Snubbed? Did Warriors' Draymond Green deserve to make a 10th All-Defensive team?

SAN FRANCISCO – The gray hairs in his beard are more numerous, and the splashy highlight-reel displays of offense-wrecking are fewer and farther between.

But make no mistake: The reverence the Warriors organization holds for Draymond Green's defensive acumen remains unabated.

"He's the best defensive player I've ever seen, and at that end, I think he's still an elite defender," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "There's no doubt in my mind he belongs on the All-Defense team."

During the latter part of the season, Green made it no secret that he desired to earn a 10th selection to that NBA team. Inclusion into an exclusive group of all-time greats – Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Scottie Pippen – awaited if the voters agreed.

"The group of guys that are at 10 on the All-Defense teams, it's a very short list, but a great list," Green said. "So just to possibly be listed in a category with the likes of those names, was something I never imagined."

Would the voters add Green to that hallowed list? The answer was revealed to be "no" when the results became public on Friday afternoon.

The top 10 vote-getters were placed on the first two All-Defensive teams, Green finished 13th in the voting with 40 total points, although had more first-place votes (8) than any other player who didn’t make the first two teams.

San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, a unanimous selection who received a first-place vote from all 100 voters, headlined the All-Defensive first team, which included Detroit’s Ausar Thompson of Oakland, Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren, Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert and Boston’s Derrick White.

The second team was comprised of Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, New York’s OG Anunoby and Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels.

A year after placing third in Defensive Player of the Year voting, the advanced stats painted the 36-year-old Green as a good, not great, defender.

His defensive rating was 115, the lowest of his career and six points off last season. His defensive win shares were 2.1, a far cry from the 3.4 he put up last season.

His defensive box plus-minus was a career-worst 1.0. The Warriors were 4.0 points worse with him on the court than off it, and Green experienced a precipitous decline in hustle stats such as shots contested compared to last season. He put up a career-low in steals (0.9) and blocks (0.6) per game too.

The Warriors' team defense was 20th, though much of that had to do with the revolving door of rotations and lineups the injury-riddled franchise had to deal with this season.

The math declares Green to be still above average, but no longer among the league's upper echelon, and not a player who can singlehandedly lift a unit to excellence.

His teammates believe otherwise.

"We cannot measure how good he is on defense by numbers," Gui Santos said. "He blows up plays before the plays even happen."

When asked about Green's candidacy late in the season, Kerr elaborated on how the forward's impact on the team's overall defense cannot be measured by numbers.

"It's his versatility, his brain, his energy, his competitiveness," Kerr said. "There's a lot of analytics and a lot of numbers, and rim protection is something people look at. One thing with Draymond is, people don't even get to the rim, because of his brain and speed and athleticism, he will blow up a play where a team doesn't get to the rim, and that doesn't even factor in when you look at the analytics."

During a March press conference, Green admitted his lack of numbers could be a factor in voters not picking him, even as he pleaded his case.

“The reality is, I hate it, but I'm tell you, in these awards, if you don't talk, people can't see,” Green said. “You're talking about a game of basketball, let's not act like everybody can just open their eyes and know what's going on.”

Green's night-to-night effort is not what it was during his prime, and that is a fair knock on Green's candidacy.

But at his best, no player in the league can defend such a diverse set of players like Green is still able to one-on-one either. At 6-foot-7, Green still defends everyone from 6-5 shooting guards to 7-foot-5 aliens like Victor Wembanyama.

During a three-game stretch in March, Green guarded Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back-to-back-to-back, holding each to under their respective normal scoring averages.

"That's a badge of honor, so I get excited as hell because it's a challenge," Green said.

In the Warriors’ play-in victory over the Clippers, Green forced Leonard into back-to-back late turnovers to seal an emotional win.

“He’s special, he’s a Hall of Famer,” Steph Curry said during the postgame press conference. “He’s a defensive savant when it comes to being in the right place at the right time, and being fully committed to what the job is.”

Despite owning impressive highs such as that, Green will have to settle for remaining at nine All-Defense selections.

It’s a group that includes Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Bobby Jones, Jason Kidd, Dennis Johnson, Chris Paul, Hakeem Olajuwon and Gary Payton.

If Green returns – he is expected to either pick up his player option or sign an extension to remain with the Warriors – he will have all of next season to add another accolade to his collection.

"I'm not retiring from basketball," Green said at his exit interview in April. "I still love to play, and I think I’m still pretty decent."

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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 5:07 PM.