Draymond Green Says Trading Chet Holmgren Would Be a Massive Mistake

The Oklahoma City Thunder fell short of their championship goals, suffering a Western Conference Finals loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Thunder fell with a 111-103 final score in Game 7 on their home court. Back-to-back reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander delivered a masterful 35-point, nine-assist performance in the loss, but his All-NBA teammate Chet Holmgren was nowhere to be found.

Holmgren finished the closeout game with four points and four rebounds, attempting just two shots.

This dud of a performance drew heavy criticism from around the NBA world, with some suggesting that the Thunder trade Holmgren as soon as possible.

More Basketball:Devin Vassell Reveals Extra Motivation for Spurs Entering NBA Finals

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green feels this would be a huge mistake.

"It's the exact way that franchises set themselves back and never grow,” Green said during the most recent episode of his podcast. “It's the exact reason that so many franchises don't have the ultimate success because most franchises actually panic and do what everyone's saying they should do, which is ‘Oh man we got to trade Chet right now.’ Man, Chet was just second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, All-Defense First Team, All-NBA Third Team, All-Star and he have a bad playoff series and everybody like time to trade him."

More Basketball:Victor Wembanyama Reflects on Carrying Spurs Legacy Into NBA Finals

Holmgren’s numbers took a significant dip in the Western Conference Finals.

The All-Star center averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in a first-round sweep over the Phoenix Suns, and 20 points and 9.8 rebounds in a second-round sweep over the Los Angeles Lakers. Against Wembanyama and the Spurs, he averaged 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 9:30 AM.