Charles Barkley tells Draymond Green he'd be "annoying as f to play against," comparing his relentless defense and trash-talk to Dennis Rodman. The two discuss how media stokes conflict between players for content, and why critics dismissing Giannis Antetokounmpo's talent is absurd.
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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. I know for sure that you're capable of putting your ego to the side. By the way, when I first walked the aisle, and I've told this story publicly before, when I first walked onto the set to do the arena with you, Kerry Champion, and Dwyane Wade, I mean, There was no surprise. I was coming on there. We had been talking back and forth in the media. You said you was gonna punch me in my face. I said I was gonna take your job. Like we can go on and on and on. It went on for years. And the moment I walked on that set, you got outta your seat. "What's up, Draymond? How you doing?" And I'll be 100% honest with you. I was walking up there like, whatever happened happened. If he say something to me, if he wanna punch me, I'm ready to go there. And you disarmed me so fast. Like, "Hey, what's up, man? How you doing? It's great to see you. Welcome." And I'm just sitting there like, "What the hell?" You know what's really funny?
You remind me a lot of Dennis Rodman. Like, I wanna play with you. You would be annoying as fuck to play against. Like, I saw Dennis at the 75 thing and we hugged each other like brothers. He's somebody I really like a lot. And respect, you are the same way. It would be annoying to play against you because number one, I don't think you've ever committed a foul. And that's, hey, listen, that makes me laugh every time. But I think sometimes people don't realize, and you gonna realize it too, like at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, Sometimes you like, "This dude is driving me crazy tonight. He's arguing with the refs all night." And then Shaq said, "What do you wanna do?" And I just said, "I just wanna punch him in the face." And then what pissed me off about that night, to be honest with you, I was joking around and then a reporter asked you that and then you got to def— See, that's one thing I tell brothers. You have to be really careful because everybody's got pride and ego.
Mm-hmm.
And I knew when I heard him ask you that question, I said, "Oh man, this dude gonna think I'm serious about punching him." I ain't never gonna punch an NBA player, 'cause we all in the same family. But I knew, because a lot of guys don't understand, like, the media, when they ask you a question, they want you to come back at a dude. They want you to keep it going. That's why I never respond. When guys say bad stuff about me, I says, I take that, goes with the job. Because the media, number one, they don't know a lot about basketball. So when they have two guys just going back and forth at each other, it's just crazy. And like, you kind of doing the, I said, we're doing their job for them. Like, no, man, you write about basketball. Don't write about these two guys. 'Cause like— Yeah. Why are you writing about two guys who said something about each other? That's like right now, I haven't heard Giannis' response, but I heard Charles Oakley say that Giannis would be like coming off, he say, "He's not that good of a player and he'd be coming off the bench in our day." And like, I hope Giannis don't respond, 'cause then they gonna go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and like, Nobody wins because Giannis is a great, great player. That dude can flat out ball. I mean, what's gonna be very interesting in the next 10 to 15 years, man, he gone, whoo. If he, I mean, he gonna set so many records 'cause he's getting an easy 28 a night for the next 10, 10, well, 'cause he's only like 25.
Yeah, he young.
Yeah.
He's young.
But I hope he don't respond because, That was a stupid statement. It was unnecessary. But like I say, that night when I said that, I was joking around. It was like, remember, y'all always the late game. So it was like 1 o'clock in the morning and I was joking around with Shaq and Kenny. And then I saw when that reporter asked you that question, I said, "Oh man, he gonna think I'm serious." But like I say, you remind me a lot of Dennis. 'Cause Dennis, man, That dude was a heck of a player. He was a hell of a player. He was so damn annoying to play against because you trying to concentrate on basketball and now he made it personal instead of you just playing basketball. I'm trying to go at him. I'm trying to go at Dennis every play now. Say, yo man, I'm sick of hearing what a great defender you are. You talking trash. I'm going at your ass every time. And he gets in your head and you do exactly the same thing. So man, when you came in the studio, the first time I met you was in New Orleans.
Yeah, I remember that.
I remember, and I said, "You gonna be a hell of an NBA player." We talked, we were at some bar having fun as usual. And then I say, "Welcome to the NBA, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And listen, you've had a hell of a career so far and the future's still bright, but you got a long way to go.
Thank you.
But I just think that, and you gonna learn this too, there's gonna be guys who, when you have to talk about guys, they gonna be like, "I wanna play with that dude, but he's annoying as hell."
