While still an astronomical number to most, he actually left about $113 million on the table because he wanted to give the Knicks more wiggle room to build a strong cast around him to make a championship easier to obtain.
But rewind to two years ago, and Green took issue with Brunson not accepting the max contract while on an episode of the Club 520 podcast.
“It’s the New York Knicks, bro. They can afford it. You ain’t gotta take no discount,” Green said before comparing it to his predicament when playing with the Splash Brothers, of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
“My situation is different because Steph [Curry] making 270 [million], Klay [Thompson]making 180. Alright, something gotta give,” Green said. “Cool, I could take less. But he the top guy! By the way, let Josh Hart or somebody else take less. They in my role, let one of them take less, but guess what? Steph Curry ain’t taking a penny less and neither did Klay Thompson. If this gonna work, somebody do. Well guess what I ain’t really expecting them to take less. I don’t know what he doing, but I’m happy for him.”
The clip resurfaced and went viral on X, leading to Josh Hart responding and defending his team captain.
“We got to normalize grown men not counting other peoples pockets,” he said in a quote tweet.
The enforcer that is Draymond Green was quick to respond on Threads, wondering why Hart took so long to clap back.
“Dude waited 2 years to respond to that video from 520? Why not say it then? Let’s normalize not front runnin and talking while you up. Be on the same type of time AT ALL TIMES!”
There’s no telling if Hart will respond, but this spat might find its way onto a segment on Green’s podcast.