Draymond explains why Warriors need Wiggins & Payton II for NBA playoff push | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show.

We have another great episode for you all today. Just as a reminder, the top of show every week will be on Amazon app before it goes to all the platforms. So be sure to subscribe there. However, you know you can subscribe anywhere you get your platform. Um, excuse me, your podcast, any platform you listen to it, it will be there. You just will have the first opportunity to hear it live on AMP. So if you wanna check that out, we always have that option. But let's get into it, man. We got a very busy time in the NBA right now. The playoff standings, just sitting here, Jackson, the playoff standings are like every day someone's moving. Last night you had us get a road win finally after 11 game losing streak. We're sitting on the plane playing cards last night and Steph goes, "Yeah, man, number 8." And it was actually just hard to like believe, like 8 row wins is absolutely ridiculous. But I'm not stating anything that you don't know. However, I'll take it. We got one. Now we need to get another one. We need to get another one here tomorrow here in Dallas.

It's a very big game.

As you know, we're right there in the standings. Actually who we flipped back and forth with the other night. Well, last night. And so Dallas was on the road at Memphis with a big fourth quarter lead and they lost it. Memphis came back, they took the game. Dallas drops a little bit in the standings. But in saying that, we are one game or maybe even half a game apart and the Stan is from Dallas. And so tomorrow is a huge game. They've had Kyrie back for a couple games now. Luka has still been out, but for some reason I expect Luka to play tomorrow, which quite frankly, you always want guys and teams to play their best players. Not that Luka's not playing for a good reason. He's dealing with an injury. But I think for me—

Yeah.

Like playing against teams with their best players and like obviously Luka's one of the best players in the NBA. Like that gets you up.

The NBA stretch run is upon us. Huge matchups across the league as my dubs and I battle with the teams in the West for playoff position. Gonna be a lot of fun on TV, but what if you could actually be at some of these games? For last minute amazing deals on tickets, not just the dubs, 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 NHL, NCAA basketball games, even concert and comedy shows too. So if you're in Phoenix and wanna see KD try to make a run with the Suns, GameTime has your seats. If you're in Boston and hoping to see Jayson Tatum and the Celtics work their way to the finals again, GameTime has your seats. Or you wanna see Chris Rock anytime soon, download the GameTime app and redeem code GREEN for $20 off your first purchases. Terms apply. Again, download the GameTime app and enter 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 like that, that like those are games you get up for. Like it's impossible. As you've heard me say before, it's impossible to get up for every NBA game. Now in saying that, 9 games left in the season where we are in the standings, every game matters.

So it's not that, but you wanna play like, like that's where signature moments is created in the NBA.

Like when you playing marquee guys, when you playing in marquee games. And so.

Yeah.

Definitely looking forward to Luka getting back healthy. Obviously if that's not tomorrow, you know, hopefully pretty soon. It's great for the NBA, it's great for everybody.

We have 9 games left in the season.

That is 5 at home and 4 on the road. I think that bodes well for us because quite frankly, we win more at home and we're pretty good at home. We're really good at home.

Not so much on the road.

And saying that, I, you know, look at our remaining 4 games that we do have on the road and I think they're very winnable games. Hasn't been quite that way for us, but wouldn't it be amazing? Like, wouldn't it just rack everybody brain if like the Warriors win the next 4 games on the road headed into the playoffs and everybody been talking like all that garbage all year and then, You wanna go on your screens and stuff and say, "Oh man, they can't win on the road." And then that's followed by, but they close out the season strong on the road and just kind of put fear in everyone's hearts going into the playoffs. I think that'll be interesting. On my run of show, my rundown, where I give my topics and stuff, Jackson has on there, can the Warriors win in the playoffs without Wiggins or Gary? And to answer that, it'd be tough. Like, two of your best wing defenders, Dante's an incredible wing defender as well.

But it'd be tough.

You know, you're talking two guys, super athletic, two of the more athletic guys on your team. Let's not understate that. Because that's huge. Especially when you get in the playoffs, you start playing against different schemes and sometimes you just need that super athletic guy to like break the wall. You know, like Joe Dumars said to me, as you all may know, Joe Dumars is like a father to me. So many things that I know in life and like just taught me in life, the possibilities in life, like taught me so much.

And I remember back in the day, Joe D telling me like, "Draymond, you need fence benders." I'm like, "What the hell is that, Joe D?" He's like, "You know, sometimes you just need the guy to bend that fence back." So they bend the fence and then your defense can attack, your offense can attack.

I didn't understand that when I was in college or high school because I didn't understand the NBA game. I totally get that now.

Like, and pretty much what he was just saying is you need a guy who can get in the paint, drive and kick or get to the paint and break the defense down to get the first domino to fall. So the way Steve Kerr says, once you get the first domino to fall, then everything else starts to fall from there. Then you swing, now they're planning, you know, you're attacking closeouts. I said all that to say that is Wiggins. Like that is Wiggins for this team. So as important as he is defensively, that's who he is for this team as well.

And so— Yeah.

You definitely missed that. And then Gary, obviously us getting Gary back, it's huge. Gary is a 6'2" lob threat.

Me and Loon always laugh about, we call GP the 6'2"5" man. However, he's one of the best lob threats I've played with, which is absolutely insane. But his hands on the defensive end, like that'll help everything.

So to answer your question, Yes, we do need both of them, like, and hope to get them back. But speaking of which, I wanna let you all know how absolutely ridiculous most of you people are at life. Like, the fact that a rumor about Andrew Wiggins, I don't know if it's true. I'm not here to confirm whether it's true or not. I really don't care.

Like, it ain't got nothing to do with me.

Like, I, you know, you hear stuff like that and you care for like, him and her, like, and their children, you know, like, so I care from that perspective. But like, whether what y'all saying is true or not really like has no bearing on my life, nor does it have any bearing on y'all life. The fact that basketball— and I always say this on this podcast— like, the fact that basketball, that people are so bad at evaluating basketball that you start to run with someone's personal life to try to decide like why they're not playing basketball. Yeah. Like, imagine if somebody— if you were missing time at your job and somebody started a whole rumor about, like, your kids not being yours, and like, yeah, yeah, like, that's ridiculous, man. Now again, I'm not here to say whether it's true or false. I don't know, not my business. But point being, it's not yours either. Like, y'all are so thirsty to know what's going on in someone's life that that becomes the thing. He better have some cold hard evidence if you're going to make that a thing. And quite frankly, I've just seen people talking. Like, I've seen no evidence of anything. You just see people talking.

That's insane.

That's nuts. Like, the fact that people are so nosy and so consumed on what someone else do in their life. Yeah. Not basketball, in their life, that that is the story, that's the thing, with no confirmation of nothing?

Sometimes people disgust me.

Like, we live in a disgusting world.

It's disgusting. That is ridiculous.

And like I said, Whether it's true or false, I don't know if the world will ever know.

Quite frankly, I don't think it matters for the world to ever know if it is or isn't.

The fact that it's a thing with nothing to show is absurd. What y'all have to remember, man, is people, kids gotta live with that. So to just start saying that, man, I don't know.

That's ridiculous. It's cringeworthy. It's cringeworthy. It actually, it actually makes me lose more and more hope for humanity. It is disgusting. So in saying that, yes, we do need Wigs back.

Yeah.

Yes, we do need GP back. But as you know, You gotta roll with what you got. Hopefully we'll get GP back here sooner. And Wiggs, we'll see. But like, if you not gonna talk facts, stop gossiping.

Like, and when I say talk facts, I have the proof of blah, blah, blah.

Stop gossiping. Stop.

Like, you don't know what someone is dealing with. And then you make them deal with that? What if that's not what the person's dealing with?

Stop it. It's disgusting. Jesus Christ. People are ridiculous.

And switching topics, my Spartans are back in the Sweet 16. The GOAT, Mr.

March himself, Tom Izzo, is in his 15th Sweet 16 in 25 years. As the head coach of Michigan State. I thought that was an incredible stat. We don't count Sweet Sixteens at Michigan State. We don't hang banners for Sweet Sixteens at Michigan State. We don't even talk about them at Michigan State. So it's incredible. And Izz is one of the GOATs. Yeah. That's not to be debated. I don't do Izzo slander from anyone. We don't do that. We gonna keep it real kosher. The defensive clinic that was put on display against Marquette, we saw number 11, Big East Player of the Year. That brother didn't look like he wanted to be on the floor.— I put out a tweet.

I thought it was—

this actually is along the same lines as Wiggins.

I thought it was crazy that I'm watching that game and they're like, can you find Waldo? Like his dad doesn't want to be on screen. He just asked for privacy. He doesn't want to be on TV. And then they like do everything they can to find the guy and actually find him. He actually asked y'all, like, I don't want to be on TV. And I tweeted, I see why he didn't wanna be on TV. He knew his son wasn't showing up.

He ain't wanna show face.

No, but honestly, what AJ, Tyson, J.A., the guys that was guarding, what they did to him was beautiful. Totally took him out the game. Michigan State shot awful from 3.

Awful.

Think we may have hit 2 or 3 threes. Great shooting team, shot awful from 3, dominated the game. Dominated the game. Tom Izzo has this saying. He always tell us, "You get me the first game of the weekend, I'll get you the second one." And man, by the time you see him, we play Friday that first game, by the time you see him Sunday morning, bags under his eyes, he hasn't slept. Love, Coach, looks ridiculous.

But you see these other coaches, they well rested, hair slicked back, looking good, they happy. They lose to Izzo.

You will never see a team go into a game against Tom Izzo coach team more prepared.

Will not happen.

Played 4 years there, never happened. Izzo.

Won't. It's not a thing.

Our guards showed up, man. Tyson, Tyson Walker showed up. AJ Hoggard showed up. Big Shot Joey Buckets showed up. And the way Madi Sissoko was guarding the big fella, I tip my hat to the young fellas. Now we got the Sweet 16, we got Kansas State.

I got a lot of bets going on this.

Jacob Puller, looking for Mike Beasley. Some of y'all, somebody tell Bees to hit me or I'll hit Bees.

Need the bet.

Mitch Richmond, Run TMC, the Warriors legend, Hall of Famer, I'm looking for you. Spartan dogs, we here, we coming to take. Our path to the Final Four is a beautiful one. It's a beautiful one. And I'm looking at this Elite Eight like, oh, we gonna match up with Tennessee. That's déjà vu. My second, my second Final Four, you know who I beat to go to the Final Four? Tennessee.

Déjà vu.

But I feel it. As soon as I looked at our bracket, I said, oh man, that's a beautiful path to the Final Four. Because when you're, when you're at, a disciple of Izzo, the first thing you do when you get a, when you get a bracket is you look at your path to the Final Four. Again, we don't count Sweet Sixteens. For those of you that do, that's incredible. It's great.

It's not a thing at Michigan State.

It's just not a thing. It's levels to this. I saw something that said, is Michigan State a blue blood? Well, we quite frankly, we green, but— We're green blood.

I get your point for sure, 100%. You get it. Shout out to my Sparks. Can't wait for them to get it done on Thursday.

Last but not least, before we get out of here, the MVP race.

By the way, do, uh, Jackson want me to talk about, uh, Kyrie not, not taking Dylan Brooks' jersey off? Yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo is who I feel like the MVP race has come down to. Draymond Green, Joker, incredible year. As of late, he slipped and those guys has continued to ascend. As of late, the Denver Nuggets has slipped and those two teams has continued to ascend.

Both players are absolutely amazing. Giannis the other day had a perfect triple-double, which was great.

Triple-double numbers, 100% from the field, 100% from the three. Incredible game. Joel continues to do what Joel has been doing. They took a tough loss last night at home versus the Bulls, but Joel has been doing it.

I think it's important how they close out the season. They've been winning.

That's a, like I said, that's a tough loss last night.

It's important to see how they close out the season.

We know how the Bucks closing out the season. The Bucks ain't really losing many games.

So.

Right now in the MVP race, I think it's Joel. I think it's Joel's award to lose. I think the way he loses that award is his team starts losing because Joel gonna put up Joel numbers. Joel gonna do what Joel been doing. It's Joel's award to lose.

It's interesting how much things are changing. You look at the standings, they're changing. You look at this MVP stuff is changing.

Joel should get his first MVP this year.

I don't expect Philly to hit some crazy losing streak.

And be that they won't do that, it should be Joel to lose.

But like, let's discuss something. How much individual games, shots, like MB's game winner a couple weeks ago, like how much does that matter in the conversation? The reality is this, when you think about like a Heisman moment, right? Like you have those moments and like people will go back to it like there's the Heisman moment right there. The reality is, is like at this point in the season, you should have some of those moments because those plays like put you on the forefront and they boost you. And so at this point in the season, I think that's a thing, but it's hard to say that all year unless it's like some crazy marquee game because it's just so many games.

Like 82 games, it's hard to say like one buzzer beater or something, it takes the cake. Like I said, in Joel's case, I think it does because it's just so fresh. Everything's so close and so every big moment that you can have right now matters.

But in most cases, I don't think it really matters in the NBA. Just like I said, it's just so many games.

Like when you're playing, 11 games in the college season.

That Heisman moment, yeah, yeah, it matters in those 11 games, but '82, it's tough to say those things matter. And saying that Giannis' perfect triple-double matters in that, in those standings because it's so new, it's so fresh, it's right now. It's 11 games left, it's 10 games left, 9 games for some teams. So it matters right now. But over the grand scheme of things, over the course of the season, like the entire season, unless you hit like shots like Steph at OKC back in 2016, I think it was, like unless it's shots like that, it's tough to say those are like MVP-breaking moments.

And saying that, I think Joel's helped give him more of a boost.

Game winner, they on the streak, bam, for Tracy.

I think Giannis' perfect triple-double helps because it's right now.

Not so much.

Do you think individual, like, matchups matter? Like, Joel, when they play the Bucks, for example, the Sixers are 2-1 against the Bucks this year. On April 2nd, they play at Milwaukee with the week left in this regular season. I feel like people are going to be sort of keying in on that individual matchup. But do you think that they're not always guarding each other? Like, does performance against each other matter in the MVP race?

It's not mano a mano, mano a mano, right?

It's not Joel's guarding Giannis and Giannis play well or Giannis is guard.

It's who dominates the game, who leads their team to a win. You know, like that could matter because everyone's watching that game.

You know, like you got voters, these are people, these are human beings.

They're watching that game. And so you don't know the slightest thing that could, tilt someone. You know, like all you need is like one little edge because that person's gonna take that pen, they're gonna take that paper, they're gonna check that. Like, and you don't know what's on their mind that day.

It could be like, man, I just watched Joel get off on Giannis in Milwaukee, right? Like I could just watch Giannis carry Milwaukee to a win.

And like, so you never know what that one thing is to like tilt someone. And because it's human beings, it's not a computer. Emotions is a part of it. Like, your emotion towards it is a part of it. If one of these guys leave you on a high note, your emotions may take over. And so I think at this point, like, just like the shot, it matters at this point. But again, it won't be a duel of like, oh man, Giannis had 37, Joel had 33. Like, it's going to be who dominated in a fashion to help their team win the game. And not that if you lose this game, you don't win MVP.

But I think that's what it boils down to. Just because of point of season we're in.

That's gonna be a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show.

Make sure y'all check it out. Got interview coming up later this week. Check that out. Stay locked in on the NBA. It's getting real good.

Let's go, Dubs. We need more road wins.

Until next time, peace.

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.

Thank you.