Draymond Green Calls New All-Star Game Format ‘Ridiculous,’ Says It’s ‘Unfair’ to Seasoned Players

Draymond Green is not a fan of the new format for the All-Star game.

Instead of the traditional East vs. West format that’s been done in past years, the NBA changed the game up to be a mini-tournament between four different teams picked by Candace Parker, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

Although his teammate Stephen Curry took home the All-Star Game MVP after leading Shaq’s team to a win, Green rated the new format a “zero” on a scale of 1-10 when asked while commentating.

"You work all year to be an All-Star and you get to play up to 40, and then you’re done,” said Green. “This is so unfair to Victor Wembanyama, who just took this game really seriously. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who just took this game really seriously. When you talk about chasing after the points record, Melo, Kobe and all these guys that had great scoring nights, they don’t get the opportunity to do that with this game.”

"All so we can watch some rising stars,” Green continued. “We about to watch the Olympic team, now we get the treat of watching the Olympic team play against a U-19 team. Come on, what are we doing? This is ridiculous."

Charles Barkley spoke out against Green’s comments, arguing his generation of basketball stars “messed the game up.”

"I’m going to disagree with Draymond a lot,” said Barkley. “I use the analogy like when the kids mess up the house, you make them clean it up and they’re complaining. They messed the game up. … His generation messed the game up.”

Kevin Durant hopped on X to seemingly address Green's comments on the NBA with a sarcastic post. "I think it’s more fun to complain about the nba than to actually watch it," wrote Durant. "Crazy, cancel all star weekend and let’s just give everybody a break since we’re so miserable around this time…"

That wasn’t the only Green comment that ticked off NBA legends during All-Star Weekend. Green also explained why he thinks NBA games are “boring” right now. "Every possession is some type of chess move. You don't get that today in the NBA often. ... You don't just get that on a regular basis,” said Green. “It's just who can run faster, who can hit more threes. It's no substance. I think it's very boring.”

Instead of Barkley speaking out against Green again, legendary guard Oscart Robertson came to the defense of today’s players. "Who cares what Draymond says? It doesn’t mean anything," Robertson said. "This is what I mean, one guy can say this, another guy can say that. The game is what it is. Either people like the game or they don’t, and I think people enjoy the game, especially if their team can win.”

"And if you look at the basketball, it might be boring to him because if he’s not passing the ball to Curry, what is he doing?” continued Robertson. "I mean, not to single that out because I think he knows how to play basketball, but he’s passing to Curry more than anyone I’ve ever seen in basketball. So it might be boring to him at times cause maybe to him at times because he’s not shooting a lot, he’s not guarding a lot, so it gets boring."