There’s a rumor-story going around about an alleged altercation between NBA players Tristan Thompson and Draymond Green, last seen as members of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, respectively.

This (alleged) altercation stems from the ending of the NBA Finals series between each player’s team, which the Warriors won convincingly.  As the final horn sounded on the last game of the Warriors’ 4-0 sweep and the players shook hands, Green wouldn’t shake Thompson’s hand, with Green (according to Draymond himself) saying to Thompson, “we ain’t cut the same,” then bragging about the diss during the Warriors’ title parade several days later.

Who knows what actually happened here or if anything even happened; the only people talking weren’t there and no one who was there has said anything. And, I’m not into the rumor-stories that permeate the news today. I am into the principles behind such an altercation, though, so I gave you the background.

For Your Game

Green’s no-handshake move on Tristan, after the Warriors had made quick and easy work of the Cavs in four games, was a low-class move, even by the standards of one of the game’s most notorious trash talkers. You already won, and won easily at that — that’s the time when you can afford to be gracious, respectful and measured. Draymond’s added shot during his team’s parade was disrespectful: Most of us didn’t notice the handshake thing when it happened, but Draymond wanted to make sure everyone knew about how he’d dissed Tristan. To me, this is matter of principle. You don’t diss or attempt to clown a person publicly, then try to apologize about it privately (see above links). Tristan never tweeted or Instagrammed about the Finals situation after — he just waited until he had an opportunity to handle it in person and did so. These are the principles we were raised on; hearing this (again - IF it happened as reported) shows me that the principles live on somewhere.  

I asked Anna what she thought about such a thing happening; her answer was thought-provoking: Both players are immature and have much growing up to do. Draymond with his loose talk, and Tristan being small enough that he felt he had to avenge the situation. Interesting. While I feel that a bit of that confrontational mindset is necessary to excel in such testosterone-filled professions, it’s also true that a bigger person wouldn’t have such a need to get revenge. Anna posed a good follow-up question. Would Tom Brady do something like that? Probably not. We’re going to discuss this on video soon.

I don’t know about the growing up part; I feel there are certain combinations of words, and especially certain actions, that warrant hands being put on a person. I’d have to also say that, for me and to my credit, that list has shrunk in size over the years. But it still exists. More to come on this.

#WorkOnYourGame

PS- You can get a Free physical copy of my Confidence book The Super You here.