LeBron James praised Draymond Green as the Charles Oakley of today’s NBA

Draymond Green and LeBron James have had a somewhat tumultuous past on the court, but there’s a mutual respect between the two of them. So much so that James called Draymond Green the Charles Oakley of today’s NBA.

In an Uninterrupted video special, James and Green sat down with Maverick Carter, Rich Paul, 2 Chainz, Oakley himself and a glass of red wine to talk about Game 7, the state of basketball and music, among other things. (Video via Uninterrupted)

Around the 15-minute mark, the conversation shifted to talking about glue guys around the league who do the work no other player on the team wants to do. Green is clearly one of those guys. And not many people do it better than him in today’s league, according to LeBron James.

“That’s why he’s so good. These two guys are like carbon copies of each other. ... Oak and Dray are carbon copies of what the league is today and the league at their time. This is what we do. We gonna do it at a high level, and I’m gonna do it at a high level.

James makes a good point here. Although Oakley and Green’s games are different, they both have done dirty work as secondary players for their teams.

Throughout his time with the New York Knicks, Oakley wasn’t a scorer but still contributed in important ways to the team. He sacrificed shots for better offensive players, set hard screens, and made a living grabbing rebounds off the glass.

Maybe more importantly, he became the team’s enforcer and one of the leaders in the locker room. Does that sound familiar?

Draymond Green does many of the same things. He isn’t looking to come out and average 20 and 10 every night. Instead, he’s going to work his tail off to cover every player on the floor, set great screens for shooters, and set the table for the Warriors’ potent shooters.

No, their work isn’t exactly the same. But like James said, they both reflect the perfect version of a glue guy during their respective eras of NBA basketball. And because of that, both of them have the ultimate respect from their peers.