Draymond Green Explains How Stephen Curry's Leadership Has Fueled the Warriors Dynasty

With all of the stuff going on, I needed a break from all of this stuff. And they needed a break from me. At no point in this am I like, "Yo, I'm sick of this." Ain't no— No, they needed a break from me. I needed a break from them. They needed a break from me. But they were very supportive. I had a real conversation with them before the suspension even came out. "Yo, I'm not sure this is what I wanna do. And I just want y'all to know, like, you here for me." Man. Like, this is before I did an interview with the league or anything. We had a conversation. I'm like, "Yo, I'm just not sure I want this." Like, and it crushed me because this team we got, I love being with these dudes. It's a fun team to be around. It's a great group. Like, chemistry is great. And so I'm kind of in this space of like, and I told them like, yo, I'm in this space of like, why I love being around y'all. Like, I love coming to work every day, being with this group of guys. I need y'all in my life right now. But like, I don't need y'all.

Right.

Like, it was a very weird space. It's like, I need y'all. Like, so a part of me is like, yo, I need to be coming in every day. But on the other side of the fence, I really need to get so far away from this shit. It's kind of this weird thing. And I think we found a balance. Like I was away and like I wasn't talking basketball. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't hitting them talking. Like we just hitting each other, chopping it up. They hitting me like, yo, what's up?

What's man?

What, how you doing? We miss you, bro. Like what's going on? I'm talking to them and we just talking. Like, you know, for what I am to this team, I'm the one in the group chat if I ain't playing like, yo, "See this at halftime." Like, I'm not doing none of that. I'm just away from it. Like a couple games, I'll be honest, I ain't even watch. I'm like, "Nah, I'm not in it. I'm outta this. I'm not in it." And, but the relationship with them grew stronger. Like Steph called me or texted me every day. Every day I was away.

Right.

"Yo, what's up? Just checking in." Yo, if one day he missed, yo, Next day, "Yo, what's up?" Like, "Where you at? What you doing?" Like every day. And so the relationships grew. Steve checking in, Mike Dunleavy calling me 4 or 5 times a week. Like, "Yo, what's up? Just checking in." Not like, "Yo, how you doing? You working out?" None of that. Like, "Yo, what's up? What's going on with you? How you doing? How you feeling?" Great. Like, cool.

Watch the 7 PM in Brooklyn.

That shit is fire.

Just that part. That's all it was. You getting good, boy. You getting good, boy. You getting good. That part.

That was that. You did good, boy.

Like speaking a little bit more about that. Like now, you know, we all know, man, Father Time is undefeated. I've been with this group. As a Yankee fan, it reminds me of like—

I'm a Yankee fan too, bro.

The core four, you know what I mean? And watching those guys go through it and win.

Now you the Yankee fan today?

You know what I'm saying? I always, always—

You a Knicks fan.

You know, come on. Yeah, but— You know what I'm saying? Uh-uh. Uh-uh.

You dancing, you dancing, you dancing.

You got me like that last time.

You dancing, you dancing.

I didn't even have to go to therapy last week 'cause this nigga, I got an invoice from Bello last week.

But you know what I'm saying?

Like you said, like I was saying, you know what I mean? Like y'all have been a unit, a group, like you said, like y'all love playing together. That team chemistry is like, envied, bruh, around the league, you know what I'm saying? Like, a lot of teams look at y'all, it's like, yo, this is the blueprint, bruh. Like, this is all homegrown, you know what I'm saying? Like, so with, you know what I mean, the passage of time, Klay getting older, moving into a different role, you know what I mean? Steph moving into a different role, people talking about Steph possibly leave, ah, all this other crazy shit. How do you— how do y'all stay, like, solid as a group, you know what I mean? Like, what is this, like bowling? Y'all You know what I mean?

Playing Call of Duty together.

Lot of wine, lot of wine.

Lot of wine. Lot of wine. That vino, you know what I mean?

Corona's for stuff.

For me, for Clay, for Clay Corona.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Yeah, word.

An ice cold Modelo.

Yeah. Honestly, we kind of got a perfect balance of like, we give each other space. Like, I'm not going on Klay's boat every day with him. First time I actually went on Klay boat, this thing happened with Rudy Gobert. I got this video. Thing happened with Rudy Gobert and I went to LA. I went, it's my safe space, man. I go home and I went to LA and I was coming back and I flew into Oakland. The Bay Bridge was shut down. There was a protest on the Bay Bridge and it was about the Gaza stuff and all that. So they was laying on the bridge and you couldn't get across the bridge. So I couldn't get to the gym. Klay came on his boat across the water.

Yeah.

To pick me up in Jack London Square in Oakland. Where I tried to get like Eric Howson tried to get the cops to like escort me through like, Nothing could work. You could not get across. So he came across the boat, him and E-House, and came and picked me up. And this was right after I had got at Rudy Gobert. So it was perfect timing.

He needed the water.

He needed that boat ride.

Yeah.

I need to get there. Bro, I just got 5 games for you. Like, he came and scooped me. And that was my first time on this boat. Not that I wouldn't go on a boat, but point being, I got a family. Steph got a family.

Yeah.

Klay got his thing. Like him and his brother are tight, thickest Ds, always together. Like, and we give each other that space. It ain't like, yo, you my teammate. Like, yo, we need to go do this. We men too.

We men.

We men at the end of the day. We don't, like me, Steph, and Klay, our interests of things that interest us, like on a daily basis, is over here, over there, and over here. We have things in common, but like our everyday lives are not the same. We don't make the mistake of trying to force that.

Right. Which makes it work.

But when we together, we together and we'll do stuff like we'll kick it together and that's always fun. But like, man, we've been on tour together for 12 years. Oh shit.

Yeah.

And guess what? We spend more time together, as you know, we spend more time together than anyone else in our lives. We don't then need to go fake some, like fake some shit and like, while we at home, like, yo, I need to be at y'all. Like we spent so much time together. You go do your thing. I'm gonna go do my thing. You go do yours. And when we, every time we come together, it's special. But I can only anchor as far as Steph Curry allows me to.

Absolutely.

Like at the end of the day, I can take something to third base. But it can only get to home plate if Steph say so. And I would never cross that. Again, in talking about how this thing work, I'm never crossing that. Like at the end of the day, it is my role to take stuff from first to third.

Yeah.

Like he shouldn't have to take stuff from first to third. And Klay, Klay ain't dealing with none of that shit. Like that ain't that—

Klay on the boat.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Klay ain't dealing with that.

Klay almost like, listen, I'm playing basketball. Y'all let me know when it's time to go do that thing. Y'all deal with all the other shit. Like Klay ain't dealing with none of that.

He's locking when it's time to work.

Yeah. Like he ain't like all that other stuff. Tell me when I need to show up and play. Like Klay ain't dealing with none of that other shit. Steph, so it's my role to take, like he shouldn't be in the weeds. Like it ain't his job to take it from first to third. I'm taking it from first to third every time. But like he gotta close it. Like, and he gotta stamp it and he gotta say, "All right, I agree." It's almost like I write up this whole plan if you can visualize it. And then I go hand it to him like, "All right, I've done this, this, this, and this." "If we wanna finish this, here's what you should do." Or, "Here's what you could do." It's totally your total decision if you wanna do this or not. But I've done this legwork. Now, if you wanna do this, now you just go do that.

You wanna be Mariano and close it?

Close it.

Close it.

If not, keep on third.

And we're done with it.

Yeah, yeah.

Fuck the groundwork I've laid. You ain't wanna do it? Right, we go this way.

No problem.

No hard feelings. Does it help having a teammate like Steph who isn't the ego guy to be like, yo, Draymond, what the fuck you doing over there, man? Who the fuck you calling this guy? Da da da da da. And you just being like, yo, listen, man, there's an opportunity here.

Mm-hmm. Steph.

Hell yeah.

If you're interested.

You know what I mean?

And him just engaging.

It 100% helps because again, I'm never gonna disrespect Steph. So if he not cool with it, You ain't cool with it. I'm not cool with it. Like I can't, I'm not doing it. Like I'm not going to cross him. Like I'm just not doing that. I'm not, number one, outta my respect and love for him. Like that's first and foremost. But I'm also not a fucking idiot either. Like, so like I'm not doing that. I'm only doing it. I'm only gonna do something with his approval now. And I'll float the idea. And like, I know his reaction. If I float an idea and he like, "Huh? Oh, talk to me about that." Cool, we got some action. If I float an idea and he just keep it bopping, like, "I'm not going back to this 'cause he heard me." He heard it. Very sharp dude. He heard me.

Yeah, he tryna hear that shit.

He ain't on that. I'm gonna go this way now.

Right, right.

But it is also a testament— it's a testament to Steph and his character, but also his secureness in him. Like Steph, Steph knows exactly who he is. There's no question on who he is, what he do, why he do it, how he do it. He knows exactly who he is. And he always knows the right thing to do. Like, so, Sometimes I get in my own head or my own way and I'm like, I'm fucking doing this and I'm doing it this way. And like, I want to go about it one way. What I've learned over these last couple years is bounce it off him. He gonna tell me the right thing to do. In whatever it is, he knows the right thing to do in everything. And he'll be like, ah, I think you should do this this way. And if you do it this way, and I'll do it. And I'm like, yo, you was right. 100% right. Like, and so—

I should have bought in Ledera Heights.

He was right.

So I trust him, number one, but like he always know the right thing. And just him being so secure in who he is, like he's not like, to Melo's point, a lot of people in Steph's position would be fazed by a Kevin Durant coming. He like, oh yeah, come on, man. Like, cool, let's do it. Because he know exactly who he is. Most people actually are the opposite. Most people don't have a fucking clue of who they are.

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