Draymond Green, since the calendar flipped in December, has gone 14-for-60 from 3-point range. That’s 23.3 percent. Only Minnesota’s Julius Randle and Charlotte’s DaQuan Jeffries have a worse percentage in 2025, minimum 50 attempts.

But by the way Green rose from the left wing, inside of 40 seconds remaining and the Golden Warriors down a point to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, you’d never know he’d been Antarctic from deep. With Pistons big man Jalen Duren sagging into the paint, Green pulled the 27-footer like he wasn’t 0-for-3 in this very game and Steph Curry wasn’t on the court.

“Draymond,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “one of his best qualities is his confidence, how brash he is. He did not hesitate. Just rose up, and that thing was pure. Just never a doubt. Beautiful to see.”

It felt audacious when he hoisted. When it splashed, it felt like the most normal of events. Because the Warriors needed a bucket. Because the game was on the line. And, almost inexplicably, Green has spent an entire career hitting shots and making plays seemingly beyond his ability when the stakes are high.

Saturday’s 115-110 win over Detroit was the latest example of the gift of Green. His 3-pointer was the clutch basket the Warriors needed. It kept their No. 6 spot in the Western Conference standing, kept momentum flowing. Kept his reputation for knuckling up to pressure.

“He’s a winner, you know what I mean?” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “So it’s not like you can disrespect him. Again, he took it with confidence to knock it down.”

Green is a walking embodiment of the gift and the curse. Not just by being a gift who curses. But as evidence of the conjoined nature of rewards and punishments, of glory and grind, of problem and solution.

That Green was the one who came up clutch in a grueling affair felt appropriate. The Warriors had a day off after a five-game road trip out East, then had an earlier tip time Saturday. And they were hosting the athletic and rested Pistons, whose love language is forearm shivers.

But they had enough fight. Because the arrival of Jimmy Butler has awakened the Warriors’ fighting spirit. And that puts Green in a familiar position.

A decade after he became a pillar for a dynasty, Green still has the Warriors’ hopes pinned to the salt-and-pepper felt board on his chin. He’s freshly 35. And still the Warriors’ heart and fire. Still a primary conductor of their offense. Still the center when it’s time to win. Still impacting winning.

That’s the gift. The curse is the limbs holding him up, which feel the weathering of a decade in the trenches. The curse is the expectation, to overcome size, youth and athleticism, consecutively or simultaneously. The curse is the potential for combustion, or even the deconstruction of his body.

In 2015, he was the matchup nightmare. The strategic shift was putting Green at center, filling the court with skill and length, leaning on his will. In 2025, it’s still the answer. And he’s still finding ways to deliver.

He out-smalled Detroit’s small-but-explosive bigs. Can he do it for the duration of this playoff push now in full throttle?

“I knew it would come down to this,” Green said of playing center. “But I just didn’t have much interest in doing it for 82 games. Because it’s a lot. To anchor a defense. To play the five, you’re in every action. People downhill at you. It’s a different responsibility on the body. … But if you can’t do it for 29 games, it’s over, champ.”

Green, perhaps more than his teammates who were beside him, looks like he’s been to six NBA Finals and won four championships. He isn’t as fast as he once was, or as explosive. He’s more vulnerable to injury.

But what’s been on display since the NBA trade deadline is Green’s improbable viability. He appears more worn because his load has been most grueling. He’s played two positions for the better part of a decade, his second position coming in the biggest games and the hardest-fought moments. The Warriors won four championships with Green as the crunch-time center. They were ever-so-close to a fifth mostly because of Green, who played the greatest game of his life in Game 7 of 2016 against Cleveland.

After years of the Warriors trying to find another way to approach their need for defensive excellence, it’s still on the shoulders of Green — with the help of Rick Celebrini, Golden State’s director of sports medicine and performance, who has the task of keeping Green’s body ready for toil. They’re riding his versatility and toughness and fire once again.

Since the team acquired Butler, Green has averaged 10.8 points — despite shooting just 21.9 percent from 3 — and a team-best 6.9 assists in 30.8 minutes. All are up from before the trade.

Most importantly, the Warriors have the second-best defensive rating in the league with Butler. And the sixth-best offensive rating. Butler has turned the Warriors into something. And that has required the best version of Green.

It underscores the value of Kevon Looney, the Warriors’ other undersized center with mountainous heart, as well as Trayce Jackson-Davis and now Quinten Post. They make it possible for Kerr to avoid grinding Green into a pile of Saginaw dust. Nobody appreciates them, and Kerr’s stubbornness with playing a true center, more than Green.

“I’m also confident I can do it for 82 games,” Green said, “but at what cost?”

It’s one of the special feats in the Warriors’ ecosystem. Green is 6-foot-7 with orthopaedic aid and is still the Warriors’ best option. It’s partly because of his limitations on offense, as the only type of true center who works well next to him is one who can shoot, which keeps the defense from sagging off two players. But that’s only an issue to manage because Green must be on the floor.

Because what was true 10 years ago, the Warriors are banking on still being true: When it’s time to win, Green is the center. The foundation of the Warriors’ fortitude. That’s true against young guns like Duren, legitimate 7-footers such as Dallas’ Daniel Gafford, and even the best in the world in Nikola Jokić.

The burden is on Green to find a way. Somehow. The curse of being gifted.

“I think it’s more mental than anything,” Green said. “I feel very confident that most centers in the NBA, I can outthink. Maybe not Joker. Just trying to always be a step ahead. Trying to be decisive. Put them in positions where they have to make decisions.”

“And,” Green said with a calmness that belied his energy, “I’m not gonna ever back down from anybody.”

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(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)