Draymond Green pulls no punches when offering analysis on the rest of the NBA.
So it’s no surprise the Golden State Warriors‘ star forward had a brutally honest take on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show With Baron Davis, about why the New York Knicks were stymied by the upstart Indiana Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Green, who was an on-set analyst as part of TNT’s Eastern Conference Finals coverage and has been a part of four NBA championship teams while falling in the Finals twice (2016, 2019), cited the tricky nature of talent evaluating when your team falls short of winning it all.
What Draymond Green Say About The Knicks After They Lost?
Green, in his truly blunt fashion, offered a tough-but-fair autopsy when asked by cohost Baron Davis about what went wrong for the Knicks, singling out their trade for Mikal Bridges with the Brooklyn Nets last off-season.
“You trade for Mikal Bridges, and you give up a lot then you don’t quite have the depth,” Green said. “There are some that say [former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau] didn’t use the depth, but whether use it or not, they didn’t quite have the depth that you need to compete at that level to get to the NBA Finals or win the NBA championship.”
Green lamented New York’s inability to find role players who could spell stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson, especially when each got in foul trouble during the series.
Towns had a series-high 25 personal fouls in the Eastern Conference Finals, and Brunson was in foul trouble in Indiana’s series-altering, come-from-behind 138-135 win over the Knicks in Game 1.
“They didn’t have the depth when [Towns] would get in foul trouble and Jalen Brunson would get in foul trouble,” Green said.
To Green’s point, only seven Knicks players played in all 18 of their playoff games, and although Thibodeau began playing reserves like Delon Wright, Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne toward the end of the Pacers series, by then it was too late.
What Does Draymond Think The Knicks Must Do This Off-season?
The Knicks are all-in to win the title, through at least the 2025-26 season. But Green thinks they need to add strategically this off-season.
As a member of the Warriors, Green couldn’t divulge specific names of players he felt the Knicks should target. But he did share his feeling that the New York roster is not championship-caliber as currently constructed, even though it unseated the reigning champion Boston Celtics in six games in the second round.
“It ain’t there yet; I just don’t foresee it,” Green said. “If you’re talking about championships, they need to add a great player to that roster.”
The Knicks have about $13 million in cap space before crossing the NBA’s super-restrictive second apron, which would stymie their ability to make moves.
With superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant likely to be moved via trades, New York could get in the mix on either by trading young players or its two first-round picks in 2026 along with its 2030 draft pick — the Knicks sent their firsts in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031 to Brooklyn for Bridges.
Still, Green knows things can get done even without picks and cap space and is imploring New York to do something big.
“How do you [add a great player to the Knicks roster]? That ain’t for me to get into,” Green said. “But they need to add a great player if you think they’re going to compete for an actual NBA championship.”
