Bradley Beal on free agency, Westbrook slander & Jayson Tatum's potential | The Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to The Volume's YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. Man, this is becoming a show. You gotta be like doing your thing to come on this show, man. I'm honored to welcome this next guest. 3-time All-Star, Freshman of the Year at the University of Florida, All-SEC First Team. All-Freshman First Team, National Gatorade Player of the Year in 2011 in high school. But this guy went on to be the number 3 draft pick in my draft class, matter of fact, which I must tell him I'm still pissed off about everybody who got drafted before me. I'm still upset at, and he is one of 'em. Nonetheless, he is one of the guys that did validate that he was supposed to be before me. And I'm cool with that. I can live with that. But there's some guys on there that shouldn't have been before me. This is not one of them. Those guys, you know? So I am honored to welcome this next guest, 3-time All-Star Brad Bill. What's up, my brother?

Draymond Green, it's a pleasure. It is a pleasure, my brother. How you feeling?

I'm feeling great, man. I appreciate you coming on. We, you know, we've been having this streak of All-Stars and Hall of Famers and, you know, like real guys. So I think I'm starting to get to the point now where like, man, if you ain't got no accolades, I don't know if you can come on the show. I got Brad Bill on the show. We doing it.

You know, it's funny you was mentioning my accolades and all that, but in the draft class, and one thing I always admire about you is that you keep that chip on your shoulder about everybody that was drafted ahead of you. And Draymond Green is way steeper than everybody else in our draft class, bro.

So hey, we trying to catch up. I appreciate that.

You already know that.

I appreciate that, bro. No, honestly, honestly, I still think back to that draft class And like, I'll keep it all the way G with you. I go through it all the time. And I'm like, nah, these guys ain't before me. Like, there's a few guys in this draft class who I'm like, all right, like, no problem. It's you, it's Dame, it's AD. But then you get much deeper than that. And I ain't going much further than that. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, those three guys I can respect. I respect the work put in. I respect the resumes. You know what I'm saying? Guys really doing it. But it was a lot of guys in that draft who I didn't think they should have been before me that night. And I for damn sure don't think they should be before me now.

Listen.

So.

You showing it every night. So I ain't, listen, we already know how that work.

We know how that work. Absolutely. I appreciate it, bro. No, but first off, how you feeling? Obviously you had the wrist injury. How is your recovery going with that?

So it's been good. I had wrist surgery literally on a deadline day. So February 10th, I had wrist surgery. It's been 4 weeks since then. I just got my cast changed out. I got another 6 weeks in this cast, so it's going to be 10 weeks total I'll be in the cast. Get the screws out hopefully around April 20th, mid-April. And then after that, I'm good to go. I'm back rehabbing, hopefully another month after that, just getting the strength back in the hand. And then I would say about May, June, I should be back to myself, so. It's been good. There's been no setbacks, no problems. You know, it's just getting used to being around, walking around, doing everything with the cast. Luckily it wasn't my shooting hand, so I'm good.

Absolutely, yeah. And speaking of that, obviously, you know, most guys, like I've never hit free agency. And to be quite honest with you, I've never wanted to, you know, but for most guys, you know, you get injured during a contract year,— and you don't know what the hell gonna happen. Obviously your situation is different. We all know who Brad Bill is. We all know what Brad Bill is bringing to a team. And there'll be 29 other teams knocking at your door if your one team did, if your team that you're on didn't want you due to injury. That's not quite the case for you. But in saying that, I think even for my, you know, for myself, I could speak from my own, from my own personal self. When you go through an injury like, you know, anybody, I still have doubts of like, man, are they still gonna want me? Like, did you have any of that once going through the injury or the whole time were you just like, nah, I'm all right. Like, I know what I bring and I'll be fine.

Nah, I never had that mindset. You know, we always know that you always keep it in the back of your mind that it's a business, you know, teams are gonna operate the way that they fit best. But we always had constant communication between the front office and I. So like, it was never no, No BS. It was nothing, you know, under the table. Nothing that I didn't know about or, you know, something that, "Oh, you know, we're not gonna hold our extension that we have now on the table, you know, because you got injured." Like, the extension's still on the table right now. And then, you know, they never said anything about moving me at the deadline either. So the constant communication was there. That's what I respected. But like you said, not everybody gets to be in that position. Yeah. You know, so I'm definitely fortunate, you know, to put the work in and to be fortunate enough to be in a position I'm in now to kind of have a little bit more control in that.

Absolutely. And, you know, speaking of the extension and free agency talk, obviously you have a player option going into next season, which is always the best. I actually got my first player option on this deal. I didn't have one on last deal. I really didn't even know it was a possibility last time, but I got a player option on this deal, which is always the best, I think. And, you know, It's protection for the player.

Right.

If you having a shit season, then you opt in. If you having a great season and you gotta market, you opt out. And so I think that's a great position to be in. But obviously there's been a lot of talk around you and your situation. I actually respect what Washington has done in not making you a part of trade talks and telling you that they're not shopping you at all. Because the reality is that's a risk. For a team to take what you would, a player option, and you can possibly walk for nothing.

Right.

Now we hear the rumors all the time. We hear just yesterday or 2 days ago, we heard that the Heat want you really bad. What's been your mindset about going into this next free agency? I mean, if you decide to opt out, because you haven't been in this position either.

Exactly. So it's just like you, like, I just, I'm kind of embracing everything, right? So like, I'm not upset about the rumors. I'm not upset about, you know, teams want me, like, that's, I feel like that's a good thing, right? We put in the work and, you know, we're wanted by a lot of people, not just where we're at, you know what I'm saying? And I think that just speaks volumes to the type of players we are and, you know, what we're able to do onto the floor, you know, on and off the floor and the impact we can have.

Mm-hmm.

And so for me, I just embrace it all. Like, I know it's a lot of noise. I know it can be distracting at times, but, I always had a bunch of OGs and a lot of people who, I've had a lot of teammates. This is my 10th year where I've had a lot of teammates in and out, you know? So they are telling me, you know, what it's like at other places, you know, compared to where I am, you know? So I kind of get that feel and I get a little bit of that interest. But you know, just like I know there's nothing better than, you know, grinding it out and kind of doing it on your own, you know?

Yes.

And I also love and respect the fact that Washington, like you said, hasn't been shopping me. They're not saying, oh, You know, we're out listening to what teams are, like, as soon as they call, they hanging up the phone, right? So like, I respect that part of it, you know? And it's kind of funny, like, I've never been a free agent. It's kind of reminded me of college recruiting. Like, I hear every single game somebody's recruiting me, somebody's like tagging on me. Like, whether it's another player or whether it may be a coach or whoever it may be, like, some, you know, somebody's chit-chatting. Yeah, be what you wanna do this summer. What you doing this summer? So it's been, I embrace it, bro. Like I don't shy from it. Like I love the fact I have constant communication with Washington so I know what's going on. There's no gimmicks, right? We know which path we're going down and we're making the moves to do that. And it's a matter of if I'm comfortable. Like I've never been in a position to where, okay, I hold all the chips. I can really make any decision I want.

Mm-hmm. And I think that's incredible to, you know, to be in that position. Like you said, everyone isn't afforded that opportunity. Most guys in this league, never experienced that feeling, you know, and have that opportunity to kind of control their own destiny. But I know you've gone on record a million times, you know, even when we've talked several times, you've always spoke about like, you know, I wanna stay in Washington, it's home for me, they drafted me. But my question to you is, with Washington never, with Washington never, really attracting big free agents. You know, we're now in the 10th year of our career. And it was actually one of the things that I went through with our management last year and just constant conversations we were having about like, hey, you have me, Steph, and Klay, who's been here, I mean, 10 years for me, 11 for Klay, 13 for Steph.

Right.

You have Andre who left for a couple years. And you have Looney that's really been here, you know, through the run that we had.

Right.

What, and then, and so we're kind of in this position to where we're like, yo, we got, we have two first round draft picks, right? And so with the two first round draft picks that we had, I'm like, you know, what are we doing? Because, and I actually said it publicly earlier this year, like the mixture of young guys and old guys, or I don't think we're old, but you know, experienced guys, it's never worked. So what are we doing? And they're like, "No, I think we got the right mix and it can work." And I'm like, "I don't know if this can work. Like we've never seen this work. This has always been a disaster." Now, you know, it's been working for us, but how do you view that? Like as far as you're in your 10th year, do you see a certain type of guys that Washington need to bring in around you? I mean, building through the draft, like y'all been on the fringe of the playoffs and I know you wanna compete. And so building through the draft, it may not necessarily fit your timeline. So how are you viewing that? Are you looking around like, yo, we need to bring these guys in in order to compete? Or are you okay with that building through the draft process that y'all kind of been stuck in a little bit?

Right, and that's kind of where we've been, right? We've always been a team that's kind of been right in the middle of the pack, right in limbo, right? We're either a few, like we're either a player away we're a few possessions away from being a top 4 seed or, you know, a bottom 8 seed, you know? So that's kind of always been our downfall. And then you look at it as like, then when you're drafting in that, you're drafting from, you know, mid, late lottery, you know? So those are guys you're more or less developing versus guys that you're expecting to come in and really make a drastic impact right away. You know, and on top of that, another frustrating thing is, like you said, we have never, probably in the history, been able to attract free agents, right?

Mm-hmm.

DC is a great market. DC is a sport town. DC is an awesome city. Like DC should be desired, I think, by a lot of teams. But I think it's, it's us shooting ourselves in the foot. We, when you don't necessarily win, when you don't necessarily always have a positive light coming out of your locker room, because we've had history of negativity and all that BS coming outta our locker room. So that plays a factor. So it's just when you have all, like, all the little things that don't add up to being, you know, an elite team, like teams would expect, then you, you're not necessarily gonna get those free agents, right? So that's where we have to explore the trade markets. We gotta explore the draft class. And I know a lot of our moves have to be made via trade. Like, we gotta explore some of the options that we ended up drafting, guys that we ended up picking up. Sometimes we can't give them extensions 'cause we gotta move on and try to get something else, you know? So that's kind of been our position. Do I love it? Not necessarily because, you know, you always want some type of stability. You want, you need to have your core, you know?

Mm-hmm.

Once you have your core established, you can find, you know, guys that you can plug into your system and just take off and run, you know? So it's a little bit of both, you know? We're still finding that core. We have a mix of a few vets, like we just picked up Porzingis in a trade. We got rid of some guys and we added KP and, you know, we got some, we got some size, but now we need to, like you said, we need to have some experience. We gotta have some guys who've been in those wars before to propel us. You know, when it's playoff time, they know what to expect.

Absolutely. No, I think that's very important. And that's kind of, you know, that's kind of the space we've been in in the last couple months where I went out, you have Klay coming back from injury. So he's, Klay's been out for 2 and a half years. The one thing I tried to stress to him before coming back, like, yo, just be aware, like, and don't be shocked by once you come back, the league is totally different.

It is.

Like, I even told him, I said, I know one of the things you're going to struggle with is Everybody nowadays shoot threes. And I know you, Klay, like you're gonna look at some guys and you gonna be like, yo, are you serious? And in the league now, it's not like, yo, some guys just catching and spotting up. It's like, it's legitimately like, John Smith will walk into a three now. And I was trying to tell him like, it's a totally different league from when you left. Make sure that you are aware of that and you're ready to adjust. And so I said all of that to say, we've kind of been in this space now of lacking experience due to the injuries. And so you got guys with experience going out and now you, there's, there's the rest of our squad who don't have quite as much experience. And so we've been working through that and I love the way guys been working through it, like putting their head down and just trying to figure it out. Yeah. Figure it out. But it's a tough thing when you got guys that don't have much experience to lean on.

It's a tough task and it's a totally different transition of the game. Like when we got drafted, we had two bigs playing. You remember?

It was two bigs. Yes.

Two back-to-back bigs playing. Right now you might have, you better hope you have one legit big on the floor.

Absolutely.

And to see that transition, like I had, I had Emeka Okafor and Nene as my bigs, right? Then that transitions to Portight and Nene, right? And so now I have those two bigs. Then we transition to these stretch fours and all these. That's when the evolution of you came in and you really, you changed the game in that fashion. You changed the game in that fashion as a point forward, right? You changed the game in that fashion stretching the floor, being able to not clog up the paint and create driving lanes for the guards. Yeah. Like that evolution of the game transitions so quickly. And then, you know, it's a copycat league. Everybody want to copycat what y'all did. And it's so funny because I know that y'all laugh at it and look at like, dang, like everybody's trying it, but you don't have the personnel to do it, right? You don't, hey, you, you don't have the personnel to do it, right? You ain't get, you don't have none of this. And it's just so crazy to see that transition of how we came in to where we are now. And that's just a testament to what you said earlier, like the older guys that's now being more mature, being older vets, like, and then now seeing the transition of younger guys coming into, it's just a totally different, totally different game and totally different expectation. It's crazy.

It's insane. I had to have a conversation with our team a couple weeks ago. And I was just telling them like, making sure guys don't get caught up in the thinking like, yo, I'm a vet. Like years of service don't make you a vet. Like it's kind of one of those things that like, you know when you know. I was telling them like, I'm in my 10th year. I really just became a vet this year.

Right, yeah.

And you know what I'm saying? 2 years ago I felt like I was thrusted into it. Once everybody, Steph was hurt, Klay was out, KD left, Andre was gone, Shawn was gone. And it went from like, I always say it went from the little brother who would sometimes get mad and Shawn or Andre would be like, "All right, stop, that's enough." Like, "That's enough." To like all of a sudden I'm the older guy that's like, I'm supposed to tell somebody that's enough now. And I've always led, but leading and being a vet is two totally different things. And I struggled with it mightily. The game, this season we won 15 games. Everybody's out there, everybody's out in the world talking about, "Oh, Draymond's playing bad. He's not scoring the basketball." Meanwhile, I'm going in every game trying to figure out how do I lead these young guys as a vet?

How do I lead these guys, right?

Not even thinking about anything else. And so, I understood how hard it was. And like now this year, I finally feel like I'm making a transition and understanding it. But it's a weird transition to go from the young guys to now you're the elder statesman showing everybody.

This is a great point because everybody loves to assume that your best player, the best scorer is the leader and the vet of the team. And that's not always the case, right?

Absolutely.

And a lot of us, we take on that that leadership role because we naturally have that leadership qualities, right? But when it comes to being a vet, like that's a lot of stuff even outside of hoops, right? Teaching the young fellas about the game.

Absolutely.

Teaching them how, you know, to be on time, what to do, teaching them about the financial game. Like it's just so much that you have to pump into and kind of mentor that you become a whole mentor to your teammates. Absolutely.

Yes.

And the biggest thing I never understood was the impact of like the little things, right? Just going, like, I'll walk through the locker room and if I don't speak to a young guy, he may think I'm pissed off at him. Like, and just not understanding the power in that, just the, that you have in speaking to one of your young fellas, right? Just the power that you have, the impact that that goes. And it's just, it's just so much bigger than just the game. Right, the game is easy for us. Like we can do that all day. We can lead you all day, tell you what to do all day. But everything outside of that and being a man within the game, you know, understanding the business aspect of it, understand the coaches, playing time, if you are, you're not, like that's a whole, whole different ball game.

100%. I think for us, one of the things that we have to understand is the guys who are coming in the league now, So we're in year 10. So you figure even next year, let's go next year's draft class, we'll be in year 11. You think the 11 years ago for a 19-year-old coming into the league, they were 8 years old. So the thing that we have to understand now is like these kids, these young guys literally grew up watching us play.

Yeah.

And so there's also that shock factor of walking in like, yo, Like I'm sitting in the locker room, I am sitting next to Brad Bill, man. I watched this dude growing up. Like Steph Curry, like you come in the locker room and you're next to Steph Curry. For some of these young guys, it's like, and we don't take that into account because you are Brad Bill, because that is Steph Curry. And we don't take into account, like when I came into the league, I saw Kobe, I was starstruck. I saw Grant Hill, them two guys I was starstruck by. I was starstruck. You're now that guy. You're now Kobe and Grant Hill. And these young kids are like the young Draymond that's sitting there watching Kobe whole pregame workout. Like, that's where we at now. And it's a crazy thing to try to wrap your mind around.

That's a big blessing, bro, because I even just sit at games now, like I'm out and I'll be sitting on the bench and I'll see a kid with my jersey on. And it's like, I never would've dreamt that, like ever, right? And just to see that, like that is so, that's amazing, right? And that's just motivation to just keep going, keep going, keep going.

But—

Facts. It is nothing like being in the position we in. Like we have the best job in the world. We not asked to do a lot. And we do it at a high level, bro. Like, this is, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. Fact.

No, for sure. I gotta ask you this question, more so for the fans that don't quite understand when guys stay with, because you're starting to get to the point now where media is such a big thing, where you're starting to get to the point now where some guys are now criticizing guys for actually staying with their team. See, you had this kind of shift of like guys leave their team and the media dragged them through the mud. You actually just faced some of it this past year.

Yeah.

Where you stay with a team now and people are criticizing you. But for the average fan, that doesn't know, like for, and for Brad Bill to stay with the Washington Wizards, he can sign a 5-year, and I'm only saying this, I don't count nobody pockets, but I'm only saying this because it's public information. But for Brad Bill to stay with the Washington Wizards, he can sign a 5-year, $242 million deal this summer. For if Brad Bill was to leave and go to another team, he can sign a 4-year, $179 million deal. Well, why is that? Because you have bird rights. And the team that you've been with for 2 or 3 years, 2 years I think you get early bird, 2 or 3 years.

Yeah.

They own your bird rights and they can pay you more. They can give you that extra year on a deal. The percentage increase on your last year salary goes up. And so that, I mean, 79 to that 21, that's $63 million difference. That has to matter. Where does that matter for you in your process? Like I know you've made a bunch of money, you're gonna make a bunch more money. What are you, 28?

Yes, sir.

Like 28. So even if you sign a 5-year, you 33, you got another 4-year deal. Like, so the money, people say the money isn't a thing, but $63 million is $63 million. I don't care how much money you done made.

Yeah, Draymond, we know it's, It's really tough because like you say, you do get criticized for what you do, right? For staying in your situation and doing what you feel is best, right? And if you took a survey, right? And you ask anybody, random person on the street, if they would sign this deal, everybody and their mama is gonna say, "Yes, I'm signing." 1000%. Everybody and their mama is gonna say that they're signing a deal. Right? But like I tell a lot of people around me too, like I'm also not in the same position as those people. I have money now.

That's a fact.

That's a fact.

Right?

I've made a lot of money in my career and I'm blessed and fortunate to make even more, right? And so, but I have for the first time, like you said, I have the opportunity to be in control of what I would like to do. And— Mm-hmm. It's like you said, it's a business at the end of the day. I have to have that understanding with Washington that we are in the pursuits of winning, right? That is my destination and goal. The money is awesome.

Yes.

Granted, when we grew up playing, Draymond, we played the game to make a lot of money. We played the game to take care of our family. Like that—

Absolutely.

Don't get it twisted. Like we all, That is still in the back of our head. We, that is priority number one, taking care of yourself, making sure that you get every dollar that you possibly can make and that you feel comfortable with doing. But there also comes with when you make that money, you wanna win ball games, you wanna be able to play for something.

Facts.

Right?

Right.

I wanna play meaningful games, right? I want to be playing in late June. That's what I want.

Mm-hmm.

Right?

I wanna do that. And I think people don't understand that.

Yeah. And I think people don't understand that I wanna do that here. Like, and in my mindset is like, okay, why can't I do it here? There's a lot of other teams that are out here doing it.

Facts.

Right? 10-5.

Milwaukee.

Milwaukee. You wouldn't have said that about them 6 years ago, 5 years ago.

3 years ago.

Right? Even Memphis now, Memphis is making noise. Phoenix, same thing. Like teams are doing it. Teams are doing it. Teams that were, we talking first round picks. I mean number 1 picks. Like, so it's possible for teams to do it. It's possible to go on those runs. And not all those teams have 2, 3, 4 All-Stars.

That's a fact.

They develop their guys, right? They're putting in the pieces together. Like, so it's a possibility and it's, I mean, shoot me if you want, but that's my mindset. Like, I have that mindset. I wanna do it here. But—

For sure.

There also comes a point, Draymond, that you also know that it becomes a business. And if you feel like the stars aren't aligned with that, then, Everybody's gonna do what's best for them regardless of what the money is.

100%. And you've earned that right to do it there or do it elsewhere if that's what you decide. And I think, you know, and speaking of, you know, like you said, the survey and everybody will take that money. The thing people don't understand is when you getting your ass kicked every day and like, don't get me wrong, making the money is great. But when you get your ass kicked every day and you making that money, you don't feel good about yourself. Like no one, no one leaves the game unless you found a complete loser because there are losers that get paid in this league.

And that's another problem because if you leave the game laughing, then it's often you don't give a damn about the game. Oh, you don't give a damn. Oh, he just collects his check. He just collects his check and just moves about his day.

Mm-hmm.

So you in a lose, you're in a lose-lose situation.

100%. Like—

Lose-lose.

2020 was one of the worst years of, I mean, 2019, 2020 season, I was miserable. Like at that point in time, up until, like now it's more, but at that point in time, I was making the most money I had ever made in my life. And I was as miserable as I had ever been. Getting our ass kicked every day. Like walking into the gym like, "Oh, we losing today." Oh man, you walk in the gym and like you playing like a trash team and you like, "Oh, we can win this one today." But you get that feeling maybe 3 games outta the year. It's terrible. And I don't think people really understand how the effect that losing has on you. Like, it's not just about the money.

Yeah, it has a drastic effect on you, bro. And maybe it's my competitive spirit to wanna change that. And maybe I need to fall on my head to maybe wake up one day, I don't know. But—

Nah, for sure.

We definitely have, like, that's just the competitive spirit to just want to pursue that. Like, everybody wants to win. That's the goal.

Yeah.

That is the goal.

100%.

And granted, only one team get to do it. And that's where I think my confusion sometimes in my own head gets caught into why I don't just jump the gun, right?

Because— Yeah, for sure. Everybody go through that though.

For sure, for sure.

Everybody go through that.

It is, I love being in the position I'm in because I have the advice from my peers and then I have the competitive spirit of me as well. Just like wanting to compete against all y'all, right? I have desires to hell play with everybody for sure. You know that, like it is— Absolutely. That would be remarkable. Like the USA team, that was one of the most fun experiences ever. Just being around so many elite guys sacrificing to who, right? Everybody's good. Everybody's really good.

For sure.

I wanna be—

Speaking of that—

Trust and believe, I would love to be in around environment around KD, Draymond Green, Steph Curry, and going hard, winning games. That would—

what?

Who wouldn't?

Yeah. Absolutely.

Who wouldn't? But it's also just as fun to compete against that team as well. When there's so many elite guys you competing, like that brings the best out of you.

That's true. That is true. Question, and you've played with both of these guys and switching gears just a little bit. I think in my opinion, there's now somebody challenging that. But in my opinion, you play with two of arguably the most athletic point guards that ever come through the NBA. Now, like I said, there's somebody in Memphis challenging that now.

Yes, sir.

And no disrespect to D-Rose as well. We all know D-Rose was also in that category as well. But we got this young dude in Memphis challenging all of that right now. And he want all that smoke. He ain't ducking no rat. He carrying his guys. I got a lot of respect for Ja. But in playing with those two guys, and it's two separate questions, one is a lot of people try to make it out to be you and John hated each other.

Mm-hmm.

Which I didn't really appreciate because we are men and if somebody hate each other, there's no need for me to hide it from y'all. That ain't got nothing to do with y'all. So I didn't like that people try to create that narrative. But where did you stand as far as like the team moving on from John? Because like y'all were arguably the best backcourt in the league for years. I mean, y'all two, Steph and Klay, James and CP, like, you know, it's been some backcourts in this league and I thought y'all two were arguably one of the best. How did that affect you? Like, that was the biggest trade, I mean, that you've gone through in your career as far as someone around you being traded. How did that affect you?

It was tough, bro, because John is a brother, like, still to this day. Like, I can pick up the phone, call John. If I need him, he here, right? And it's the same vice versa. And like you said, we both hated that there was a picture painted that we didn't like each other. And we didn't like playing with each other. And us being young guys at the time, like we didn't necessarily, we weren't mature enough to just have a conversation. We would kind of read into it, right? And so it was just kind of like a silent, like, "Dang, you feel like that?" "Nah, he can't feel like that." Until eventually we was like, "All right, now, boom. Yo, bro, how you feeling? This how you feel?" "Nah." "This is how you feel?" "Nah." So once we had that conversation, it was just, "Okay, that's dead." Right? It's just noise to kind of get us rattled or get us off our track, right? I loved playing with John. Like John, I say to this day, is the best passer I've played with. He's probably the fastest guy I've played with with the ball. And his ability, his athleticism, his ability to be able to pass while running so fast to the corner, being able to find guys. Like it was night and day, right? And the toughest part when we moved on from him was he was injured, right? The toughest part was there was some stuff that went on in the summer that front office didn't necessarily abide by.

Mm-hmm.

And they just, they were like, okay, we got it, we're done. "Right, we're done." And so it kind of, it was outta my hands because I was coming to camp thinking, you know, John's ready to go, right?

Mm-hmm.

Boom, next day he's gone. And so that was very tough and emotional because he never came back from the injury and we never got a chance for us to play. When John first went down, that was the first chance for me to really blossom into like who I feel like I've grown into today, right?

Absolutely.

In a modern game, right? I've become more of a ball handler, putting the ball on the floor, shooting off the dribble more so than coming off pin downs, catch and shoot like I did my first 5 years.

Absolutely.

Granted, it's unfortunate John went down, but it gave me a chance to play point. To run more ball screens, high pick and rolls, to be able to facilitate, understand how defenses guard and how to manipulate 'em, how to score easier. And he ended up missing, think he got hurt like December and missed the rest of that year, then missed the whole year the next year. And I had, I literally had a year to myself to operate.

Mm-hmm.

And just kind of learn, right? And I went through double teams, When John first went down, I got double teamed. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to handle that. And so literally the next year I had a whole year to adjust and boom, score 30 a game, right? And it was just like, okay, I get it. Like I understand it. Like I'm even, now I'm evolving, right? And so that summer I'm like, boom, I've changed. Like I'm way better than what I was when we were younger playing Boston in '16, '17.

Mm-hmm.

And lost in the second round. Way better player than that, right? And I knew John was pretty much climbing into his prime right around this time. So I'm like, well, I'm a newly tuned up player waiting on this athletic freak of nature to come back. Like, let's give it one more shot. Let's give it one more shot.

Facts.

Absolutely. We never, I would say that was one thing that if I can go back, I wish we could have had, but we moved on and we moved into Russ, right? So it was a situation to where, yes, I was frustrated, you know, my brother's gone, but I understood who we were gaining, right? I understood who Russ was and this is an MVP we're getting. Right? And there's no disrespect to John, but Russ has won MVP. Russ is, you know how Russ play. Russ is, he is balls to the wall every single night. He is going hard.

Every night.

Every single night.

Facts.

And for me, I've learned a lot from that because every single night we don't always wanna bring it. We don't always want to play.

That's a fact.

Right? We tired some nights, we banged up a lot of nights. We, you know, whatever the case may be, we dealing with something, you know, mentally, family, whatever the case may be. I've literally seen this dude lace 'em up and play as hard as he possibly could every single night, bro. And he pushed me. Come on, all I kept hearing all year was, "Come on, B." "Keep going, B. Keep going, B. Keep going." And I never understood that drive. I'm like, "How does he do this? How does he do this?" But being in the fire with him, being around him on a day-to-day, seeing how he prepare, he up at 6 in the morning getting work done on his body, going in late doing the same thing. Like, I'm like, "Okay, that's why." Yeah. Mm-hmm.

That's why. No, for sure. And I also wanna ask a follow-up question on Russ. Like you said, the way he play hard, the way he get ready on a nightly basis for all of these years, I have the utmost respect for. That motor that he has is a skill. And I don't think people give that skill enough credit. But having a motor is a skill. Two things. Number one is there's this notion of the way Russ plays to the outside world that Russ is a bad teammate. What I've heard is from everybody who's played with him is he's one of the best teammates they've ever had. Can you talk about Russ as a teammate? And then how do you feel about all the slander that he's getting this year as if he not fucking Russell Westbrook.

That shit pissed me off. I ain't gonna lie, bro. It really frustrate me because especially being a guy that played with him now, like the disrespect, God, that shit gotta stop, bro.

Ridiculous.

It's gotta stop because we acting like this man is not a Hall of Famer.

First ballot.

Oh, first ballot, first of all. Like the way he plays may not be your cup of tea.

Facts.

It may not be. Facts.

And that's okay.

Russ ain't gonna shoot a million threes. He's not.

Nor should he.

Nor should he.

Why?

Russ is going to play winning basketball. Russ is going to, Go get rebounds. Russ is gonna make assists. Russ is gonna take advantage of matchups he feel like he can. That's Russ.

Mm-hmm.

And he's gonna play 100 miles per hour. He's gonna play hard.

Absolutely.

If that's not your cup of tea, don't watch him. It's been working his whole career. You're gonna change him in year 14?

Exactly. Exactly.

You was a fan.

That's been my thing.

You a fan of it 6 years ago, 8 years ago.

Facts. He played the same brand of basketball.

He plays the same way with every situation he's been in. He's played the same way. When Houston went to the conference finals, he played the same way. There's no difference. What do you expect? That is, how are you gonna change him? That's who he is.

Absolutely. I agree 100%. I haven't like, I haven't gotten with the slander. I can't understand it for the life of me. And it's people saying it. That like you have no business slandering Russell Westbrook.

Zero.

Come on, man. Like you got former players that weren't that good slandering Russell Westbrook. And I just don't understand it. But you know, I could talk about this all day. I could talk to you all day, but I got one last question for you.

Mm-hmm.

And that is, And he's having such an amazing year, especially as of the last couple months. But I think it's well documented and well known your relationship with JT, Jason Tatum, for those of y'all that don't know who JT is. I've had the opportunity over the course of the summer and over the course of the last couple years, but really over this summer to really get to know him. And it was big for me because you see this guy who is young and yet he's now been doing it at this level for 5 years now since he came in, 4 or 5 years since he came into the league. And you can get it twisted or like, "Oh, he's one of us." You know what I'm saying? And we're at the Olympics and I'm just sitting and talking to him. And then some of the questions he would ask, I'm like, "Yo, this dude is a baby, man." He like, this dude is a baby. But you don't think that because he's so good and he's on the level that we are on. All-Stars producing like, and you just like, oh shit. In some cases ahead of the level, you know, like, and you just like, man. You tend to think like, no, he just one of us. But the reality is he's a baby. And I've gotten an opportunity to know him. I've got an opportunity to build a relationship with him. And it's one that I cherish. I cherish relationships. But the— and I'm so excited the way he's playing because him and Jaylen Brown went through a lot of, especially this last year and a half, a lot of stuff like you and John went through it. Like, oh, they can't work together, this, that. You got these people trying to create turmoil against them and they figuring it out. And it makes me happy. But just wanna really get your thoughts on JT, the season he's having, and where do you see him going in his career? Like, what's that next step for him to take?

Man, it's crazy. A lot of people don't know, well, a lot of people do know that we grew up together. So we both from St. Louis. We both went to the same high school. Moms know each other, like, whole nine. And I would always tell Jason when he was younger, you gonna be a million times better than me. A million. Like, and to see it happening as fast as it is, is really crazy. Like, it's very crazy, right? And to see the success he has, like you said, like, I forget that he's as young as he is.

Absolutely crazy.

'Cause he's been around me forever, right? I've known Jay since he was in diapers. I've known him forever. And to see him now, he got more. I'm barely growing my beard, Draymond Green, my shit don't even connect. Jay got a full beard. Like, and to see him, to see him grow into this young man, bro, he's the next face of the league. And I told him that, that is your goal.

Mm-hmm.

Like he has a great support system. He got a lot of people that push him around him. And they uplift him. Mom being number one. But I always tell him, Draymond, you are the face of this league, bro. You have that opportunity to be the face of this league. Like, don't shy away from no endorsement. Don't shy away from no money thrown your way. Whatever the league wanna say they do for you, do it. Mm-hmm. This is your league, bro. Like, you already playing at this elite level. You need to be getting your name into these MVP talks every year. Like, because you have that ability. Like, that's his projection. That is his projection.

Like— 100%.

That's his projection.

I agree. I agree 100%. It's funny, which I wish you could have gone with us and, you know, and we'll get outta here, but— even on the team, like obviously, you know, on our team, the USA team, KD was the guy. Like, but you can see like next up is him. And there were games where K looked at him like, "Hey man, come on now." Like, "You gotta take it now." And clockwork, boom, boom, boom. And I'm just like, "Yo, this dude got it, man." But it's so great to see, bro. I gotta run to this game. I appreciate you coming on the show, man. It means a lot. Michael Levine asked me the other day, like, how are you getting guys on the show. Like, they're my brothers, man. Yeah, you getting Draymond Green. They're my brothers. I appreciate you, brother. Get healthy, bro. And I hope to see you soon, my dog. Actually, we'll be there in a couple days, so.

Yeah, I'll see you in a minute. We gonna break it right.

My man. No doubt. All right, love, bro.

Love, bro.