any of O'Neal's championship-winning Lakers teams.

O'Neal asked Green who would guard him.

"I don't think any one player on our team could have guarded you," Green said. "I do think there were defensive schemes that we could have thrown at you to affect you. One is not letting you get the ball. So we're going to guard you with a guy in front of you, a guy behind you."

"They did that," O'Neal said.

"Yeah, I wasn't on the court, though," Green said. " ... I wasn't on the floor. I'm making defensive game plans."

"So what you gonna do? asked O'Neal. "Stand behind me?"

"I'm standing in front," Green said. "Ain't no ball getting to you."

O'Neal went on to say former Warriors center Andrew Bogut would have gotten into foul trouble. He then asked Green who the backup center would be, to which Green replied himself.

"Draymond, stop," O'Neal said.

"Shaq, I don't think I could have guard you," Green said. "I'm not saying that. However, you would have had to bring your big [expletive] out of that drop. You do realize they created -- which nobody does anymore because they can't -- but they used to call it 'Shaqing the screen,' where you just stand back in the paint. Man, if you stayed back there, I'm going to nail whoever guarding Steph [Curry], I'm going to nail whoever guarding Klay [Thompson], and we're going to dot your 'i' every play."

Green said his Warriors team would win.

Green's Warriors went to five consecutive NBA Finals and six in eight years, ultimately winning eight. Their 2015-16 team finished the regular season with the best record in NBA history at 73-9. Despite going on to lose that championship series, they added future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant and won back-to-back titles with a team that some consider to be the greatest ever.

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