Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green said on The Draymond Green Show that Georges Niang has given this season’s Warriors what Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica gave the 2022 championship team. Green made the Porter comparison in a postgame news conference during Golden State’s 6-0 homestand and added Bjelica on the show.
Niang signed with Golden State before training camp, filling the last spot on the 15-man roster on the same day the Warriors added guard Brandon Williams. Niang missed the entire 2025-26 season with a foot injury, according to NBC Sports Bay Area. He last played for the Atlanta Hawks in 2024-25 and played 26 games for Golden State’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz in 2017-18, per NBC Sports Bay Area. He scored 11 points off the bench in the Oct. 30 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, when Golden State’s reserves combined for 50 points, according to The Associated Press.
“In the press conference the other night, I compared it to Otto Porter, and the reality is I compared it to Otto Porter and Nemanja Bjelica,” Green said. “Those two guys in 2022 were so vital to the team that we became, and neither one of those guys were signings where people were riding home like, ‘Man, the Warriors added those guys. They’re going to make a difference in the championship.’”
“Yet I can sit here and tell you for certain, those two guys made so much of a difference in us winning the championship in 2022,” Green said. “And George has been like both of those guys. Just the things that they brought to this team, the added size. I don’t think people understand how much the added size makes a difference when you’re in an NBA game.”
Steve Kerr’s Homework Assignment
Porter and Bjelica both joined Golden State in 2021. Green first made the Porter comparison after the Warriors’ win over the Miami Heat during the homestand, when he also described Niang as hard to keep off the floor, per Blue Man Hoop. At media day in 2022, Green credited that offseason’s additions, including Porter and Bjelica, with the title, according to NBC Sports Bay Area. On the show, he described a preseason meeting run by Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
“Steve Kerr, before we started filming, he had gave us a homework assignment the day before, and he was like, ‘Hey, the homework assignment is tomorrow you will define what your role is on this team,’” Green said. “And one of the things George said, which I thought was incredible, it reminded me so much of Buddy Hield.”
“Not gonna say what he said his entire role is, but one of the things that really stuck out to everyone is he said keep the vibes high and the laughs laughing,” Green said. “I don’t think people understand how much that matters.”
“Throughout the course of an 82-game season, where things can get very mundane, where some days is just, it’s Groundhog Day, and we call them the dog days when they get up on you, and for to have someone on your team that keeps the vibes high and keeps the laughs flowing,” Green said. “He either said the laughs laughing or laughs flowing. That’s so vital, and that’s who he’s been every single day.”
Georges Niang’s Edge Off The Bench
During training camp, Niang said that Golden State’s culture over the last decade “has been amazing,” per NBC Sports Bay Area. On the show, Green also responded to social media posts comparing Niang’s physical play with his own.
“I’ve seen a lot on Threads in particular about Georges Niang making me look civilized,” Green said. “And I am a very civilized individual, number one. But I love the edge that George has not only brought to our second unit, but that he’s brought to the team, just that fierce competitiveness, never backing down, meeting force with force, getting in a few mix-ups.”
“Like I’ve always told y’all, things like that can jolt a team. And George, the role that he’s been playing, not being afraid to mix it up, but also the way he’s shooting the basketball, scoring the basketball in different ways,” Green said. “He’s been a big, big addition.”
Golden State opens a five-game road trip at the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET, according to the NBA, carrying an 8-3 record and an eight-game winning streak. The trip continues in San Antonio, New Orleans, Dallas, and Memphis.
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