Draymond Green discusses return to Warriors, trade rumors, Western Conference contenders

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What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. Uh, we're back full time, so going forward we'll be giving you 2 episodes a week as we've always done, sometimes more. Depending on what's going on around the league, what's going on in the world. You never know, we may pop in from time to time, uh, as we've done in previous years. Um, and also, uh, later this week, uh, we have an incredible, incredible, amazing first guest back. Uh, someone we never thought we'd see on Draymond Green Show. Excited for that guest. Hope you guys enjoy that later on this week, but— As we get into it, the top of the week, top of show. Whether you're watching this episode on the BR app, on YouTube, or you're just listening to the audio, we need you to subscribe to our new YouTube channel, youtube.com/@DraymondGreenShow. Check that out. We really wanna grow that YouTube page with all of our fans, our subscribers. Everything from the show you will be able to find there. You will also be able to find some clips there that may not necessarily make the show, but just some extra things and, you know, from the pod for our loyal subscribers, our loyal fans. We always appreciate you. It's been a while. It's been a long time coming. So if you've been here, we thank you. And if you're new here, we also thank you. And if you're in the future, we thank you as well. Now that that business is done, let's get right into it.

Um.

I, myself, Draymond, returned to the Warriors lineup yesterday. And unfortunately, it came in a losing effort. Would've been very fitting and fun to return in Memphis and win a game on Martin Luther King Day, all the things. That didn't happen. But however, it felt great to be back out there on the court. Played 23 minutes. Coming back on a minute restriction, which if I'm quite honest, I don't necessarily feel like I need much longer. But as you all know, you've heard the name Rick Celebrini a million times from either myself or other guys or people around our organization. He is a legend. He is the Don, and I don't fight with Rick. I take his guidance, I listen to it, and I roll with it. Every now and then I push back on it, but for the most part, initially I'm always gonna roll with it because I trust him. It's a lot of cases more than I trust myself. And he is someone that also protects us from ourselves. As a competitor, you just wanna go, go, go, go, go. And Rick is the sound mind, is the expert. And like, ah, we shouldn't push it past here because you're putting yourself at risk for injury. And after a month of not playing any NBA basketball, I totally get it. So I was on a 24-minute restriction, got right up to that, and I felt incredible. You know, gotta get my timing and stuff back, my reads. Few things felt like they were maybe a half a count too slow, but not too bad.

Yeah.

Uh, felt good to hit the first 3. Uh, you come back, you never know how that's gonna feel when you got defense running at you. So that one felt good. It also felt good to boo the crowd back 'cause they were booing like always in Memphis. Um, which is quite crazy, uh, that the Memphis fans hate me so much, be that they wanted me in free agency. Um, would've been really funny if I ended up in Memphis. It would've, I just wonder what the reception would have been if I actually ended up in Memphis. But yeah, they really hate me there. And to be honest, I love it. And I love them. I love that they love to hate me. I think it's a very great thing. I think their fans are hilarious. And it's always a good time. For me, it's always in good fun. Except for when I, flicked them the double birds when they cheered when I got injured. That was a fun time in my life and a fun moment in my NBA career. But they, I felt like they were well deserving at that point. Like you cheer for someone getting injured, that's like the lowest class of class. However, I love the city of Memphis. I'm a huge Memphis rap fan, as you all know.

Yeah.

You talking Gotti, you talking Dolph, you talking Key Glock, Moneybagg. Like, I love, absolutely love Memphis rap. And then my guy Rich Fresh is from Memphis who always keep me looking fresh. So I got nothing but love for Memphis. Although they hate and they boo, I love those boos. Keep 'em coming. It's great. Absolutely pissed off that we didn't get a win there yesterday because Number one, we needed to win. You know, sitting here at 18-22, we've lost quite a few games this year that we should have won. Yesterday was one like, on paper we should have won, but like if you watch the game, they outplayed us. And so I don't view that one as like, oh, we let one get away that we should have won. Yes, in theory, but like I'm talking like the, OKC game that we clearly should have won. There's some games this year that like we 100% clearly should have won and we kind of let slip away. I don't necessarily think that was the case last night, but you gotta give those young guys some credit, man. GG Jackson, man, he got off and he shot the ball like he was Klay Thompson. I mean, he was catching like no hesitation, raising up. I haven't seen him play a ton, so I'm not sure if he's always like that. I do know he's always aggressive to score, but he's like, all the clips and things that I've seen, he's like aggressive getting downhill. He was raising up like he shoot 45 from the 3, and maybe he do. Like I said, I didn't check to see if he does, but the way he was shooting that ball last night, man, you gotta give him credit. He just answered the bell. He said to Steph halftime, he waited for Steph at the half court line. He said, "Man, I got uninvited from your camp." Which I thought was interesting. Steph ended up telling us about that last night. He's like, he got uninvited from the camp and Steph's like, "Oh, like I remember that. Like we were filled on spots and so they had to like pull some invites back." Yeah. And Steph was like, "I kind of froze for a minute. Like it caught me a bit off guard." Like, what do you say to that? And so after the game, I learned that it was very personal for Gigi. Not only was it like, "Oh, I'm getting a chance to play against Steph Curry," but he found this extra added motivation of like, "They uninvited me from the Steph Curry camp." So now I don't have any real say-so in this, Gigi, but you're invited to the Steph Curry camp next year as a counselor if you wanna go back. Go with Under Armour or something. Whatever you gonna do. Because that seemed real personal last night. But like I said, you gotta give the young fella some credit. He answered the bell and we were standing at the free throw line. He said, "Man, it's an honor to play against you. Like I've watched you win championships." Like when you get things like that from young guys, it is one of the most rewarding feelings. But it also shows you who's student of the game, who's the students of the game and who's not. When young guys say stuff like that. And by the way, not that you, if you don't say anything like that, you're not a student of the game, but it's very evident when you start saying stuff like that because that mean you've been watching. Like that means you've been paying attention, you've been appreciating, but you've been watching and learning. And so not surprised that a kid like that can go have a game the way he did because— Yeah. Just those things, you know, with Steph, with what he said to me, it's like, no, this kid, he gets it. He's a student of the game. Vince Williams, who just signed a contract with the Memphis Grizzlies about a week ago, he showed up and he'd been playing his tail off, which is why he earned that contract. But he took it to another level last night. He's a good defender.

Yeah.

Handles the ball pretty well, shoot the ball pretty well, get downhill. Like he doing something, everything. Gotta give him some credit, man. All those guys answered the bell. Where does that leave us? As I said before, it was great to be back on the court just with my teammates. You know, it wasn't much of a conversation to be had with my teammates in coming back because those conversations had already been had, the ones that needed to be had. My conversation with Coach Kerr. I know people was like, "Oh, he's not starting, he's coming off the bench." And my conversation with Coach Kerr was great. You know, he was kind of sharing with me his thoughts and shared with him my thoughts. And like, A, that unit had been playing well the last couple games that started the game last night. So you got a unit playing well, putting it together, you don't mess that up. But also, like, I'm returning from a suspension, not an injury, you know? So you don't just walk back into the starting lineup, you know, because you return from injury. And so I felt, you know, right along with Coach Kerr, that it's best that I came off the bench because, you know, there's—

Yeah.

We play a team sport. Like, this isn't an individual sport. So how other guys feel about certain things matters because that affects the cohesiveness of a team, you know? And if you negatively affect the togetherness of a team, a guy's like, "Oh man, he come back from injury and now he just start." Like, eh, it's been enough. To deal with. So definitely not something that I want, really care. I also am not hell-bent off coming off the bench or starting. It is what it is. Ultimately you're gonna play the minutes that you're gonna play regardless. The minutes that you're supposed to get, whether you come off the bench or start, you're gonna get those minutes. You know, you— and so I don't get extremely caught up in that. Whatever the best lineups are for our team to be successful, I'm with that always because my number one goal in stepping onto the basketball floor is to win the game at all times. And whatever that has to look like, if that's getting benched and going offense to defense in game 4 of the NBA Finals, then that's just what it is. Or game 3 of the NBA Finals. That's just what it is. And no, I think it was game 4.

Yeah.

Yeah, because then we came back home game 5 and I started the game with a dunk and it felt great. And so yeah, like whatever it is for my team to win, I'm always willing to do. And like I said, you just don't get to come back from suspension and like things just go your way. You gotta earn those things back. Not sure how long I'll come off the bench or if that'll be the way it goes the rest of the way. Don't know, really don't care. I do care to get the minute restriction off me because I feel like I can play more minutes. As I've told you all before, Our staff, our performance staff do a great job of simulating game action, of putting us in, making sure we getting the right amount of hits of actual gameplay leading up to coming back. And so they do an incredible job. And every time, you know, I've come back from an injury or, you know, suspension in this case, I feel like I'm in good shape. Like they do an incredible job. They keep you working. Now who I will have to give credit to is Travis Walton. Travis, who was my personal trainer when I was away from the team, Travis put this whole plan together, had me working out every day, had me lifting every day. And when I came back, one of the, like, try to find silver linings through the bad times. And one of, I think one of the silver linings was, or one of the bright spots for me returning was, you know, they were very pleased with my condition and how I kept myself together and coming back. And that to me, it felt great. Number one, like I said, thankful to Travis for putting the plan together and making sure I was locked in and dialed in and had the right plan so that when I did return, I was in a good spot. But also, you know, as a professional, you know, to continue to become a better and better professional. It's always a big deal to me. So I was very pleased with how they felt about me returning and the way that I came back and just my conditioning and all those things. And like I said, I feel good. Hopefully the minute restriction will come off. That's my goal. I'll talk to Rick and see what happens. And moving forward with the dubs, we got some stuff to figure out 'cause we have sucked. We're sitting here 22, 18 and 22. That's not good. And like I said, yeah, we've lost some games and you win a few of those games that you shouldn't have lost and you may feel totally different, but the reality is we didn't. And so you gotta make up ground. And right now we've been struggling to do that. I can always raise my hand and say Corporate A reason number one, sit right here in front of you. Mm-hmm. And so I take that upon myself to try to be that spark and right it and right the ship. Do I still think we can? I do think we can. But our defense has to be better. You know, we always talk about, man, like guys shooting the lights out the ball when they play against us. And that they did last night. My press conference, I was like, man, we gotta guard people. Like, you gotta take on the challenge. And by the way, I stand by that. You always have to take on the challenge.

Yeah.

Of I wanna stop my man, whoever I'm guarding, I want to stop this guy. Defense is all about a will. I want to play defense. You don't wanna play defense, you won't be good defensively. You gotta want to play defense. And so I still stand by that. However, in looking at the film, there were some well-contested shots, like very well-contested shots, and they got going and they knocked 'em down. We've all had a frustrating experience buying tickets, even me. You all know I love to go to concerts, shows, and it can be hard to find last-minute tickets. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets to all the sports, music, comedy, and theater shows near you. I'm looking through the GameTime app right now, and it's really easy to find tickets at different price points. I know it isn't cheap to see the Dubs play anymore, but we got some fun matchups coming up versus the Lakers, the Mavericks, and more. Gametime is the only ticketing app that gives you complete peace of mind with your purchase. They have all-in pricing, so you know exactly how much you're going to pay. Plus, the Gametime Guarantee means you'll always get the best price. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use the code word "GREEN" for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Create an account and use the code word GREEN, G-R-E-E-N, for $20 off. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And saying that, you can't just sit back and say, well, we contested the shots well and they just made 'em. You have to make people miss. So we still gotta figure that out. Everybody does play better against us. That's just the reality. That's what comes with the territory of being a dynasty, a great team, a team that's done what we've done for years, that's what comes with it. In a lot of cases, you're people's Super Bowl. And so yeah, they're excited to play. They're gonna knock shots down. It's just something else that come with it. They're playing free because they feel like they got nothing to lose. We have to adjust to that. Like you have to adjust to it because it's gonna continue to happen. Like those accolades, that track record, it's not changing. Yeah. Which means the way people look at us ain't changed. So we have to figure that out. You can't just sit back and say, "Ah man, they hit shots tonight that they weren't supposed to hit." We gotta figure it out. We have to figure it out. Defensively, it starts with our defense. 25th ranked defense in the league this season. Like, and we're 18-22. Makes sense. Got the 25th ranked best defense. Everybody always talked about the Warriors and our offense and how beautiful that was, and rightfully so. But the reason we won championships is because of our defense. Our defense has always been top 10. I think maybe one time we won a championship, we were 11th in defense, maybe. I'm almost positive.

Right.

You have to have a great defense if you're gonna compete for titles. And right now our defense is atrocious. It's atrocious. And so we gotta figure that out. We have to defend better if we want to win. If we want to turn this season around, we have to defend better. It is extremely important. That'll never change. If you do not defend, you can't win. It's very simple. I know Steph has talked a lot about the Warriors and us and we're just, and us just not being a good team right now. And that's a fact. That is 100% a fact. I 100% agree. We are not a very good team right now. Can we be a good team? I still believe we can be a good team. Do we still have championship aspirations? I don't think those ever go away. However, it starts with game by game. We need to get better game by game and try to stack some, put some wins together and get this thing back on the right track. If you look up, we're not far behind everyone else. So there's still a chance to put some games together and make a run. And I do not, I am not of the belief that we can't do that. So we have to figure that out. I also know in regard to the Dubs, there's been a lot of trade rumors. I know my name has came up. I know everyone's name has come up except for Steph Curry. Yeah. My name has not come up in trade rumors too often. And, you know, Jackson say here, how are you handling that? To be honest, I have not thought about it one bit. I don't make much of it at all. Rumors are just that. They are rumors. I know we've been linked to Pascal Siakam. I hear all the same things that all you guys hear. That is the gift and the curse of social media. That is the gift and the curse of cell phones. That is the gift and the curse of the accessibility that all of these things provide to us. That's just what comes with the territory these days. As far as if I'm traded or if someone's, like, that's the business.

Yeah.

Like the business, is you can be traded. The business is you could be waived. The business is you can be benched. The business is you could start. The business is you could play well. The business is you could play bad. That's the business. That's what comes with the territory. I'm not gonna sit and dwell on the rumors or, oh, like beat myself up. Like rumors are just that, they're rumors until they're true. And so if that ever came to fruition, then you deal with that when you cross that bridge when you get there. And so it's not really something that I worry about. I know, you know, everybody's saying, "Oh, the Warriors gotta make a trade. They're gonna make a trade." I mean, if you're 18 and 22, how can you question anything someone does? You know, we've had the opportunity to get out there and play and prove ourselves as a team. Because the reality is we've never really been a very active team at the trade deadline. I think I can count. Right off the top of my head, guys, we've traded for at the trade deadline, Steve Blake, going way back when I was young, young. Steve Blake, Jordan Crawford and Marshawn Brooks, Wiggs, GP coming back. I know we've traded a couple people away at the deadline. I remember Brad Wanamaker, Glenn Robinson, Alec Burks, D-Lo and the Wig Straight. Maybe I'm missing one or two, but like over the course of 12 years, that's what, 8 or 9 guys? It's not a lot. So we've never really been an active team at the trade deadline. However, we also do have a new GM and Mike has been incredible, by the way. But you know, he could work differently than Bob. He could be more aggressive at the trade deadline than Bob were. I don't know, I don't really have a feel for it. Would I be shocked if something was to change or some trades happen? No, I wouldn't be shocked. Again, we're 18-22 with, if I'm not mistaken, the highest payroll in the league. Or top 2, 3. So how can you sit and complain? Joe has a business to run as an owner. Mike has a business to run as a general manager. I get it, I get it. And so do I think I'll be traded? No, do I? I hope not. But if, you know, any of those things happen, that's a part of the business that we chose to be a part of. And you gotta take the good with the bad. And I've always been one to understand that and take the good with the bad. So nope, I don't really think about it. But you wanted my thoughts on it, there you go. Man, you look at the Western Conference, which I think is very interesting. You got the T-Wolves, the Thunder, the Nuggets, and the Clippers sitting at the top of the Western Conference. Yeah. T-Wolves, fairly young team, although Rudy Gobert's been around for a while, KAT's been around for a while. But they're very young in experience, especially playoff experience. Kyle Anderson's been around for a while. But they're young, and they're being led by a very, very, very young guy in Anthony Edwards, their star player, who's playing well, who's— who's talked so much about wanting that spot and wanting that responsibility. And he's handling it as good as you can handle it. He's poised, he's carrying the team. He's taking a franchise that hasn't won ever anything and he's carrying them and propelling them and showing that all the things that he's been saying, he means. And you gotta give him some credit there.

Yeah.

And then you have the Thunder, Young Thunder, who I've always told, we all knew was coming. Like we knew that those young guys were growing and it was only a matter of time before they had to be reckoned with. The time is now. They have to be reckoned with. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is first team All-NBA performer, a problem. Not sure why he's not higher up in the MVP conversation. Incredible. Jalen Williams, the guard from Santa Clara, a special, special dude. Can shoot, he can pass, he can handle, he can finish, he can defend. He has great size, so he can guard multiple positions. He's athletic. He's great in the pick and roll. Like— Yeah. Jalen Williams is special. And over-under 2 years before he's an All-Star himself, I'm gonna take the under. He is a problem. And it's gonna get interesting because OKC got a lot of young guys right now, but those guys are starting to grow and it's gonna be time to pay those guys. And they're gonna end up coming down to some decisions that they're gonna have to make in the near future. Over the next couple years, especially being a small market team, they're gonna have to make some decisions on those guys. Jalen Williams is one problem. Really, really good. Chet Holmgren, a problem. Really good. Like, and Chet has the demeanor, like he talks, like he feel like nobody can check him. They got Lou Dort being who Lou Dort is. All those young guys have gotten better. Aaron Wiggins has gotten better. Giddy has gotten better. Like Isaiah Joe has gotten better. Like those guys, that's a good, good team, man. And they're showing it night in and night out. Yeah, they're still young. I won a championship in my third year. So it's not impossible, but, and they got a guy, Shay. And when Shay's in foul trouble, they got another guy who takes over, Jalen Williams, like, and Chet, you know? So that team is a problem and they gotta be reckoned with. Then you have the defending champs, the Denver Nuggets. We all know who they are. Not much that I need to say there. They lost some key pieces and they look like they're picking up right where they left off. They got some young guys stepping up. Payton Watson is playing more, a much larger role and more minutes. I saw Payton Watson work out his pre-draft workout with the Warriors and I like, man, I really like that kid. Like that kid got a chance to be really good and he's improving. He's showing it. And some of the questions that people had about him on why he fell in the draft, his professionalism and all those things. Young fella doing it. And he's in a great organization with a great head coach, one that's gonna hold you accountable. And he doing it. So you gotta give those guys credit. And then you got the Clippers. The Clippers who the first 7 games of their experiment we all thought were dead and had no chance. And they are playing great basketball. James Harden running the point, being who James Harden has been. James Harden, I think by the way, James Harden should be an All-Star this year. I'm not sure how people are viewing that, but he only missed like the first 4 games for the Clippers, first 4 or 5 games, like, and then he got traded there. And he's playing at an all-star level and the way their team is playing, I think James Harden is an all-star this year. Should be. Will people look at it from what, will people judge him on what's happened the past few years? That's the question. But James Harden should be an all-star this year. James Harden is playing at an all-star level. Kawhi Leonard, congrats on this extension. Kawhi Leonard signed a 3-year, $100 and da da da da dot, $30 million extension maybe?

$152.

God, $152. Jesus Christ. But we all know Kawhi Leonard is that level of player when he's healthy and he's been extremely healthy this year. Their team success is because of it. PG's been pretty healthy this year and their team success is showing that. Ty Lue, great coach, willing to take on James Harden when nobody else wanted to and it's paying dividends. And so then you got the Clippers and then you start talking about contenders like, I think it's still early to say, oh, this team is a contender, that team is a contender. You know, you like to think all of those guys will be contenders, but playoffs are different for a lot of people than regular season basketball. And so, I don't know, we'll see. But those teams are playing extremely well and you gotta give them your credit. Before we get outta here, I saw my old teammate Nick Young on Gilbert Arenas' podcast talking about me and Gil are the same type of leader. What was Draymond like as a teammate?

Well, he got a little bit of Gil in him. He got a little bit of Gil in him. Like when I played with Gil, if I didn't do something right, he'd, "The motherfucker ain't ready. Don't put him in." Say that shit out loud to the coach and shit. So Draymond did some similar shit. I shot the ball. Be like, "Nick, we don't do that shit here. We don't shoot that type of shot here." I said, "Curry just shot the same shot I shot. You don't say that shit to him." He said, "It's different. He won a championship. You ain't win shit yet." So I was like, "All right, man, fuck it." I don't know much about Gil's leadership.

Never heard much about it. I know about his game. I watched that and he was a problem. Shoot the lights out of the ball, score the ball with the best of 'em. But to hear what Nick Young said, like, I respect Gil. Like, if you coming in and you ain't ready to play, you gotta go sit back down. You have to go sit back down. I remember talking to Nick about the shot he was talking about as well. And yeah, I meant that. Like, you know, like Nick, some guys, like Steph Curry is gonna take those shots and you gonna live with it and I'm gonna live with it too. 'Cause he gonna make 'em more often than not. But like, we just can't be casting all type of shots, Nick. Like, come on now. And you know, he took the advice and guess what? We got a ring. So I can't say to Nick no more, you can't shoot those shots because you ain't won a ring yet. Notice he said yet, by the way. I knew we'd win and we did. And Nick Young came up huge in that Houston series. Didn't play a ton and then came in, big games, hit big shots, checked James Harden. Played a big role, big role for us in those playoffs. When we won that championship. So shout out to Nick Young. I know he talks a lot of nonsense, but still one of my favorite teammates. Was very fun to play with. And it's good, you know, that he's, you know, to see him, you know, kind of reemerging in the media space. Extremely funny dude. I think he's great in the media space. You know, he knows the game, but it's very lighthearted. You know, he talk about his, what do you call him? What do you call him? Corner what? Corner something. He hilarious. And like I said, he know the game. He's an NBA champion. So it's good to see Swag resurfacing in a major way in the media space, giving his opinion. I love it. Although I don't always agree with it. And sometimes I think he don't know what the hell he be talking about. And sometimes just talking to be funny. Nonetheless, I do know what he's talking about. Appreciate Nick, that's my dog. Gil, shout out to you and your leadership, baby. It gets it done. Much love to everybody. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Thank you for your patience. I thank you for staying here with us. And like I said before, if you're new, I thank you for coming to check us out and hope you do stay here. Again, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, youtube.com/@DraymondGreenShow. @DraymondGreenShow. Lock in, check us out on Instagram @DraymondShow. Check us out. Tune in, subscribe, lock in with us. Got another episode coming later this week with an interview I think you guys will love. Until then, that's a wrap. Peace. Peace.