The beef between Cedric Maxwell and Draymond Green seems to just be growing. A few days ago, Maxwell made a comment about the increased physicality of 80s and 90s basketball, something that the NBA has eradicated from the game with new fouling rules at the start of the century.
Green responded by dismissing the skill level of 90s basketball, effectively insulting an entire generation of legends. The first legend insulted was Maxwell, who is a former Finals MVP and one of the most respected guards at the time. Now that Maxwell is a Celtics radio analyst, he made an appearance on the Game 3 TV broadcast and fired back at Draymond for what he said.
Cedric was not happy about the insult towards the salaries of the players back then, singling out that comment and reminding Draymond that the reason he has a nearly $30 million yearly payday is that he is standing on the shoulders of the generation that came before him.
"Let me tell you the part that insulted me. Draymond said 'if you got thrown out of a game back then, you only got paid $2. That's an insult to anyone who played with me at that particular time, because we stood on the shoulders of giants. The reason he making $30 million is because he got on my shoulders and somebody else's shoulders. Don't be disrespectful."
Maxwell is not wrong at all. We have seen clashes between the previous generation of players with the newer generation because of the rapidly increasing monetary value of basketball.
A veteran minimum guarantees you over a million dollars, with the top earners pushing $50 million per year. If the profile of basketball hadn't been elevated greatly by the likes of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan in the 80s and 90s, Draymond wouldn't be able to command the salary he does while being the third or fourth-best player on the team.
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