LeBron James' Ex-Teammate Calls Draymond Green "Delusional" For Comments on Not Signing With Warriors

For an extremely brief window this summer, some people genuinely thought LeBron James was signing with the Golden State Warriors. People who wanted to see him team up with Stephen Curry on an NBA stage felt they came close to seeing it happen.

Ultimately, those hopes were crushed when James announced on X that he was choosing the Philadelphia 76ers. After that happened, Draymond Green tried to explain why the 41-year-old star chose the Philadelphia 76ers.

According to Green, both James' history of competing against the Warriors and the backlash he would have received for joining them pushed him away from the Bay Area. However, Kendrick Perkins was not on board with Green's explanation.

Perkins, who was with James on the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014-15 and 2017-18 seasons, was asked about what he thought about Green and his statement.

"He's delusional. That played no part," Perkins said. "The history of what they went through, the battles with Cleveland and Golden State had nothing to do with LeBron James' decision."

After reminding everyone that James and the Cavs came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Warriors in 2016, Perkins shared his thoughts on why James chose the Sixers.

"LeBron James just chose one of the best landing spots [where] he actually can go and compete for a title," he added. "When you look at the Golden State Warriors roster... it's too much uncertainty."

Even though Joel Embiid has been dealing with injuries, Philadelphia still offers a powerful star pairing with Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown. Then, they have guard V.J. Edgecombe, who showed plenty of promise in year one.

In comparison, the Warriors have proven themselves unable to overcome injury woes, horrible depth, and the aging of their superstar.

Based on last season's performance alone, the Sixers are clearly the better team, and that was even before they acquired Jaylen Brown.

The Warriors limped to the end of the season, finishing with a 37-45 record.

The Sixers, despite getting Paul George and Embiid for only 37 and 38 games, respectively, finished with a 45-37 record. They made the postseason as the 7th seed and upset the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Ultimately, James picked the team with the better roster and title odds.

Draymond Green's Podcast Explanation: History and Backlash

No one but LeBron James and perhaps those closest to him can really say what was going on in his mind as he was weighing which team to join this summer.

Still, some people have tried, and Draymond Green was among them. Green shared his opinion on what led James to join the Philadelphia 76ers on his podcast.

According to him, he chose neither the Cleveland Cavaliers nor the Miami Heat simply because James can't top the titles he won with those franchises.

Then, he dove into why the Golden State Warriors weren't picked.

"You look at Golden State, and I ultimately don't think Bron was able to get over the history and I understand it," Green said.

Later, he also said that James would have been heavily criticized if he chose to come to the Bay Area.

"He's gonna get crushed if he comes to the Warriors," Green added, saying that fans would have criticized James if he teamed up with Stephen Curry.

The Warriors and the Cavs, led by Curry and James, respectively, had a heated rivalry toward the end of the 2010s. They faced off in four straight NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018, with the Warriors winning three.

Right now, only James really knows if that history played into his decision.