Draymond Green Announces Who He Believes the Only Western Conference Contenders Are

Draymond Green knows what it takes to be an NBA champion. In his 13 NBA seasons, he’s made the NBA Finals six times and won four NBA championships. Draymond knows how hard it is to make it to the mountaintop.

So, when Draymond discussed who he believes are the contenders in the Western Conference on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, people took his predictions seriously.

"When I look at this conference, Spurs look good. But when I look at the conference, I think the true contenders in my mind, when I think about this, are OKC, yours truly, the Dubs…Denver, obviously Joker, champion, always going to give them a chance, they're always going to be right there… Then I think you have to look at both LA teams. Both of those teams need good breaks. You have Bron starting off the season on the bench, unhealthy. We just found out that Luka's going to be out… They'll need it to break right. Obviously, the Clippers will need Kawhi to be healthy… Those are the teams that I see right now out of the gate that I think "yeah, those are the contenders in the West."

Draymond is right that the Western Conference is a bloodbath. Right now, the Thunder are obviously the team to beat, but any of the teams Draymond mentioned could easily end up winning the conference.

Two notable teams that were left off Draymond’s list were the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets. Neither team has gotten off to the hottest start, but the Timberwolves were in the Western Conference Finals last season, and the Rockets were instantly assumed to be title contenders after they traded for Kevin Durant.

As Draymond noted, injuries and health will play a lot into who ends up coming out of the West. What we do know is that it is going to be an epic battle to the top.