In this informal interview, Warriors forward Draymond Green outlines what the team must do in the upcoming offseason to become a genuine contender again. He emphasizes that acquiring Jimmy Butler was the biggest recent move, allowing the Warriors to build around both Butler and Stephen Curry rather than being overly centered on Curry alone. Green discusses the challenges of free agency, noting that different players value money, role, or other factors differently, and stresses the need to assess the roster’s current strengths and weaknesses, especially with young talent like Jonathan Kuminga and other less‑known players (referred to as the "Unks"). The conversation shifts to the 2024‑25 season, where Green reflects on a net‑positive experience despite significant injury setbacks. He recounts the impact of injuries to Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Tyrese Haliburton—highlighting how Achilles and calf injuries can derail a championship run. Green sends well‑wishes to injured teammates and notes the difficulty of competing without star players. He underscores that meaningful moments only occur in the playoffs, expressing a "championship or bust" mentality for the next year. The interview also contains light‑hearted banter about hair, Turkey, and slang terms, illustrating the casual tone of the discussion but offering little substantive insight. Overall, Green’s key takeaways are: the roster now has two core stars (Curry and Butler), the team must strategically use cap space and develop young players, injury health is paramount, and the Warriors aim to return stronger and contend for a title next season.
Chapters
What needs to happen this offseason for the Warriors to be real contenders again?
I think, you know, the heavy lifting has been done. Like, we added Jimmy. I think that was the biggest thing that needed to happen. Now we got that. Now you can tool around that. You know, our team was too around Steph. Now you know how Jimmy looks in the system. You know how Jimmy likes to play. You can also tool around that as well. So I think, you know, just locking in from that front, understanding what we got, where we can get better, and making those pushes, you know? But free agency is tough, man. You know, you trying to court people and make the best offer.
Right.
And you don't always know what it is, right? Like for some guys it could be the highest dollar amount, for other guys it could be totally different.
So— Totally.
I think just going into it, it's just all about looking to see like, all right, now we know how it looks, now we got, that part figured out. Now what does it look like around that? So I think we're in a much better position heading into this one than we were last year.
Yeah, y'all got some money to play around with. Y'all got some, you know, some young talent that, you know, is not taking up a lot of the salary cap. You gotta adjust Kuminga, you know, things, free agents in this class. So y'all got some work to do, but like you said, shoring up the, uh, you know, the Unks. That's what I'm gonna start calling y'all. We gonna show up the Unks.
The Unks is crazy. Also, y'all gotta stop with this Unk stuff. In my hood, my hood, uncle's a crackhead in my hood. Y'all be calling people Unc.
Yeah, no.
Crackhead. Yeah, I don't do it. I don't do it though. Y'all gotta chill, man. Y'all gotta chill. That'll never be okay with me. Like, uh.
The ughs, the Bay Area ughs. That's sick.
Hey bro, you letting your hair grow back in?
No, I'm about to cut it.
What's going on?
You all right? That hurt.
I'm just asking the question, chat. That's it.
Draymond is eye for eye. Hey man, look, I'm just trying to see what happens, see if my hair grow, grow back. You know, I like them little curls. I like to have my hair nappy. Like the little naps. I like that.
You gotta go to Turkey.
To Turkey?
Yeah, you gotta go to Turkey.
For what? What's in Turkey?
They waiting for you.
You gotta go to Turkey. Moving right along. All right, if you could say one thing to Warriors fans right now, Unfiltered, what would it be?
I don't really got nothing to say. What up, Dub Nation?
Just about the season, like, well—
I ain't got no gripes. Oh, just about the season, like—
Yeah, like, oh, like, you know, we gonna come back better, or—
Oh, well, I ain't hyping no Dubs fans up. They know what it is, you know, they've been around.
'Cause you did say y'all was gonna win it all.
I ain't no woulda, coulda, shoulda type of guy, but you know, you know what I'm saying? It's all good. We gonna leave it where it's at. It's all good. I'm gonna congratulate the Oklahoma City Thunder 'cause I'm not one of them hatin'. You know, these guys out here be hatin'. I'm gonna leave it at where it's at and I'm gonna congratulate them guys 'cause they are champions.
All right, so with that said, what has been your best moment or moments, uh, in the 2024-2025 season?
Uh, best moment of the 2024-25 season, man?
When you got the dunk.
Huh?
When you got that dunk.
What dunk?
When you went down the lane. I forget what team it was. I think he hit a 3, then he went down the lane and got a dunk. He was going crazy.
Oh man, that's light work.
Shit, you barely got that motherfucker.
That's light work, man. You know, we ain't moving off no play, you know what I'm saying? No regular season plays. I understand.
I be watching the game.
Plays gotta happen in the playoffs for it to really matter.
Right, right, right.
When did you dunk on Karolinko?
In the playoffs, everything.
All right, that's the only reason it matters.
Yeah, everything after the playoffs.
That's the only reason it matters. Yeah, it only matter, you know, so we ain't tripping on that. You know what I'm saying? That's light work, playoffs.
What about the night-night moment? When you hit your first night-night?
That was fun. That was fun.
That was fun. That was fun. That was a good one.
That was fun. And then you know what? I enjoyed the season though, you know, like, hey, I came out of this season feeling better than I did 3 years ago, you know? And so I think most importantly that, you know, that just health continuing to grow.
Yeah.
I think overall net positive. Now just keep it rolling and win this championship next year. Overall net positive, man. So I'm looking forward to this next one. Obviously getting the team right, getting the roster right, knowing what we looking like rolling into next year. But you know, you know how I'm rolling in. Championship or bust, baby. You know how we roll.
That's the pedigree. Y'all back, y'all back to pedigree.
Absolutely. So that's how we rolling.
But I also wanna send out some love to To Tyrese, you had two teammates tear their Achilles. How hard can a team bounce back when one of your best players get hurt?
I think it's tough, man. You know, we obviously had Klay go down, KD went down, but he left. Same year Steph went down. Like, it's tough. You're not winning without your best player in this league. Like you could put together a decent season, but it ain't happening. But man, I do send my love and well wishes to Tyrese though, just on the speedy recovery, leaving it all out there on the floor. You know, these Achilles, these calf to Achilles injuries are tricky, man. I put on my Threads account as soon as it happened, like, man, that look too familiar.
Yeah.
NBA Finals elimination game. Guy get to cooking, cooking.
Cooking.
KD got to cooking. Like it was just look—
KD was cooking.
Cooking.
Oh my gosh.
And so, man, I just wish him well and a speedy recovery.
Oh my God.
'Cause that sucks, man. But I'll tell you what it does. When you look at the Indiana Pacers about to go into the tax, for the first time. It'll be interesting to see if they change their tune because you got Halle out for a whole year now.
Yeah.
More than likely. So man, you just want injury-free from everything changing, man.
Totally, totally, man. I went down, I was, I damn near wanted to cry for my bro. 'Cause you know, to not get a chance to finish is heartbreaking and he deserved it. He fought to a game 7, he fought with injury. We talked about it on this show that playing with that calf muscle was going to be risky. Remember, we talked about if he can show up and give us a Willis Reed. He did that game 6, 23 minutes. That was a little bit more. But coming into game 7, it's like you forget that, that the way you feel going into a game 7, you feel so much better. Yeah, but you not so much better.
You still the same, right?
It's more damage, if anything.
Yeah, still the same. When I say still the same, I mean you still dealing with the same—
you still dealing with the same thing. And a lot of times, like, you so hype and you feel good. Like, how many times— I can remember so many times, like, man, I feel good, and then jump and land and be like Now, how did this happen, right? You forget, you forget, you forget that, oh, you still injured, are you still nursing the injury? So it was tough to watch that because that young man deserved to be, be able to finish that game, uh, and walk off that court on his own. But he will be back, I know that's right. He'll be back.
Most definitely. Most definitely will.
Most definitely.
So shout out to Tyrese, man, and the Indiana Pacers. Uh, they had a great year, get to the NBA Finals. Sucks when you get there and lose, but they had an incredible year. So congratulations to those guys as well.
