Draymond Green Offers Limp Apology After Viral Charles Barkley Clash: ‘I Don’t Have an Ego’

Draymond Green offered one of the more flaccid apologies ever recorded on Saturday when he talked about his viral spat with Charles Barkley for the first time since it happened last week.

If you missed it, the four-time champion told Barkley on Inside the NBA that his goal was to “not look like you” during Barkley’s last few seasons on the Houston Rockets. Many fans vented on social media afterward the comment was off-putting, disrespectful, and ahistorical, considering Barkley put up some pretty impressive stats at the end of his career.

Green said he was a “man of accountability” on his podcast on Saturday, but that his comments were misinterpreted by the masses; the Golden State Warriors star said he was merely telling a “joke” that shouldn’t have been “received that way.” He then said if people took his comment the wrong way, he was sorry they took it the wrong way.

“If it’s received the way I see it being received, I am not too big to say yo, if that was viewed as disrespect publicly, then I can say sorry publicly,” Green said. “Because I’m not… I’m not… like, I don’t have an ego, right?”

He continued, “my intent was pure. But if in fact it’s viewed as public disrespect, I can publicly apologize, because the disrespect ain’t the intent.”

Green’s sorry-if-it-was-taken-that-way apology comes after his awkward exchange with Barkley on May 6. Barkley had just finished saying Green and the Warriors were probably finished winning titles because Green and Stephen Curry are on the wrong side of 35.

That’s when Green responded by saying he may have to measure success differently now — and one of those ways is to not resemble Barkley during his last couple of years.

You can watch that moment below:

Green has won four rings and is viewed as one of the best defensive players in league history, but his comments were seen as a mindless diss by many fans, considering Barkley is a former MVP and one of the best NBA players ever. Barkley never won a title, but he did take the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993, where they lost to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in 6 games.

Many fans and NBA writers pointed out Green’s stats look terrible when compared to Barkley’s.

Barkley responded to Green on Friday, saying “I never punch down. Look, Draymond’s a good player, [but] we’re not on the same level.”

Watch Green above via YouTube.

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