Why Chris Webber Would Love to See Draymond Green Return to the Warriors

Chris Webber wants Draymond Green to finish his career in Golden State, and the Hall of Famer made the case on the show by separating two things people tend to blur together.

The conversation started with Green's appearance on Inside the NBA, where he sat in Shaq's chair and talked about redefining success for an aging Warriors core. Green said that whether the team wins another championship or not, success at this stage might be measured in something other than banners.

Webber's first move was to push back, hard, on the premise that titles do not matter.

"Championships matter," Webber told Rich. "Whether you're lucky enough to play with the best center in the world or whether you're lucky enough to have the best coach in the world, championships matter. And it's so hard to get a championship."

Then came the distinction. Webber has no patience for what he called championship chasers, the players who attach themselves to a contender to collect a ring they did not help build.

"Most of those guys I talked to are empty," Webber said. "They're like, damn, I really didn't contribute. The city doesn't even remember that I was on that team because I wasn't part of the core."

Green, in Webber's view, is the opposite of that player. He built something in Golden State. Webber said he did not want the Warriors to trade Klay Thompson, and that the team did not get better for the move. Breaking up a core that still has Stephen Curry, he argued, risks wasting the years Curry has left.

"Two years ago, Curry probably had, in my opinion, an MVP-caliber season," Webber said. "Are you wasting his years trying to go find somebody that doesn't fit into this offense?"

Webber framed the value of keeping the group together as something that outlasts any single season. Green and Curry can model for the next generation how to handle adversity, how to carry a locker room, how to belong to a community.

"That's more player development than any coach can ever do," Webber said.

The image that stuck with him was Green, Curry, and Steve Kerr huddled together in a semicircle.

"I would love to see Draymond retire there," Webber said. "That would be a wonderful moment."

His closing line held both ideas at once. Championships matter. So do legacies.