The Warriors should not need any extra motivation in their second-round playoff series against the Timberwolves., But if they do, there’s plenty to work with.
Each of the Warriors’ three veteran stars — Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green — has an interesting history with the Wolves. Let’s break each down.
The Draymond Green-Rudy Gobert beef
If sparks are going to fly in this series, it will start with these two. After all, Draymond Green, the league’s biggest antagonist, earned a five-game suspension back in 2023 for putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock.
Here are the highlights:
- 2019: Green trolled Gobert on social media after Gobert’s reaction as an All-Star snub saying “I guess I should cry too…no Charlotte?”
- 2022: Gobert and Green tweet about each other after each had separate incidents where they punched a teammate. Gobert tweeted “Insecurity is always loud” after Green punched Jordan Poole. Green had the same response when Gobert threw a punch at Kyle Anderson later that season.
- 2023: Green put Gobert in a headlock after a tussle between Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels.
- 2024: The icing on the cake, Green blasted Gobert’s defense on Nikola Jokić last year when he was a commentator on ‘Inside the NBA.’
There’s plenty more to the rift, including some hard feelings over Defensive Player of the Year awards, but let’s just say these guys do not like each other, at all. I’m expecting fireworks in this series.
“He’s a fierce competitor… and so am I,” Gobert told reporters Tuesday before Game 1.
The end of Jimmy Butler‘s Minnesota tenure
There would be plenty of reason to watch this series based on the Draymond-Gobert beef alone, but there’s more.
Let’s not forget the newest Warrior, Jimmy Butler, was traded by the Timberwolves to the 76ers in 2018 after a tenuous year with the team.
He helped Minnesota snap its 13-year playoff drought all while simmering with reported frustration with younger teammates and his contract status. He requested a trade before the 2018-19 season and eventually forced his way out of town, not before leaving us with an unbelievable story about how he led third-stringers to a win in practice for Timberwolves starters.
While it’s a different roster and front office than the one that traded him seven years ago, don’t be surprised to see Butler mix it up in this series. The last time he faced a former team in the playoffs was in 2022 vs. the 76ers. After the Heat eliminated Philly, Butler asked the rhetorical question: “Tobias Harris over me?”
Minnesota passed on Stephen Curry … twice
There have been plenty of regrettable sequences in hindsight in NBA Draft history. A few that come to mind: The Pistons took Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. The Trail Blazers drafted Sam Bowie one pick ahead of Michael Jordan and Greg Oden one pick ahead of Kevin Durant. The Mavericks also took Sam Perkins one pick ahead of Charles Barkley and Terence Stansbury one pick ahead of John Stockton, in the same draft (1984)!
This one might take the cake, though. In 2009, the Timberwolves took two point guards directly in front of Stephen Curry. They drafted Ricky Rubio fifth overall and Jonny Flynn sixth overall as then-Timberwolves GM David Kahn saw them as the next Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe. The Warriors landed Curry seventh overall. Before you pound your fist on the table and scream, “how could you, Minnesota!”, consider the fact that Curry’s camp told the Timberwolves he did not want to play there.
Everything has come full circle 16 years later. This is the first playoff meeting between Curry and the Timberwolves. Curry has won more championships (four) than the Timberwolves have won playoff series (three) since the 2009 NBA Draft. Over that span he has more All-NBA selections (10 vs. six) and 50-point games (15 vs. nine) than all Timberwolves’ players combined.
Since 2009 NBA Draft
|
Titles |
4 |
0 |
|
Series won |
24 |
3 |
|
NBA MVPs |
2 |
0 |
|
Scoring titles |
2 |
0 |
|
All-NBA team |
10 |
6 |
|
50-point games |
15 |
9 |
|
Games with 10+ 3PM |
27 |
4 |
The greatest shooter of all-time also has more points off threes (12,174) than Rubio and Flynn combined for overall in their careers (9,074).
But wait … there’s more
It took the Timberwolves over a decade to recover, but they finally gave the Warriors a taste of their own medicine by taking Anthony Edwards first overall in 2020, one pick ahead of James Wiseman. According to ESPN’s Jamal Collier, Warriors’ brass told Edwards before the draft that they would not have drafted him if they had the top pick.
Oh, and two years ago, Edwards named the Warriors as the one team he wants to face because Draymond “talks so much trash.”
You can’t make some of this stuff up,
Big thanks to my teammate, researcher Avi Agarwal, for his contributions above.
