Draymond Green has been known in the latter half of his career as a talented media personality, starting his own podcast and featuring on the NBA on TNT as a guest member of the pre/post-game and halftime segments when the network is able to host televised games. He’s fully not afraid to speak his mind on whatever subject is brought to his attention.

That’s exactly what he did when going onto LeBron James and his business associate Mav Carter’s “Uninterrupted” show, where LeBron and Carter get real with their guests about a myriad of topics. Green recently went on the show, and he gave his five greatest players of all-time when he did:

This is probably going to have people up-in-arms given Steph’s recently play, but about four of these guys are usually consensus top-4 players when you ask people who they’ve got on their hoop Mount Rushmore of greatness. Of course, most people are stuck with the recency bias and false narratives that would keep Steph out of their top 5s, so it makes sense to a degree.

An interesting exclusion here given that Curry is on the list, is Green’s old teammate Kevin Durant. The two recently talked about KD’s time with the Warriors and their relationship openly, and they seem like they still have a lot of mutual respect for each other. One thing that Draymond seems to prioritize with this list is not just skill or efficiency, but how these guys have each changed the game.

Jordan and Kobe were global icons and changed the game as guards in a big man’s league. Magic Johnson was the first iteration of the point forward. LeBron’s longevity is unfathomable. And of course, you don’t need to be a genius to see what Steph Curry’s done to basketball at all levels, arguably spurring the analytics revolution with his mind-bending game.

While people may have questions about this list, what can’t be questioned is Dray’s basketball IQ. He’s widely-regarded as one of the smartest players in the NBA on both ends of the floor, and his analysis when he goes to media segments is spot-on. He’s widely regarded as someone who should pursue an analyst role after his career is over, and his observations about Steph have always been of note.

It would have been very easy for him to not include Curry in his top 5, given that people view the 2x MVP as a fringe top 10 player (if that), but he likely did because he’s seen that greatness up close. People can call it bias all they want, but objectively, Steph Curry is one of the most important basketball players to ever live. If people have Magic Johnson on their list, but they view Steph as the greatest point guard ever, does that not mean that Curry should be on that same list and ahead of Magic?

It may be hard to argue with Steph as a top-5 talent if you go by resume alone, but if you go to the film and put the stats into context, there’s an argument there. He’s the most skilled player ever outside of Jordan and Kobe, he has multiple MVPs and multiple championship rings, he’s changed the game permanently, and is one of the best scorers while elevating guys to heights they would have never been able to reach before just by standing on the court and being willing to take an off-ball route.

Green and Curry, along with Klay Thompson, are the identity of the Warriors. When you talk about “greatest teams of all-time”, how can you not argue for at least one of the guys on that team to be in the top 5? No matter how good the Warriors team basketball is, Steph “The System” Curry will always be the engine at the heart of it. This team only goes as far as Curry can take them, and that’s always been the case.

(Photo credit: Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)