Draymond Green admired Kyrie Irving's confidence when it came to his demand to leave LeBron James via a trade.
Green, who faced Irving in each of the last three Finals, praised the ex-Cavalier for having the courage to take on the responsibility of winning on his own.
"He's basically saying, ‘yeah, OK, I'm ready to deliver.' That's big," Green said of Irving during the Warriors' jersey sponsorship press conference Tuesday, as relayed by Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
"That says a lot. But saying that, once again, he wasn't a free agent. He could've gotten traded anywhere. But he pretty much said, ‘I don't care where I go, I'm going to make it happen.' That says a lot about who he is as a competitor, his character."
Irving told Cleveland's front office shortly after free agency began that he wanted to be traded. The news caught the entire league by surprise as the Cavaliers had to scramble to find an amicable solution. They eventually struck a deal with the Boston Celtics two months later.
Landing in Boston gives Irving a new challenge, where he'll need to be the leading man away from the safety blanket of James. Green says now that Irving got his trade, he also assumes the pressure to deliver.
"A lot of people would say LeBron is the greatest player in the world and I don't say this in disrespect to LeBron," Green began. "But for Kyrie to say I don't want to play with him no more, I want my own thing … you have to deliver with that."
