Dray answers fan questions on Steph Curry, LeBron, KD, The New Media & more | Draymond Green Show

In this mailbag episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green (with co‑host Jackson) answers a rapid‑fire series of fan‑submitted questions covering a wide range of topics. He shares his top three favorite jerseys (the turquoise Pistons jersey honoring Grant Hill, the Minneapolis Lakers jersey of Shaq and Kobe, and his Michigan State Spartans jersey), debates who was the better prime scorer between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant (choosing Melo for his clutch free‑throw ability), and recounts his favorite Steph Curry and Klay Thompson moments (Curry’s Game 4 Finals performance and Klay’s 60‑point, three‑quarter outing). Draymond asserts he would still win Defensive Player of the Year if he played in the 1980s, describes his plane‑ride seating with Steph and Klay, and outlines his ideal off‑day (massage and NFL Sunday). He critiques the “new media” standards and names Anthony Edwards as a player who could excel in that space. He identifies Ja Morant as the young player who reminds him of himself, admits Taj Gibson is the non‑superstar he struggled to guard, and embraces his “villain” reputation among rival fans. He explains how he handles occasional arguments with Steph and Klay, names Luka Doncic as his favorite NBA player to watch besides Curry, and shares two core lessons from Coach Tom Izzo—self‑evaluation and hard work. Draymond reveals his all‑time starting five (Shaq, Michael Jordan, LeBron, Tim Duncan, Steph), his favorite Bay Area rapper (40‑Walder), and his top five TV series (Martin, Power, 50 Cent’s TV work, Breaking Bad, The Wayans Brothers, The Jamie Foxx Show). He concludes with a grievance about a missed foul call in the 2010 Final Four that cost his college team a championship. The episode blends personal anecdotes, basketball analysis, and cultural commentary in a conversational, candid tone.
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What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. Today we have a mailbag episode. I had promised you guys that we would have that. So to our loyal supporters and subscribers, as always, we thank you for tuning in and we thank you for submitting your questions. This should be a fun episode. By the way, I hope you sent in good questions and I hope it just wasn't like nice questions. Like if you got some tough questions, as you know, I'm not afraid of that shit. So bring the questions. I'm excited about this episode. I hope you are as excited about this one as I am. 'Cause you know, I like to have the opportunity to talk my shit. Talk to me, Jackson, what we got?
Let's start. Start with an easy one, maybe not. What are your top 3 favorite jerseys of all time?
Ooh, top 3 favorite jerseys. Number 1 is the turquoise Pistons jersey, turquoise and maroon Pistons jersey with the little horse as I called it. I called him a horse. And I actually remember his name because going to the Pistons game, I'm drawing a blank on it. Hooper. Hooper. Hooper is his name. But that was the, that was one of my favorite jerseys in large part due to growing up in the state of Michigan and being a Grant Hill fan. So I always ask people this question when they say like, yo, when you got to the NBA, were you starstruck? And I always tell them there were two people that I was starstruck by that I had the opportunity to play against. And I would always start with the first one being Kobe. Like obviously we all know Kobe, no surprise. But I would always say, you'd never guess who the second one is. And no one ever gets it right. And it's actually Grant Hill for me. Grant Hill, when I was growing up, was like LeBron before LeBron, playing in those Pistons jersey. Grant Hill come down, he hit you with the hesi and go. Grant Hill was incredible. And then obviously he had the injuries, but— Draymond Green. I was a huge fan of Grant Hill. I had the Fila Grant Hill shoes. And so that jersey was number 1 for me, for sure. Number 2 for me had to be the— growing up as a Shaq fan. I became a Kobe fan because I was a Shaq fan. Growing up, I loved the Orlando Magic because Shaq was on the team. So— So I liked Penny because Shaq was on the team. And then once Shaq went to the Lakers, he signed with the Lakers, I grew very, very, very fond of Kobe. And obviously still love Shaq. Like Shaq's my all-time favorite player. I know you were expecting me to say the Orlando Magic jersey as my number 2, but it's actually when Shaq and Kobe were wearing Minneapolis Lakers jerseys. That was my, that is my second favorite jersey. That was insane. And— When they pulled those out, like it was just different, you know? And so that's my number 2. And then my number 3 is the Michigan State jersey. I know you was expecting an NBA jersey. Nope. Spartan dogs. The Michigan State jersey when Mateen Cleaves was there and they won a national championship, the Michigan State was drawn out. That's my third favorite jersey. Although I could argue that that's my number one favorite jersey, but because y'all were expecting NBA, I had to throw a monkey wrench in there. So those are my top three jerseys.
Next up from K The Actor, Carmelo or Durant in their prime, who was the better scorer?
Scorer only. Ooh, that's tough. Carmelo or Durant in their prime?
Phew.
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That's kind of the game we're playing, yeah.
Wow. Wow. That's crazy. That's a great question. That's a pick 'em for sure. Wow. I've won with both of those guys. So I was gonna say, I gotta pick KD 'cause we, But like, I won a gold medal with Melo. Golly, that's crazy. I'm gonna go with Melo. And the reason I'm gonna go with Melo is because I grew up watching Melo score the basketball. Like, I grew up, like, Melo came to the league in '03, I was 13 years old. I grew up watching Melo get a bucket however you wanted it. You wanted mid post work? First step crazy. You wanted straight block work? Fadeaway tough. And Melo will bully the hell outta somebody. You want the tray ball? We all know he can do that. He's just a 3-point shooter for the USA team. And we know USA Olympic Melo is crazy. Get to the free throw line? The reason I'm gonna go with Melo is actually this in specific. It's something that he did when I was playing against him. We were playing against him at the Garden. It had to be my first or second year in the league. And Melo caught the ball in the post. He faced up on me, put his shoulder into my chest. I may have fouled him a little bit, maybe not. And he went through my chest and I got the stop. He missed. I maybe fouled him, maybe not. He turned around to the referee, "Call the fucking foul!" And we go back down the court. Come back down, he did the exact same move the next play and made the referee call the foul. And the reason why that's such a big deal to me is because as a scorer, you like, you go into slumps, you have bad shooting nights. And the one thing that breaks score slumps can be a free throw. And just knowing that Melo could get to the free throw line like that, that's why I'm gonna pick Melo. But man, that's a pick 'em for real. That's like, can you go wrong with either one? I don't think so.
Next up from Caleb Smith 12, what is your all-time favorite Steph and Klay moment?
My all-time favorite Steph and Klay moment? Oh man. Like Steph and Klay together or just Steph moment, Klay moment?
Let's go Steph moment and Klay moment separately.
Steph moment. My all-time favorite Steph moment was game 4 of this year's finals. It's just like you saw something different. You saw, that he wasn't gonna allow us to lose. Like you just, like, it was different. So I gotta pick that moment. I feel like that was the biggest moment in Steph's career. He lived up to the hype, delivered. So I gotta go that moment for Steph. And for Klay, my all-time favorite Klay moment was— What was it? When he went for 60 through 3 quarters. Because it's, that game is a complete microcosm of who Klay Thompson is. He did not come to practice the day before. Missed practice. He didn't like, and Klay's like, he woke up late. And now the way our fine system work when you late for practice, is it's not that much more if you miss as opposed to if you late. If. Any at all. And so Klay's like, "Oh, I'm late, go back to bed. Don't come to practice." And then the next day it's like his way of making it right. He comes out, he has 60 and 3 quarters. That has to be my all-time favorite moment because that is actually Klay and his attitude. It's a big fuck you. Like, "Yep, was I wrong? Possibly. But this is how I'm going to make it fuck." Just a big fuck you. And I've seen him do that numerous times. Like, up, Klay was late, up, Klay missed, he gonna make it right the next day. And that was major. So I gotta go with the 60.
From Marcus Rainsford, do you think if you played in the '80s, you'd still have won a Defensive Player of the Year?
If I played in the '80s, would I still have won Defensive Player of the Year? I think so. Defense is defense and I'm a DPOY. So whether I want it in the '80s or 2000s, baby, that list is the same. Whose was his name?
That was Marcus Rainsford.
Marcus. Me and Dennis Rodman on the same list, whether I go in the '80s or the 2000s or the 2020s. Same list.
Let's go with an easy one from, I don't know how to pronounce this, but OJ Asrana, what do y'all do on the plane rides between games and who do you sit with?
I sit with Klay and Steph. We sit at this little table away from everybody else. Nah, I'm just playing. But we do sit at this table in kind of a different section, but it's just the way the plane break down. But, and we talk sometimes, we sleep sometimes. Klay is very childish. So Klay like throws stuff at people like Skittles and popcorn and then like do the whole close his eyes thing and act like one of us do it. Like that's Klay. So you get a little glimpse of sitting with Klay. But I think, you know, we have a ton of different conversations sometimes. We used to play poker, but once Zaza left, we, well, actually Johnny West, but we don't have a fourth poker player. So we used to play poker. We don't do that anymore. Every now and then now, Klay and I play dominoes whenever Klay, Klay has the attention span of a 2-year-old though. So he can only really sit for one game of dominoes. In fact, if you guys watch this, If you got Klay's Twitter, you can hit him up and remind him that he owed me $3,000. And I accept Cash App. I don't have Venmo, but I do have Apple Pay. I also have Zelle. Y'all can remind him he owed me $3,000. I'd appreciate it.
From Emma Swan, what does the perfect off day look like for you?
Emma, the perfect off day for me is, um, Is getting a massage. And a perfect off day for me is, falls on a Sunday during football season. Getting a massage and watch Sunday football, NFL football Sundays all day. That is the perfect off day for me. It doesn't get much better than NFL Sundays. Draymond Green. The best. So that's my perfect off day.
From Mark since 1986, which active player other than yourself would you like to see launch a new media career?
Mark, which active player would I like to see launch a new media career? Well, number one, you gotta live up to the new media standards. And just because you a player don't mean you live up to those standards. And I think that's a common misconception. So I'm gonna keep reminding y'all, just because you're a basketball player does not mean you're a part of the new media. It's not how this thing works. It's the way you go about your business. It's the way you talk about this sport. Can you analyze this sport? Is someone learning the sport when they're listening to you? Are you willing to pay respect when respect is due? Are you willing to admit you're wrong when you're wrong? Or do you hide from being wrong? Those are just a few characteristics of the new media. What you should know is just because you play sports and we've seen it, just because you play basketball, we've seen it, does not mean you're a part of this new media. So now in saying that, the one guy I would like to see come on board and be a part of new media, And that's an NBA player, correct?
Yeah, I'd say an NBA player.
An NBA player that I would love to see just embrace it and be a part of the new media is Anthony Edwards. Because he has irrational confidence. He says whatever the hell comes to his mind. Which I can appreciate. He's funny, charismatic, and did you see hustle? Like, he got it. He just got it. Like, some people just got it. Like, he got it. So Anthony Edwards.
That's a good one. From Ambitious Youngin, what younger player reminds you of you the most?
The younger player that reminds me of me the most? Hmm. That's interesting. That's interesting. I'm one of one, baby. Ain't no carbon copies. It's an interesting one.
Ooh.
The one player that reminds me the most of me as a young guy, I'm gonna have to go with, that is a good one. That's a good one. You know why? Because I don't, I think there are so many layers to that. You know, like, like yeah, you may be able to pass the ball at my size or at my position, but do you lead? Like you may lead, but do you defend? You know? If you defend, do you have a high IQ? Like, so I don't know, I just think that's such a multi-layered thing. And I think the sauce is in putting it all together. So if I had to pick one young player that reminds me of me, see the, and then the issue I also have is because You can say one guy, and because like the collective basketball IQ of basketball fans is sometimes so low, they'll be like, "Ah, but he shoots better," or like, "He dribble different." And it's like, yeah, you're kind of missing the entire point. But if I had to pick one guy that reminds me of me, I'm going to have to go with, in a much different way, Ja Morant. I ain't bowing down to none of y'all. I don't care what you've accomplished before I got here. That has absolutely nothing to do with me. I believe in myself and my abilities. I'm going to show you that. I'm going to lead. I'm going to talk to you and let you know about it while I'm doing it. I'm going to carry others with me, and, and most importantly, I'm going to do it my way. And I— and, and, and all of those things that I just named, I see Draymond Green do. Now, does that mean Ja Morant and me are the same player? We're nowhere near the same player. But that's who reminds me of a lot of me.
Let's do from 757 Da Man, who's a non-superstar that you sometimes have trouble guarding?
Non-superstar that I have trouble guarding my whole career is Taj Gibson. I feel like everyone in their career, has one guy that is a damn good basketball player, but to the world you just think like, "Oh man, like he does X, Y, and Z," or X, or whatever. Or in your mind you may not think like, "Oh man, he's the superstar." And I think for me that person has always been Taj Gibson. I played Taj Gibson in college. I was a freshman and— Oh. It was his last year of school. I'm not sure which year of college he was, but I know it was his last year of school. And then he went to the NBA draft. And our starting center Goran Suton got in foul trouble. And so I came off the bench and I had to guard Taj and I was locking that shit up. Now Taj, I don't know if y'all remember Taj at USC, but Taj at USC was serious. By the way, Taj had a, still playing, Taj had an incredible NBA career, but Taj at USC was different. And I went in chubby, pudgy freshman, and I was locking it up. And I felt like, and that game was, you might have heard it with DeMar. That game was the, DeMar and Taj played together for those of y'all that don't remember. That was they last college game. And I kind of made it a little tough on Taj. I was frontin', I was doing the whole thing and mixing the coverages up and everything. And I think Taj remembered that because every chance he got to play against me after that, he would destroy me. I remember my second year and I'm never asking for no switch. I ain't asking for no double team. You just gonna have to destroy me. That's just what it's gonna be. I had to switch with Jermaine O'Neal. 'Cause I couldn't stop Taj. And I knew it. I'm like, this dude got my number. I can't quite stop him. And Jermaine O'Neal had to guard him. So that guy for me, non-superstars, Taj Gibson for sure.
That was a great answer. From Ivan the Boy, how do you feel about being viewed as a villain at times from other fan bases?
Ivan, being viewed as the villain, I wear it as a badge of honor. Because if I sucked the way people like to say I do, then I wouldn't be a villain, no one would care. But you know what? I think it's pretty incredible. I'll tell you, I have been getting treated like the villain for a long time, and then it stopped. You know why it stopped? Because we was getting our asses kicked and no one cared. The fact that we're back winning and I'm a champion, everywhere I've been this summer, I've gotten booed. I went to the Drew League, got booed. Went to this other— but everywhere I fucking go, I was at the Ryan Garcia fight, they like showing boo. Like I just expect it at this point. I think it's funny and I look forward to it at this point. But how do I feel about being the villain? I don't give two fucks at all. It is what it is. It's a sign of respect. Ask the Celtics fan. They ain't wanna give it Jackson though. Look. Look, Jack's like, "Oh my God, he's talking about us." Like, yeah, ask them. It's a beautiful thing. I wear it with honor.
Gonna move on from that one. C24 Jordans asks, "Have you ever had an argument with Steph or Klay and how did you guys handle that?" Had a million arguments with Steph and Klay.
Honestly, we haven't had a ton of arguments 'cause it's just not kind of how the personalities match up. I usually do most of the yelling. Most of the times they'll usually ignore me to the point where if one of them, if one of them is yelling and, or if I'm yelling and then one of them yell back, I don't really, I'm not gonna get into a screaming match with one of them. So at the point that I say something and they disagree and they say something back, then they said something back and that just is what it is. We keep pushing. Right. Like we're not just about to sit there and like scream and yell back and forth at each other. That's just not how we roll. So I usually do majority of the talking. Most of the time it either leads to us having a conversation and discussing what I think, what they think, and how we can figure it out. If it's in a heated battle, a heat of the moment situation, and I'm like, "Klay, stop shooting the ball." And he fucking cuss and yell back, then we just keep it pushing. I run on and he run on or— Yeah. If I say something to Steph and he get mad and snap back every two blue moons, then he said something back and I just run off and go on about my day. So not much, we don't argue much at all. It's just not really what we do.
From David Lee J, who are your favorite NBA players to watch besides Steph, of course?
David Lee, is this like the David Lee?
It's, no, it's David with an L-Y. David Lee.
Oh, David Lee. Oh, oh, I thought you was like the David Lee. Who's my favorite NBA player to watch besides Steph? My favorite NBA player to watch besides Steph is Luka. Luka different. I mean, the way he sees the floor, score the basketball, get to his spot, his pace. It's Luka for sure.
From, I don't know how to pronounce this one. What was the biggest lesson you learned from Coach Izzo? Was it basketball related or life related?
I think the biggest lesson I learned from Coach Izzo, and be doing a disservice to give one because the reality is, is the person that he helped shape me He helped shape me into on and off the court. I could never thank him enough. But I think the one thing that he taught me, I'll go with two of them. The two things that he taught me and they both matter on and off the court is number one, in order to be great at anything, you have to be a great self-evaluator. Because if you can't evaluate yourself, If someone else can evaluate you better than you can evaluate you, there's a cap of how great you can be. And so he always taught me the importance of self-evaluation. And like, you know, I walk in as a freshman like, "Coach, I'm working hard." He like, "Are you outta your mind? Like you not working hard. Look at this, this, this, and this." He'd be like, "Draymond, you have to learn how to self-evaluate. You have to know how to self-evaluate." And so for me, that was big. And I learned how to self-evaluate. To the point to where I can come in the media and be like, I played awful. And y'all look like, ah, he didn't play that bad. Like, no, I played awful. But I'm always gonna evaluate myself way tougher than anyone else is gonna evaluate me. And I'm gonna be honest with myself. I'm gonna be honest with anyone else. I'm gonna be honest with me. And so that was number one. And number two, the importance of hard work. Like how to work hard. I think Coach, what Coach Izzo taught me is not that hard work was important, but he actually taught it. Me what hard work was, what it meant to actually work hard. And for me, again, that's another one of those things that, that matters. That matters in my relationship. That matters in being a father. Like that matters in basketball. That matters in this podcast and business, like the importance of hard work and how to actually work hard. And like, I think sometimes like some things could be overkill. But as like, in knowing how to work hard, there's no such thing as overkill, you know? So you may look at it and be like, ah, you don't have to do that. But like, that's how I've been taught. That's what I know. And so I think those two things for me, they both apply to on the court and off the court. And I wouldn't be the person I am sitting in front of you without those two lessons.
Do one more basketball one, then a couple non-basketball ones. This one's tough. From Luis_TheProcess, who asks, Who is your all-time starting 5? Now I'm not asking your best, the best 5 players, the starting 5 lineup.
It's my all-time starting 5 is Shaq at the 5 and Steph at the 1. LeBron James at the— I got LeBron James at the—
3.
Now again, this is where the eras and stuff gets tricky because what era of basketball am I talking about? But I'm just gonna talk basketball in the sense of who I think would make a great 5. Steph at the 1, Shaq at the 5, LeBron at the 3, Timmy D at the 4, and Did you think I was gonna go anyone other than MJ as the 2? You gotta be outta your mind. Although I must say, Kobe was very close second. Very close second for me in my starting 5.
You took your sweet time giving Michael Jordan the last spot.
It's the 2 spot. You save the best for last, right? That's what they say.
That's what they say. All right, couple more. Let's go, who is your favorite Bay Area rapper, dead or alive?
My favorite Bay Area rapper, 40. 40 Walder, of course. No doubt. 40 is a legend.
Last one, top 5 favorite TV series of all time.
Whoa, top 5 favorite TV series of all time. Martin. Of course, Martin. Think that's the greatest show ever. I'm not a big, big TV guy. So like, you know, like people be like, Sopranos. Like I've never seen it. Ah, go crazy. You never seen Sopranos? Nope, I can't. It's tough for me sitting and watching TV show. Martin. Power. No particular order. Power was incredible. 50 Cent is amazing. I saw 50 Cent perform at Dre's the other day. And by the way, I'm gonna be 100% honest with you. I just didn't think it was gonna be good. Why? I don't know. Like you start to see like, like rapping isn't 50's number one thing anymore. It hasn't been for 15 years or 10 years or whatever. Like it's not his number one thing. So when you speak of keeping the main thing, the main thing, like that was once 50's main thing. It's probably not even his third most important thing, main thing today. And so in thinking of that, I'm like, 50 don't, like he don't really rap anymore. Like 50's destroying our TV screens. Like, so I'm like, this probably won't be that good. It's one of the best shows I've seen in my life. Like it was, and it was at Dre's, like it's a club, but it was just amazing how like 50 could like, like how he could captivate the crowd and just like get the crowd moving and like the lineups of the songs. Like it was incredible. And what he's doing in TV, it's like unheard of. Like when you look at, when you look at the things that he's doing in TV and like the jobs that he's creating, like all this, like it's amazing what 50 Cent is doing. And so— 50 Cent. Power for sure. I think Breaking Bad was a great one for me. I watched, I did watch all of Breaking Bad. Absolutely incredible show. For all you out there like, Game of Thrones. I've never seen Game of Thrones. I have one for you that everyone says the best. I haven't seen it yet either. And everybody's probably like, "You should have been and seen that," or whatever. I've never seen "The Wire." You think about when all of those shows came out, like the only thing that I watched at that time in my life was SportsCenter and basketball and football. Like I wasn't about to sit and watch a show. Like it's basketball game on, or I'm gonna watch an old basketball game. And so like even the shows that I'm speaking of, like I, except Martin, like I've watched them later in my life. The Wayans Brothers. It's definitely one for me too. I grew up on Martin and the Wayans Brothers. So it's hard for me to cut that out. And my fifth one I also grew up on is The Jamie Foxx Show. Like Jamie Foxx is one of the most talented human beings on planet Earth. Like Jamie Foxx is insane. Dude sing, does comedy, can rap, he can act. Like what can't Jamie Foxx do? One of the most talented individuals we've ever seen. And this man had an incredible show. They had one place they used to be in the hotel. That was the only set. I mean, they stepped outside every blue moon. They like went to a house. It was in a hotel the whole time. Like Jamie Foxx is incredible. So I know my 5 shows may not be what you expected, but that's my 5. Yeah. Your 5 can be your 5. That's my 5.
I lied. We actually have one more question. I saved this one for last from MrBaker85. How bad was that missed call in the Final Four against Butler?
That was crazy. Mr. Baker, I still can't believe they missed that call. I mean, that was a clear-cut foul if I've ever seen one in my life. Cost me a national championship. However, I was like 2 for 7 from the free throw line that game. So it's no game, but I would've hit one of the two, like money time, I was hitting one of the two to at least tie the game up. And now they gotta throw a heat. That was ridiculous. Unbelievable. I still can't believe they missed that call. No one's held accountable. Yeah. That's crazy. Like I should really be sitting here, a high school champion, a college national champion, an NBA champion, and a gold medalist. And some terrible ass referee robbed me of that opportunity. Thanks a lot. I appreciate you. But you saved a lot of people having to hear what I just named, 'cause that should be me. But that's it. That's a wrap on this episode from the Mailbag. Hope everybody enjoyed it. Until next time. Peace. Peace. Peace.
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