Programming Note: Tune into "Warriors Pregame Live" at 6 p.m. PT on Tuesday on NBC Sports Bay Area before the Warriors and Grizzlies tip-off. Immediately after the final buzzer, tune back in for "Warriors Postgame Live."
Retired NBA veteran Chandler Parsons believes Warriors forward Draymond Green will win the 2024-25 Defensive Player of the Year award because of Jimmy Butler’s impact.
Parsons laid out his reasoning on Monday’s edition of FanDuel’s “Run It Back Show” with co-hosts Michelle Beadle and Lou Williams.
“They’re a much better team with Jimmy Butler – that’s undeniable,” Parsons told Beadle and Williams. “They’ve struggled as of late, [but] they’re so much better defensively. Draymond Green is going to win Defensive Player of the Year because Jimmy Butler went there and their team got way better defensively – and he’s great defensively.
“Offensively, defensively, they’re a better overall team with Jimmy Butler.”
Golden State has won 23 of 30 games Butler has played in since acquiring the six-time NBA All-Star on Feb. 5 in a blockbuster trade with the Miami Heat, so while Dub Nation might be torn after the Warriors’ 124-119 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday at Chase Center, it would be wise to lean into the franchise’s big-picture momentum entering Tuesday’s NBA play-in tournament game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Golden State Warriors
Nonetheless, Green individually has flourished since Butler’s arrival and has generated serious buzz to earn Defensive Player of the Year, an award he has won once before in 2016-17. Green has averaged 1.9 steals, 1.0 blocks and 6.2 rebounds in the 31 games since Butler’s first Warriors appearance – on Feb. 8, a 132-11 win over Butler's former Chicago Bulls in which he scored 25 points – and is viewed as a finalist among other top-notch defenders such as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley, Houston Rockets’ Amen Thompson and Clippers’ Ivica Zubac.
The Warriors have their work cut out for them as they pursue their fifth NBA championship in 11 seasons. And Parsons doesn’t want people to forget how Butler has helped Golden State and Green emerge as contenders for the league’s highest honors.
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But most importantly, Parsons isn’t writing off the Warriors.
“So I can’t sit here and say teams figured them out,” Parsons said. “I think [the Warriors] are going to have to make some adjustments on the fly [about] how Steph [Curry] is being guarded. But the other guys got to step up. … It’s going to be a collective effort from them.”
