In a post‑game press conference, Warriors forward Draymond Green addresses swirling trade‑deadline rumors that he might be moved from the franchise. He explains that while the speculation has become more real after a recent conversation with head coach Steve Kerr, it does not distract him or cause him to lose sleep; he simply cannot control the situation. Green shares how he discussed the possibility with his son, who struggled to understand why a team would trade him, and notes that his wife and family have not had to relocate during his 13½‑year tenure, a stability he deeply appreciates. He reflects on his long career with Golden State, likening a hypothetical early‑career contract signing to a sheet of paper he would have signed instantly, and expresses gratitude for the "amazing run" he’s had, acknowledging that all good things eventually end. Green also comments on how the trade chatter, combined with injuries to Stephen Curry and Jimmy (presumably Jimmy Butler or a teammate), could affect the locker‑room psyche, especially for younger players still building their careers. He emphasizes that regardless of roster changes or injuries, the team must maintain a competitive mindset to win games. When asked about the short‑term future without key players, he admits the Warriors are currently not competing at a high level but stresses the need for collective effort. Finally, he admits uncertainty about whether his next game could be his last in a Warriors jersey, but remains focused on the present.
Chapters
Draymond, you mentioned a couple days ago when we asked you that you're not gonna lose any sleep over trade talk, your name in it, but has it gotten a little wearing to you? Has it gotten something that maybe people bring up to you and you have to answer about, or anything that's kind of been, you know, maybe distracting to you?
No, it's not a distraction. Everybody do want to talk about it. But it— no, it doesn't wear on me. It kind of— it just is what it is, you know? I'd say over the last couple days it's gotten more real to me, but it's not— it doesn't wear on me. I can't control it, so I don't— I don't worry about things I can't control.
What's up, Draymond Green? What is it like knowing that it is a possibility?
It's a possibility that I might get traded. That's kind of just what it's like. I don't—
But as somebody who's, I mean, you built this with Steph and Klay, what—
Oh yeah, but at some point it's gonna come to an end. Whether that's a day or two or a year or two, it's gonna come to an end at some point. You gotta be okay with that. You know, it's not something that I can hold on to forever 'cause I can't play basketball forever. So it's gotta come to an end at some point anyway.
How eager are you just for Thursday though? Just, you know, for some type of resolution in a sense?
Not at all. I mean, I'm not.
Post-deadline Thursday.
That would be me worrying about the deadline. I'm not worried about the deadline. So, yeah. I think if anything, by Thursday one way or another, people will stop asking me.
Yeah. But Steve said he's had a chat with you about it.
That's when it got real for me.
Yeah.
It's like, oh, maybe I should be a little more worried about this than I am. I didn't get worried about it, but I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. It's interesting. He was like, how you doing? I'm good, coach. You know, I know all these trade rooms and stuff. It's like, It's weird. It's like, yeah, it's crazy. And then he's like, how's Hazel handling it? And that's when it got real to me. I was like, I haven't spoke to her about it. It's not, it's not something we've spoke about. That's when it got real to me. So today on the way to the game, I spoke to my son about it. I was like, yo, what if I get traded? He's like, well, why would they trade you? It's like, it's just the business. I've never been traded, but it can happen to anybody. And he was like, oh, I just don't understand why they would do that. So, you know, but yeah, prior to that it—
So, I mean, you talked to Steve. I know the other night we talked to you, you still hadn't really talked to the front office. Have you at this point?
Yeah, probably not quite the conversation y'all think it was though, but Anything you want to share? No. But I will tell you, it's probably not quite the conversation you think.
Okay.
But yeah, I talk to him pretty often though. So it's good. We'll see.
What is it like being in an emotionally heavy and uncertain place of wondering, do you have to say goodbye to teammates? Is it business as usual on Thursday? Or just like the wonder of how the next couple hours, 48 hours will unfold?
You know, this is something I've never dealt with before, so I'm not, I don't really have like some guidebook or manual to how it should be. So yeah, if there's a point where I need to say goodbye, I'll say goodbye, but. I'm not. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I think, yeah, it is business as usual. You know, come out, play, go home, come back tomorrow, fly, maybe. Play Thursday, maybe, maybe not. We'll see. You know, so it's business as usual for me though. But You know, I think a lot of people want to know like how I feel about it. Like, am I upset about it? Or like, I'm not at all. Like, you know, I don't— if that's what's best for this organization, that's what's best for the organization. You know, I'm not like, oh man, they fucked me over or something like that. Like, I don't really feel that way. You know, if you would've told me 13 and a half years ago, like, yo, I'm gonna hand you this sheet of paper and you can sign it to be in a place for 13 and a half years. Would you sign it? And I would have signed it faster than you can blink. So, what do I have to sit and worry about? What do I have to, like, be upset about? Like, I've been here for 13 and a half years. That's longer than probably 98% of NBA players have been in one place. Yeah. And this guy from Saginaw has been in a place for 13 and a half years. I don't know that it ends at 13 and a half, but if it does, what a fucking run it's been. I'll take the fine for it. What a fucking run it's been. So that's, that's, that's just how I feel, you know? And I'm not, I'm, I'm, I don't sleep well after games. So if I lose sleep tonight, I promise y'all it's not because I think I'm getting traded. I just don't really sleep well after a game. But yeah, I'm blessed. I'm lucky, you know, I'm grateful. Like I said, my family has not had to move anywhere since I started my family, you know, that's like, that's incredible. I don't take that for granted. It's guys that been on the move every year, moving their family 2, 3 times in a year. So I'm, I have so much gratitude for where I am in my career, the run that I've been on here. And like I said, I don't, I don't know that it ends or whatnot. I don't, I don't. We'll, we'll all see. But if it does, it does, you know, all good things must come to an end at some point. And so yeah, that's, that's kind of my sentiment. Yeah. You know, and how I feel.
Draymond Green, there's a lot going on around this team, obviously. And Jimmy goes down, you don't know when Steph will be back. You look around the locker room and obviously the trade chatter is out there too. Does that affect the psyche of a team, you think?
It can, for sure. You know, I think, I think for most guys it would. You know, um, it, you know, you, because it's, you're just so uncertain. Like, you don't know, is this your last time taking the floor? Is this your last time being with the group, this group of guys? Like, where you could be tomorrow? It, it definitely does. But we're not the only team dealing with that. You know, it's the trade deadline for 30 teams. And so that's just the nature of the NBA, you know, every year the trade deadline comes around, there's a little more movement than any other time in the league. And so, yeah, I think it definitely can affect the psyche of a team for sure. And I would understand why it would affect these guys differently than me. I've made my career, you know, like I, if I stopped playing tomorrow. You've had a career. I've had a pretty good career, you know. There's a lot of guys in our locker room still trying to build a career. So I understand why they would look at it differently than I do, but I'm not trying to build a career anymore. I'm just trying to keep getting better, keep producing, keep playing at a high level. But if I stop tomorrow, what I've done is what I've done, you know? And it's a pretty decent resume, you know? And so I sympathize with them, you know, because I was once in year 6 and 5 and 4 and 3, you know, and, and, and I'm sure then my sentiment was different than it is now. But like in my 14th year, who I am is who I am. You know, maybe I can make another All-Defensive Team or something here and there, like to keep adding to the resume. But like, it is what it is, you know, and I'm not in career build mode no more. You know, I'm trying to, sustain, get better, play well, and land the plane, you know, smoothly, you know, land the plane smoothly. And that's, that's my goal. So yeah, it affects the psyche for sure. And I understand why it would, but it's just a little different for me because I'm just at a little different place in my, in my journey.
When you, when you look at the fact that you've got the chatter going around and also again, you're out, you're without Steph, you don't know when he'll be back. Jimmy's down. Is it— what are the challenges to, I guess what I'm saying is, is to lock in knowing all this stuff is happening?
Yeah, well, we all get paid to do the job, you know, and unfortunately that doesn't quite do it. You got to have a will and a want to compete. And if I'm honest, I don't think we quite had that tonight, you know. And, you know, it could be deadline talk, but I think for me it makes me want to play harder, you know, like, but everybody's different, you know, like the same thing that makes me tick may not make the next guy tick, you know. And so each guy is on their own journey and each guy handles things differently than the next guy, you know. And so. Draymond Green. Regardless of what happened, we have to collectively compete at it at a high level if we want to win games. Whether Steph is in or Steph is out, Jimmy will be out. You have to have a certain level of competition that you have to bring to the game, to an NBA game, in order to have a possibility to win. And that don't change whether you're here, there, tomorrow, or the next place. That's just what it is in the NBA. So, Regardless of who gets traded, who stays, that must remain. And we didn't have that tonight.
Draymond, to that point, you guys knew it would be difficult, obviously, when Jimmy went down. But now you've lost 5 out of 7. Beyond the numbers, how does it feel like you can go forward without him? I mean, tonight you guys obviously got pounded on the boards, only had 2 free throw attempts, which is something Jimmy provided. How do you feel about the short-term future here?
Ah, well, I think we all knew that it would be tough without Jimmy. You get a lot smaller, a lot less athletic. Aside from all the obvious things that we know Jimmy bring, those two things that I just mentioned are as big as anything else that Jimmy brings to the table. His athleticism, he's still one of the, elite athletes in the league. You know, the size that he brings at the wing position, that is like still valued in the NBA, you know? And so we knew it would be tough. And then without Steph, you know, it gets a lot harder. But it's the hand we was dealt and we're the Golden State Warriors. No one feels bad for us. Like, there's not a soul that feels sorry for us. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] So, you know, unfortunately for the young guys here, they, they, they get that it's not quite their fault, but it is what it is and it's our situation. So, you know, guys got to understand that. We've got to find a way to get to the free throw line, you know, and the ball moves makes that a little easier. You're planning his closeout and different things, but, Yeah, I don't know how long Steph will be out. We know Jimmy will be out for a while, but regardless of when those guys play, we have to compete at a high level. And right now we're not really competing at a high level.
Draymond, in your 13 and a half, 14 years, you've seen a lot of guys come and go. You've never been a part of trade, a trade, but you've seen a lot of guys come and go. So I guess what I want to know is, I know you're not worried, you're not going to lose any sleep over this, but just based off that conversation that you had with coach, Do you feel like you played your last game as a Warrior in that jersey?
Maybe, I don't know. I don't foresee it that way. But if I have, like I said, it's been an amazing run. But yeah, I don't know, we'll see. Like I said, I don't sit and think about it. Think about the possibilities or what may— it's going to be what it's going to be regardless. And so that's just— it is what it is.
Did you take some of your time to DJ on the court afterwards?
Oh, no. I was trying to get my wife attention. You know, I was trying to get her attention, but my 5-year-old was over there acting a nut. I could see it. She was crying about something, so. She, I couldn't get her attention, but no, I didn't.
