This Week in the NBA: Legendary Draymond Green trash talk, the most disrespectful block of all time and more

Stephen Noh

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This Week in the NBA: Legendary Draymond Green trash talk, the most disrespectful block of all time and more image

In case you missed the inaugural edition, every Friday we are putting together the best memes, plays, quotes, and other silly bits and pieces of NBA content into a weekly column.

There are a lot of serious columns out there with excellent analysis. This ain't that. We're here to have fun and highlight the weird, wonderful world of online NBA discourse.

Welcome to This Week in the NBA.

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NBA Media gold, silver, bronze medalists of the week

There were some very funny bits of NBA media coverage this week, enough so that we can put together a fake awards ceremony.

The bronze medal goes to Kenny Smith for his middle-aged fit during halftime of the In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. 

The silver goes to Skip Bayless. Finally, Bayless has found something that he agrees with NBA players on — that the refs stink. They blew it down the stretch in the Suns-Lakers In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals game by awarding Los Angeles a timeout with the ball loose, costing Phoenix a chance to win in the final seconds of the game. 

Suns center Jusuf Nurkic let Bayless do the talking for him. 

Never thought this mf will be right lol https://t.co/Q8ERRi0nzb

— Jusuf Nurkić 🇧🇦 (@bosnianbeast27) December 6, 2023

The gold goes to Kendrick Perkins. He gets criticized for his analysis, but when he wants to be funny he nails it.  

When Adam Silver said that he wanted to change NBA discourse, I hope he left a carve-out for random barking during TV segments.

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Bradley Beal slander

Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker still have yet to play a game together this year. Beal has played in only three of them, sitting out since Nov. 15 with a bad back.

DeanScorpion_ on X, formerly known as Twitter, had the random factoid: 

Highlight(s) of the Week

Overtime Elite came in with two bangers this week. 

First, there's the most disrespectful block in the history of the game:

Then, we have the block attempt that should never have been:

Story of the week: Why rookies should never talk trash in front of Draymond Green

Stories straight from NBA players are one of the best parts of new media. On an appearance of Pardon My Take, Mo Wagner had a great one about when he accidentally talked trash to Kevin Durant.

Wagner said, "You can't guard me," not realizing it was KD who had been defending him. The Warriors proceeded to roast him for the next minute.

Props to Tom Haberstroh for finding the play in question. Listen to the story first, then watch the clip. 

NBA Twitter joke of the week

Sreekar is the king of NBA Twitter for good reason — he's the funniest account on the site.

Here's his banger on LeBron's legacy-building during the In-Season Tournament:

The Poole Patrol

Here is your Jordan Poole joke of the week, via a Twitter Q&A with Kyle Kuzma:

This has been your week in the NBA.

Stephen Noh

Stephen Noh Photo

Stephen Noh started writing about the NBA as one of the first members of The Athletic in 2016. He covered the Chicago Bulls, both through big outlets and independent newsletters, for six years before joining The Sporting News in 2022. Stephen is also an avid poker player and wrote for PokerNews while covering the World Series of Poker from 2006-2008.