In a lively Jimmy Kimmel Live interview, Warriors forward Draymond Green talks about his reputation for technical fouls, explaining how he now tries to avoid them and describing the emotional spike after the first foul. He shares personal stories about his mother’s habit of trash‑talking his teammates from the stands, and about raising four young children—one in competitive cheer, another in soccer—and his hands‑off approach to guiding their sports interests. Green recounts his shock at the Luka Dončić trade to the Lakers, recalling the moment he learned of it at a Warriors charity poker event and the ensuing conversation with owner Joe Lacob and teammate Stephen Curry. He muses on the Mavericks’ subsequent lottery odds, hinting at suspicion but framing it humorously. The conversation shifts to defending Victor Wembanyama, where Green jokes about the height disparity while emphasizing his defensive focus. He also promotes his podcast, "The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis," describing its banter, co‑host dynamics, and why he watches games mainly for podcast content. Finally, he lightly references his relationship with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and engages in playful snack‑related banter. The interview blends candid self‑reflection, family anecdotes, NBA insider commentary, and humor.
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In the nearly 80-year history of the NBA, only one player has been ejected from more games than our next guest. And at the end of his career, he will be number one. He is a 4-time NBA champion with a podcast, "The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis," from the Golden State Warriors. Please welcome Draymond Green!
[SPEAKING SPANISH] I wanna—
I apologize. The whole place smells like Funyuns. I'm so sorry, Draymond. How you doing?
I had Funyuns yesterday.
You did?
My 4-year-old loves Funyuns.
Oh, yeah.
It was the only chips at the house, so I had some.
It's one of the only foods with the word "fun" in it, you know? Fun Dip is one of them.
True.
It's not that good, but it's fun.
And it's— yeah, I don't— it's kind of not food.
Fun Dip?
Yeah.
The stick is food. Food, but also seems to be like some kind of plaster.
It's just sugar. Yeah, yeah.
I'm sorry, we've gotten off track.
I'm not— I will not be number 1.
You will not? Why?
I'm done with that, Jimmy.
Yeah, well, I think you predicted that you would get fewer than 10 technical fouls this season.
I had 13.
You had 13, yeah.
It's a lot less than 17. Going the right way.
You're on— it's a good trajectory for you.
Absolutely.
Do you try not to get them, or you don't care?
I actually try not to now, which is embarrassing. I'm embarrassed to say. Like, playoffs— I went into the playoffs like, "I'm not getting any techs. I'm locked in." I had 5 in 3 games. You only get 7 for the playoffs. Thank God we lost.
You find that when you have one technical foul and when you get 2, you get ejected from the game, that your opponents then try to get you to— or do try to— They poke you a little bit?
They try all the time.
Uh-huh. Oh, they do.
But you know, I'm never getting the technical— the second technical foul with a guy. I'm just not doing that. But I'll tell you, after you get the first technical foul, like, that's when you go nuts on the ref. You really lose it.
You do the first one.
Yeah, you get a grace period after that first one to say anything. Uh-huh. Right. Right? Y'all probably think I'm out of my mind when I go crazy after the first one, but that's my time to shine. You got—
Are you guys— are you over, like, being bounced from the playoffs yet, or are you still thinking about it?
Um, it's hard to watch the games still. Like, you don't really get over it until it ends.
Do you watch the games?
I do.
You do?
Because I have to do the podcast.
Oh, I see. But otherwise you wouldn't?
It's like work. Nah, I wouldn't watch it if it wasn't for the podcast.
The title of the podcast is "The Draymond Green Show with the Warriors." Baron Davis.
Yes.
Is that— was that designed intentionally to let Baron know that he can be replaced at any time?
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
No, I love B.D. He's been great for the show.
You, um— did you see that, um, what Tyrese Halliburton— his, like, dad came out and started yelling at Giannis, uh, during the playoffs?
He picked the right one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He did.
He did pick the right one.
Have your parents ever done anything like that where they embarrass you by like coming out and talking to another player or coach?
My mom would never come on the court. She just wouldn't. She wouldn't do that. But my mom, since I was a child, has been the mom who like from the stands she yells, "You suck!" But the thing about my mom is She talks bad about all the players on my team.
Oh, on your team?
Oh, this is— Oh, she kills 'em.
Oh, really?
But she absolutely annihilates me.
Oh, you're—
So it's one of those things, like, I've always heard, like, the stories from it where in the beginning a parent will almost, like, want to get snappy at her.
Uh-huh.
And as they continue to watch, they realize how bad she talks about me. They just like, "Oh, that's no problem what she's talking— saying about my kid." So it's always— like, when I was young, When I was younger, I could always hear it because the gyms were smaller.
Right.
And I used to sometimes turn around and be like, "Mom, stop!" And, like, she wouldn't talk to me for days after I did that.
She'd get mad at you?
Oh, she'd be mad at me as if I did something wrong.
Your kids are little, right?
I got 10, 8, 4, and 19 months.
Oh, so are they in sports now? And what kind of a dad are you?
My, um, my 10-year-old, she's in competitive cheer. She can dance, piano. She's more artistic.
When she's playing the piano, do you ever yell out, "You suck"?
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That's good. That's good. You've learned. My 8-year-old plays soccer.
Okay.
He, um, he only wants to play soccer. I saw him play basketball at a friend— his friend had a party last weekend at a field house, and they played. He was destroying those kids. I couldn't believe it.
Oh, really?
But he won't play. So I tried to have the conversation on the way home, like, "Hey, DJ, you know, if you really wanna take basketball serious, like, I can help you be really good. Like, I kinda got the cheat code. Like, I can actually—" Yeah, yeah. And he's like, "Yeah, I play soccer." Like—
Wow.
Tabled the conversation for— So I'm holding on. I'll LeVar Ball him at some point, but I'm not there yet.
Yeah. He's on the other side of the town. But you're not gonna push him. You're gonna let him make that decision.
At some point, I'll turn into LeVar Ball and push off. Right now, I'm not. He got time. That's good.
He's the best dad.
That's a great idea. Yes, he is. Amazing dad.
When, um, when the Mavs traded Luka to the Lakers, what went through your head when that happened, first of all?
I couldn't believe it. I thought Shams was hacked.
Mm-hmm.
When it first happened, we were at the Warriors charity poker tournament, and I had just saw Joe Lacob, 10 minutes before this happened. And I saw Joe and Joe gets excited. And that's my guy. Like we've been together 13 years, championships. Joe Lacob's owner of the Warriors. Majority owner. And Joe goes, "Draymond, I think we gonna get Kevin Durant. Like it's right there at the finish line. It's happening. We're getting Kevin Durant back." I'm like, "Oh man. Like here we go. Let's go." He— And we talk about it. He's like, "You think it'll work?" I'm like, "Absolutely." He leaves. He comes running back to me like 2 minutes later. "Draymond, Draymond, I wasn't supposed to say anything. Don't say nothing to nobody." I'm like, "Joe, I got you. I won't say anything to anyone." So we're at this tournament and I go sit down and about 15 minutes later, Steph yells, "Draymond, you see the trade?" I go, "It happened?" Steph goes, "Wait." I said, "Who?" I said, "Oh, never mind. Nobody. What happened?" He's like, "Luka got traded." I couldn't— and we're all— we're at this— like, it's video out, like, because we were at the charity poker tournament.
Of you guys reacting.
Of us reacting. I couldn't believe it. Like, you don't get— Superstars at 25 don't get traded. Luka's a megastar.
Right.
Just coming off the NBA Finals. Like, you just don't see that in the NBA.
Yeah.
So I was— Man, I immediately wonder when— I had to be ne— I have to be next.
It's coming for me soon. And then the Mavericks get the number 1 pick. Now, does that seem suspicious to you, or is that— do you feel like that's just, like, a 50-to-1, just a kind of lotto-type win?
Although he suspend me often and fine me often, I still consider Adam Silver a friend.
Uh-huh.
So I'm not gonna do him like that.
I see, I see.
But it may be a little suspicious. It has to, right? I mean, anything that's supposed to happen 1.8% of the time, I may just not be that lucky. 'Cause it never happens for me. Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah. Actually, I'm sitting here with you. I am that lucky. Okay, all right.
Well, that's a good way of looking at it. This is from a photograph that I really found delightful. I know a lot of people did. You and Victor Wembanyaya. Um, it just must be very strange for you to be that much smaller than another person. This is not something that happens much.
Forget the height. Do you see how locked in I am on this defensive possession? And he's just standing there like, "Huh." Yeah. And he'd probably score here, Jimmy. That's the problem that we have with playing against Victor Wimbyama.
You know what it reminds me of? I actually dug this up because it reminds me a little bit of, um—
Mr. Drummond and Arnold. You know? So as you know, after the game, you go dap a guy up, you hug him. And you go in for the hug and like, I'm probably below his nipple. So naturally, you like lean your head in like, oh. It happens with Big Boban as well. Like, you just naturally find yourself like, oh. The guy's huge, man.
Are you guys having fun on the podcast?
We are having a lot of fun.
Yeah.
Barrett's brought a different energy to the podcast. Yeah, Barrett's great. Yeah. Absolutely, which I've loved. And, you know, always, you get the banter about basketball. Uh-huh. And people. Mm-hmm. I like crushing people. Yeah, sure, sure. So I keep getting banter about people.
You get a microphone, and the trash talk never ends, huh? It never ends. And it's great for Baron that Baron knows that he can be— like that, you can just cut his name right off the podcast.
And it goes right back to the Draymond Green Show.
That's exactly right. Got to keep people on their toes. Absolutely. Draymond Green, everybody. The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.
That's it. We're ending that podcast.
We'll be back with Ty Dolla Sign. Guillermo, do you know how many subscribers we have on YouTube now? Uh, 20 million. That's right. Yeah. That's why we're wearing these glasses. Thanks for being a subscriber. If you're not, help us get to 20 million and 1.
