Draymond Green believes teams are trying to be more physical with the Golden State Warriors when they play against them this season.

"Teams are trying to punk us, [but] it's fine," Green said after the Warriors defeated the Phoenix Suns 106-100 on Sunday night. "We're not going to get punked."

Green hasn't been involved in any physical altercations through the first three games.

Kevin Durant was asked Sunday if he has heard of any extra jawing from opponents since he joined the Warriors.

"I haven't heard nothing yet from nobody, but yeah, they're going to come at us physically," Durant said. "We took it tonight. That team was pressuring us to try to get us out of our stuff. We kept moving, we had a nice pace, we got stops and ran and got good looks all night. You can talk all you want. You still got to play."

The Golden State Warriors were blown out by the San Antonio Spurs 129-100 on their homecourt in the regular season debut for Kevin Durant.

Durant scored 27 points on 10-for-17 shooting to go with 10 rebounds.

"It's a nice little slap in the face," said Stephen Curry.

"It's a slap in the face. It woke us up a bit, and we're looking forward to getting better," said Durant.

"I'm sure the story tomorrow will be, 'KD broke up the chemistry and we can't win with KD,' and all these other things which is going to come with the territory," Draymond Green said following the loss. "We're looking forward to that. We already know that's coming."

"Kevin is so good that he's going to look good in any setting with any group of four around him," said Steve Kerr. "It wasn't about Kevin at all. It wasn't about one particular player; it was about the group."

Stephen Curry responded to a recent article from ESPN that portrayed Draymond Green as a temperamental teammate.

“Honestly, none of that stuff (the negativity) has crept in,” said Curry. “We have to respond. Obviously the article about Draymond, we all thought it was ridiculous and kind of looking through a keyhole at somebody’s life that you don’t really know about.

“We see every single day what goes on, what a guy like Draymond brings to the table for us, how he makes us better, how KD (Durant) does that for us, what Klay (Thompson) does for us, all the way down the list. And we appreciate everybody’s role. We appreciate what our common goal is. When we get back in the locker room, and practice, and when we’re by ourselves, the mood is pretty solid, something that I’m pretty confident will allow us to have maturity when it comes to the noise around us and how we handle it and not letting that affect how we play on the court and how we see each other and let that get in the way. I’m going to do my part in trying to lead that charge, and make sure it’s all about basketball.”

The Golden State Warriors have exercised the third-year option on the contract of Kevon Looney.

Looney's deal for 17-18 is worth $1.2 million.

Looney only appeared in five games during his rookie season as he recovered from two hip procedures. He was the final pick in the first round of the 2015 NBA draft out of UCLA.

Draymond Green was the subject of an extended piece in ESPN this week in which his mercurial nature was examined.

Green had spoken previously about his personality in a piece that was published after the ESPN piece.

“OK, there’s the Draymond Green you see out on the floor,” said Green. “But that’s not me. I mean, it is, but there’s more. People see the fiery guy, the competitive guy, the trash talk and everything. But they don’t see the love and compassion. They don’t see the person. They don’t see the real me who values his friends and puts people first. I put everyone and everything before myself. That’s me.

“I could just give you a bunch of words,” Green continues, “but I want you to understand. People don’t see what’s underneath. At the end of the day, I care for you. It’s not just about how I am on the basketball court.

“I got real love for you,” he says. “That’s what allows my teammates to accept me.”

In the summer, Green was arrested for slapping a Michigan State football player and he also accidentally posted a private photograph on social media during Team USA's training camp.

“I’m human, and I make mistakes,” Green said. “I learned a lot about myself. And I wouldn’t change anything that happened this summer. It helped me grow as a person, and it helped me grow as a leader, and it’s helped me grow as a man. You learn from adversity more than anything because it allows you to see so much. It really allows you to see things in a different way.”

“He’s been upfront with us about everything,” Steve Kerr said. “He’s learned quite a bit this summer. We still rely on him for energy and leadership.

“He’s talked about taking the next step in terms of keeping his edge and not allowing it to spill over,” Kerr continues. “We’re not good when Draymond doesn’t play with that fire and energy, but he’s got to know where to draw the line.”

“The word that comes to mind is mercurial,” says Bruce Fraser, a Warriors assistant/player development coach. “He’s up and down. He’s emotional. Sometimes it can hurt or help him just like it can hurt or help our team. But you have to take the good with the bad.”

The Golden State Warriors have waived Cameron Jones, Phil Pressey and Elliot Williams.

Golden State's roster now stands at 15.

With these cuts, JaVale McGee will likely make the Warriors' regular season roster.

Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison met with Kevin Durant in West Hollywood shortly before the start of free agency.

Westbrook asked Durant what he could do and how he could change. Durant was set to meet with several teams during the first few days of July.

“He went above and beyond,” Collison said.

Westbrook also offered to fly to the Hamptons where Durant would meet with teams.

Westbrook received a text from Durant on July 4th that he was going to sign with the Golden State Warriors. Westbrook played dominoes with longtime friends like Donnell Beverly that day.

“He didn’t talk much about what happened,” said Beverly.

Westbrook posted a bittersweet photo on Instagram of three plates of cupcakes with a "HAPPY 4th YALL..." caption.

When Kendrick Perkins played for the Thunder he called teammates "cupcake" if he thought they were acting a little soft and the term was playfully adopted by Durant and Westbrook.

“This is professional sports,” Westbrook said. “You have to live with it. I just continued about my day.”

Beverly turned the topic to Oklahoma City as the day went on.

“I like my team,” Westbrook told him. “I still really like my team.”

“I don’t know if Russ was hurt,” said Steven Adams, “because he’d never tell me, and he’d definitely never tell you.” 

The Golden State Warriors went from a middle of the road playoff team to a historically great one when Draymond Green emerged as an All-Star power forward. Stephen Curry became a two-time MVP with the impact Green made stretching the floor, making plays and defensively in a 30+ minutes per game role.

But Green's emotional style could be a detriment to the team long-term.

After the Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics in double overtime for their 24th straight win, the coaching staff decided to rest the starters the next night at the Milwaukee Bucks. But the plan was canceled after Green delivered an impassioned speech about chasing history.

"Throughout the season, Green, in the guise of motivation, would berate his co-workers during games and practices; on multiple occasions he had to be separated from teammates," writes Strauss.

"Draymond f---ed up practice and s---," Marreese Speights said. "Draymond's a good guy, but I think at the end of the day, it hurt the whole chemistry of the year."

Speights said Klay Thompson was a frequent target for Green.

"Draymond and Klay got into it a lot."

During Steve Kerr's leave of absence last season, he visited the team before a win over the Lakers on Nov. 24th that sources say was meant to emphasize compassion to Green. Kerr's four core values are joy, mindfulness, competition and compassion.

Green also had an outburst at Kerr during halftime of a Feb. 27th game at the Oklahoma City Thunder that was nationally televised.

"I am not a robot!" Green yelled at Kerr. When Kerr tells him to sit down, Green screams, "Motherf---er, come sit me down!" 

Green's comments were reported at halftime by Lisa Salters.

"I'm standing outside the locker room with the Oklahoma City police, which are always stationed outside of every locker room," Salters will later recall. "They kind of moved me aside, and the officer just kind of stood by the door, with his hand on his weapon like he was trying to determine what he should do. It was clear that something bad was about to happen in this locker room. We've never heard anything like this before."

Kerr and the Warriors have to walk a fine line with Green.

"The dangerous thing is," Kerr says, "if you try to temper him too much, are you taking away his edge?" 

There also seems to be little organizational support to counter Green's excesses.

"He's on an island," one Warriors official says of Kerr.

"He's what will ultimately prevent them from having long-term success," said one NBA team executive.

Kevin Durant expounded upon his decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors in an interview before training camp with Rolling Stone.

"All my life, I've been a pleaser, put everyone else ahead of me," said Durant.

Durant spoke of how the Thunder kept taking a longer view instead of doing everything possible to win now. Even before his free agency, the Thunder traded away Serge Ibaka in a deal for a player still on his rookie contract in Victor Oladipo, a rookie in Domantas Sabonis and veteran Ersan Ilyasova.

"Where other teams went out and got that veteran guy, we kept getting younger," said Durant.

During the 14-15 season, the Thunder acquired former high lottery picks Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters, who had each depressed their value with their former teams.

"For nine years, he refused to speak a word against that team – he loved those guys and that city," said his mother Wanda Durant. "But this summer he said, 'Mama, I can't do it anymore. They're not in this thing with me, we're not together like we were – I feel like I need something different.' "

Durant and Russell Westbrook were always more work friends than legitimately close.

"We had our own cliques that we hung with on the road," said Durant. "Russell had his guys, I had mine. It was never a bad thing. Just how it was." 

After the Thunder blew a 3-1 lead to the Warriors, the team Durant decided to join did the same thing against the Cavaliers.

"It felt like that whole thing was set up for me to leave," he says, "especially after they blew a lead in the finals, because I damn sure wasn't going there if they'd won. But after Game Seven, I called up my agent and said, 'Damn, dude, Golden State – what if?' "

The Golden State Warriors are predicted to win the 2017 NBA Finals by 69 percent of general managers while 31 percent predict the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs received 53.6 percent of the vote last season.

LeBron James received the most votes in predicting the 16-17 MVP at 46.7 percent, followed by Russell Westbrook at 23.3 percent, Stephen Curry and James Harden at 10 percent apiece and Kevin Durant at 6.7 percent.

The Warriors were also said to have had the best offseason by 83.3 percent of GMs.