Dray reacts to Kyrie Irving trade, Klay's 12 threes, Steph Curry's injury | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. This is the top of the show for this week. And reminder that we are live on AMP for all of these type of shows. So if you want a first listen, make sure you check it out on Amazon AMP. But, and well, follow us over there. But as you know, you can always find it on the channels anywhere you watch your, or listen. You watch on YouTube, you can listen anywhere you get your podcasts. It'll still be there. But that's just a simple reminder. The NBA, there is never a dull moment. There's never a slow week. It's just constant news flow in the NBA. Madness. It's trade deadline week, as we all know, that is coming up Thursday, 3:00 PM. Yeah. 3:00 PM Eastern time, if I'm not mistaken. So we know we got that madness coming up. We already know about the madness with Kyrie and getting traded to Dallas and the whole thing, which we'll get into. But first, let's get into last night's game. For last minute amazing deals on tickets, not just to the Dubs games, but your favorite NBA team, check out Gametime, the fastest growing ticketing app in the US. And it doesn't stop with the NBA. Gametime has tickets to the NFL playoffs, NFL and college basketball games, even concerts and comedy shows too. So if you're in New York and you wanna go see the Knicks take on Cleveland or the Lakers, GameTime has you covered. Or if you wanna see Adam Sandler live tonight, this weekend, anytime soon, download the GameTime app, create an account, and redeem code GREEN in all caps for $20 off your first purchase. Terms may apply. Again, create an account, enter the code GREEN, That's G-R-E-E-N for $20 off. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. First game without Steph. And Klay Thompson came out and was Klay Thompson. I'll tell you what, Klay Thompson came out last night, had 12 threes. Absolutely incredible performance. Somebody asked me in a press conference about the one shot where he waved Jordan through and shot the 3 in the corner. Absolute bullshit shot. Just gonna put that out there right now. But if you watch the clip, as soon as he waved Jordan through and he went to the corner, you see my body start to turn. I'm already going back on defense. I knew it was going up. He was having that type of night. And when Klay is having that type of night, you gotta expect a couple of those. Quite frankly, when he's not having that type of night, you gotta expect a couple of those. But quite, I can't tell you how that feels. I don't know how that feels. So I can't really dive into that mindset of taking that shot because I just don't know how that feel. But in saying that, it's nostalgia watching Klay shoot like that against Oklahoma City. The only thing different was that it just wasn't in Oklahoma City. But as I'm watching him have that game while we're playing, I had a better seat than you.

Yeah.

I couldn't help but think back to Game 6, 2016, where Game 6 Klay was kind of born. And Like it just brings a different energy over the body. Like it puts the mind in a different place. You just feel good. So as I'm watching him have this game and he's lighting these dudes up, I can't help but think if like, man, it was Kevin Durant in that jersey and it was Russell Westbrook in that jersey. Like, and you think back to that moment, which was such a huge, incredible moment. But nonetheless, Klay came out. I think he finished the game with 42 points. Like I said, on 12 threes. As great as he played, I didn't think it was 12 threes. Like, which says a lot because Klay, when he's scoring like that, he pouring on, like he pouring on and it feels, it's loud. But I just didn't feel like he had 12 threes. Like I knew he was lighting them boys up, but I did not think he had 12 threes. Who was aware though was Jordan Poole. Because Jordan, as you see Jordan, by the way, Jordan played one of the best games I've ever seen him play. And I know, you know, people have seen him get 40, I think, or, you know, 30 over and over. He played the best game I've ever seen him play. As you know, I'm not one that's just going to watch points and say, oh man, this guy played great. Guys score 20 in this league, 30 in this league and play like shit all the time. So that's neither here nor there. But the game Jordan Poole played last night, at one point I think he had 2 points and 7 assists. And that says so much about the game that he was having because it was just in the flow. He was making the right play. You know, he had the offense settled down. He was getting to the things that he wanted to get to. Having a shot, turning it down and making an extra pass. Like it's actually plays like that that sets us up to have the night like we had last night. Like it's been a long time since we really blew somebody out. But it's those small plays where it's like if Jordan shoots that 3 on the right wing in the first half, nobody, no, no, nobody's mad. Like Jordan's a very good shooter and he's open. Nobody's mad or tripping about that shot, but you faked the pump fake, guy come flying, next guy, excuse me, next guy comes and you swing it to Klay and Klay knock it down. Those are camaraderie building plays. Those are plays that get everybody involved, that get the crowd involved, that make you feel good. Jordan hit that 3, great. Got a kick out, knocked the 3 down, boom. But to make that extra pass to Klay, Those are the plays that leads to blowouts like we did last night. And so just getting back to what I was saying about Jordan, played an absolutely incredible game, dished the ball, 12 assists, 4 turnovers. But let's talk about them 4 turnovers. 3 of those turnovers came in, within his last minute or 2 in the game, just trying to do everything he can to force feed Klay the ball because— He was tired. He knew Klay was close to breaking his own record. And so he's just trying to force-feed him the ball. And 3 of those turnovers came then. No one's mad about that. No one's blaming that. Everybody knows exactly what's going on. And so the reality is he really had 12 turnovers, 12 assists and 1 turnover. And now let's get into his shot making. Totally let the game come to him. Didn't force anything. Let me take you back. So what happens? Jordan catches the ball on, Jordan catches the ball off the offensive rebound tap out from me. And he's deep, very, very deep out there. Maybe from 37 feet out, 40 feet. And he shot the 3. Now let's rewind it back a little bit. Steph Curry throwing his mouthpiece. Same exact play. Ball gets tipped out. He shot it from 40 feet. What's the difference? The difference is he was in such a groove. Number one, it went in. But number two, he's in such a groove, plays such a great game that you don't even really feel that shot. Even if he misses it, he's playing so well, like, you deserve to take that shot. Yeah. Like he's played that well. And so gotta give a lot of credit to JP and Klay in last night, just our backcourt in general in last night win. But like I said, JP had an incredible game. Let the game come to him. And no, he's not gonna play that way every single night, but you need more of that. And because that's the growth, that's his next step in growing. To becoming the player that he should and wants to become. That's that next step, more of those. And I thought that was absolutely incredible. And then on the defensive end, see what you must understand about OKC is they run a lot of guard-guard pick and rolls. And they're really just waiting on a guard to mess up the switch or just give a little crease. And once they get their crease, this, that team is number 1 in drives in the NBA. For those of who that may not understand that, that's, they drive to the paint, drive to the hole more than any team in the NBA. And so that was a big thing in the scouting report. So they're looking for the guards to mess up that switch and they're gonna attack that lane as soon as they see a little crease. I said all of that to say Jordan was also very good defensively. And that's also another step in his growth. Which brings it all together into why I said he played probably the best game that I've ever seen him play. Absolute masterpiece of a game, which led us to a pretty convincing blowout, which like I said, it's been a while since we had one of those. We needed it. Ended up winning the game by 27 points. That's great as we get ready to head out on the road. For this game in Portland, which is tomorrow night. And as we all know, Dame has been on the heater. So gotta go ahead and try to stop that.

Did you see the shot Dame hit last night?

From 48 feet, like 46 feet.

One step inside, inside half court.

Like most people gotta push that ball. To hit that shot. Like, and it luckily goes in. No one was shocked he made that shot. Same rotate, same form, as pure as ever as if he shot it from 30 feet, 26 feet. Yeah, so that was a great game by Klay and a great game by Jordan, which led us to the win, which we needed.

Before we move past Klay, you said that 3 of Draymond Green's turnovers were as he was trying to sort of force Klay the ball towards the end of that little stretch. When you play, you've had the opportunity to play with guys that have made double-digit threes a lot of times now. When you see a guy getting that hot, how much are you trying to force-feed them the ball versus just letting the offense flow and letting the ball sort of find them as Steve sort of talks about?

The natural thing would be to just let the ball find him. But as human beings, it's the most unnatural thing to do. The reality is, and the thought process is that the ball has found him the whole game, it'll still find him. But A, we're blowing them out and you know he's gonna come out at some point, so you can't really just flow with the offense. See, here's the thing about when Klay has these type of nights or when Steph has these type of nights, is we usually blow people out when they have these type of nights. And so there are times where you'll see guys have these type of nights around the league and like they're down the stretch in the game, the last 4 minutes. Very rarely do those guys have that type of night and the teams are still in it. I can't recall many, if any. And so yes, you're supposed to let the ball find him and all of those things, but The human element comes in like, yo, he's hot and we're gonna do everything we can to find him. And so you have everybody screen. So then what happens? Everybody's running, looking for him to screen. So then he ends up in like bunches and like he's not open because everything's bunched up. And then you're trying to force the ball through like 4 people and you get turnovers. Like I've seen this quite a few times now. And I've also done it. Like, I'm either the passer or the screener and trying to get him open. It sucks because you end up causing more, you end up hurting more than you're helping. But in saying that, the natural thing and what a great teammate's gonna do is what we do, is do everything you can to find him. Do everything you can to screen for him, get open. Because ultimately what it ends up being is your heart's in the right place. Like, you know it's all coming from a good place. And with that, you can live with it. So I understand what Jordan was going through for sure.

I think it sort of is dependent on the context. Like you're talking about the OKC game, the real game 6, Klay game was a playoff game, a really important one. But Where does this game rank on like the hottest you've seen Klay where you're like, oh my, you feel every shot's going in? I mean, he's had so many great nights obviously, but he came out firing.

This one's up there. Obviously it's OKC on a soft Monday right before All-Star break, dog days, not much, you know, the game doesn't mean a ton. So that's gonna drop it automatically. Like you can't put it above game 6. And then the 60-point game, or, you know, like that was crazy. 37 and a quarter. Like, I mean, I've seen this dude have some nights. So I can't put the Monday— 60. Game against OKC, 4 games before All-Star break up there. But just in terms of his shot, I mean, he hit some tough ones. He got some easy ones, but he hit some tough ones. And I mean, that's Klay though. Like I spoke about the one where he dribbled to the corner. He didn't dribble to the corner and miss that like, ah, bad shot. He dribbled to the corner and missed it and slapped his hands like it was supposed to go in. Like, bro, that's an awful shot. But he thought he's supposed to make it. I just can't, I can't get my mind there. I don't, but that's not me. Like I don't, I, but he actually believed he should have made that shot. And then, you know, you said, and you think about it, and the reality is that's why he's capable of having the nights that he has, because Lord knows, the shot clock would've been running down. I would've felt bad about taking that shot. So I guess that's the difference between me and Klay. Obviously your shot's better than mine, but the mindset, like, I mean, this man slapped his hands and ran back like, like he shot a good shot and missed it. Dude, you just waved Jordan Poole out the way with two people over there. No problem. Shot an awful shot. Gotta love Klay, man. He's the best. But yeah, maybe top 5 in terms of hotness, but it just don't really have the same punch because he does that very thing in very high pressure moments, high pressure situations. Now let's get into Steph going out. Steph is, I don't know, I've heard 3 weeks, I've heard multiple weeks. I've kind of heard all this, the same thing that you've heard. But what I will say is this, I think it's important to see how how Steph's body reacts over the next few days. You know, just with him being in pain, just how the pain subsides and how his body recovers over the next few days. Because the reality is, you know, if you've read up on the injury at all, like, you know, when I need to know things, I go to Dr. Google. And if you've read up on the injury at all, Like, it's one of those things where it's kind of like a pain tolerance type thing. And, you know, when you have acute injuries like that, those first couple days are brutal. Like, you're feeling that pain like nobody's tomorrow. But depending on how that pain subsides, that'll probably determine whether he's out for 3 weeks or whether he's out for 5 weeks. Like, no one knows because, again, it's one of those things. And so I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that, you know, over the next couple days, the pain will start to subside a little more and then you kind of get a better outlook. But right now, no one knows. Absolutely sucks. You know, my question, not really, it's more of a rhetorical question or just one that you're really just thinking about is like, he had got kicked in that same spot essentially game before. Did that have any bearing on him getting hit? You know, once he got hit there, did it have any bearing on that? There's never really a way to know if that did or if it didn't, but definitely gonna be out for the All-Star Game is what I've heard, which sucks, but is an opportunity for someone else to get in and Steph still gets his All-Star appearance, so. Yeah. Never, as much as that sucks, it's also an opportunity for someone else to add one to their resume. So that's always great.

Maybe De'Aaron Fox, guest of the Draymond Green Show, can get his first one.

Maybe De'Aaron Fox, definitely. Maybe Anthony Edwards, possibly Anthony Edwards. We'll see. I think those are probably the two front runners for the replacement spot. Me personally, I don't think you can go wrong either way. If I had a vote, as much as I think De'Aaron Fox deserves to get in, and I mean, De'Aaron Fox is an All-Star and he should have been an All-Star even without replacement consideration. But if I had a vote, I would probably put Anthony Edwards in and here's why. The reason being is KAT, who's an all-star, got hurt and Anthony Edwards has kept that team afloat. He's kept them right in the mix of the playoffs. And he has had big games. So that may be why if I had a vote that I would vote Anthony Edwards. But again, by all means, DeAnthony, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. De'Aaron Fox is an All-Star. Point blank period. Now on top of my reasoning for Anthony Edwards getting in, I also say the Kings already have an All-Star in, but they are also a top 3 seed. So should they have 2 if they have 2 players that's capable? Probably so. The number 2 seed got 2 subs in, in Jaren Jackson and Ja Morant. Number 1 seed didn't get 2 in, in Denver, but if Jamal Murray was healthy longer, they would have gotten 2 in. So you can make the argument that they are the third seed and they should get two in. And I can't argue that, 'cause again, De'Aaron Fox is an All-Star. But I've given you my reason on why I may give, I probably will give Anthony Edwards the nod. But we shall see. For those that don't know, Adam Silver picks the replacement. That's not something that's voted on by coaches. That's not, oh, this guy was next in line. That's the commissioner's call. And so I'm looking forward to seeing who commish go with, 'cause that's a tough one and someone's gonna be upset. So we'll see. Luka's out right now with a bruised heel. Those things are funny. So you may end up having another replacement anyway because that could very well that could very well not be ready. And what's All-Star, next weekend, two weekends from now? Maybe that's not ready. And you get both of those guys in and it is what it is and no one's upset. But it's gonna be interesting to see if it's only one who commissioners go, who the commissioner goes with. That's a tough one. You have two guys that are very deserving. We shall see. Before we get outta here, We must talk about the biggest news in the NBA. Kyrie Irving requested a trade last Friday. Kyrie Irving, 2 days ago, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Let's talk about it. I mean, you got 2 of the best offensive talents in the NBA on the same team, which by the way, you had two of the best offensive talents on the same team in the NBA when Kyrie was with Brooklyn. As we all know what Kevin Durant is to this game of basketball and what he does and what he brings. But now you got him with Luka. I don't love it. Reason I don't love it, that's very hard to stop. It's very hard to stop. Kyrie Irving is one of the best scorers we've seen. One of the best, if not the best ball handler we've seen. Tough shot taker, tough shot maker. Kyrie Irving also can spot shoot. And that's what makes it interesting. Because everyone says, oh, Kyrie needs the ball, Luka needs the ball. That's true. But Kyrie can actually spot shoot. Luka is not the best spot shooter. Luka's more get his rhythm off the dribble, shoot it off the dribble. But Kyrie can spot shoot. And Luka, as we know, finding you. So I don't love it. From that standpoint, not I don't love the trade, not I don't love— I don't love it because I, from an offensive standpoint, that's gonna be tough, tough, tough to guard. Defensively, I feel like as of late in Kyrie's career, he's defending more. He's taking on those challenges of guarding these great guards. And so if Kyrie's gonna continue to take it on that challenge of guarding great guards, as I don't see him stopping, was Spencer Dinwiddie a better defender than Kyrie? I think not. And no disrespect to Spencer Dinwiddie, but he's definitely not the offensive player Kyrie Irving is. So, You have to know that that team upgraded. Now, from a long-term perspective— Also, one thing you should understand about that trade is Dorian Finney-Smith played in a game against us the night before, which means that wasn't even talk, like, in talks, because he wouldn't have played. Because if he gets hurt in that game, that blows the whole trade up. Spencer Dinwiddie played in the game with us the night before. If he gets hurt, blows the whole trade up. So number one, think about how fast that trade had to come together. We played them in the game the night before, by noon the next day, he was— they were trading for Kyrie. That came together fast. Gotta credit Nico Harrison. For having the guts to pull the trigger like that. Like, he didn't have much time to think. He pulled the trigger. I respect that from Nico. You know why I respect that? Because this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, and GMs and coaches are usually the first to go. Dallas not having a great year, or what they would have expected to have coming off of the year that they had last year, but also they lost Jalen Brunson. And so now you're essentially replacing Jalen Brunson with Kyrie Irving.

Eh.

Jalen Brunson is good, but Kyrie Irving is Kyrie Irving. So kudos to Nico for pulling the trigger like he pulled the trigger. What is the downside to this trade? The downside is it doesn't work Kyrie hasn't signed an extension. It doesn't work and you piss Luka off and Luka wants to leave. That's the downside to the trade. But again, if I'm the Dallas Mavericks and I'm Nico, you gotta swing. Like you have to swing and they swung. And now we'll see how it plays out. But I think that's the downside. And then the other downside is, and here's why I won't tell you this side is not as down as you may think. But the other side is Kyrie didn't sign the extension and Kyrie walks and you traded a first round pick, you traded second round picks, you traded Spencer Dinwiddie, you traded Dorian Finney-Smith. So if Kyrie walks this summer, leaves your roster in a tough spot. But here's why it's not as down as you think. Because if Kyrie does walk, That's $40 million off your cap, off your books. Christian Wood is a free agent. That's another $14, $15 million off your cap. So that's $50 million. And it's Dallas with a superstar there. Can you go attract somebody to put next to Luka even if Kyrie does walk? You have the cap space to do that.

Mm-hmm.

And so, even if he does walk, you're not in the worst position because you still have cap space to go out in free agency and get someone. Dallas isn't a bad city, no state taxes, got Luka Dončić there. Mark Cuban spends money on the team. The list goes on and on. So it's not as down as you think in most situations where if you traded for this guy and he walked in 4 months, it's not all bad because you get all that cap space and you can go out in free agency. Mm-hmm. And you can swing and you can possibly attract another superstar or a damn good second option. And so I give credit to Nico with the trade. As far as the Nets go, I am told that they would not trade him to the Lakers. And that is what I call billionaire petty. That is Josiah saying, listen, man, That's where he wanna go? I don't care if they offer the best deal or not. I can be petty too. And billionaire petty is a different level of petty. And not many people can compete with billionaire petty. So before we get outta here, I'll tell you the most interesting thing about the tweet. Excuse me, about the trade was LeBron James' interview that released within 24 hours. Oh. —of Kyrie being traded. Hey, that interview, which is a great interview by the way, check the interview out. Bron and the great Mike Wilbon, they did an interview and it's more so about, like, as you all know, it's clickbait. The only thing they're gonna post is Bron talking about Kyrie. But if you actually watch the interview, like Bron's talking about passing Kareem, which is incredible. Talking about how he wants to do it. He don't want it to be a free throw and all of these things. So it's a great interview. You got two GOATs sitting there having a conversation, but I'll tell you, it is hilarious how that all played out and how Kyrie gets traded that day and they do the interview and it comes out 3 hours after Kyrie's traded. Absolutely incredible moment. Hilarious. Looking forward to LeBron breaking the scoring record this week. I am tempted to go to the game in LA, but I just don't want to go and then he don't break it. So I'm gonna sit this one out. So for everybody saying, "Oh, would Draymond go, would he not?" I'm tempted to go, but I'm gonna save my money on a private jet from LA to Portland. That I would have to get if I go to that game because we got to go to Portland. Um, so for those of you who saying I'm not— I'm making a decision not to go. That's that. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Until next time, peace.

Peace.