Draymond Green on Siakam trade, Kevin Durant's GOAT talk, Kevin Garnett's comments on competition

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What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. Uh, I know we told you all, uh, last week we'd have two episodes, um, including an interview. Uh, we decided to push that back, um, because of the tragedy within our Warriors family.

Just didn't feel right or like a good time to release anything. Yeah, it just was a lot going on, as you all may know, which we'll talk about.

But we'll talk about that. We'll talk about some other NBA topics. First, before we get into that, just a reminder, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. That is youtube.com/ @DraymondGreenShow.

Please check that out.

Subscribe.

We appreciate you.

Now let's get into it.

Something I've been dreading since, I mean, not dreading have to speak of, but really just living in.

The passing of our assistant coach, Dejan Milojevic, Dekey.

As he's known to most. Man, just honestly not many words. I think, you know, just send love to Decky's family, his friends, players like myself that had the opportunity to play for him. All those that were touched and affected by him, there's not a way you didn't have a positive experience if you were, if you had any contact or connection or spent time with or played with or, or coached by, there's no chance you didn't have a positive experience if your life had been touched or graced with the presence of Decky. Always smiling, always had the same energy, like no matter what, just always had that, like just a good vibe and presence. And, you know, when you spend your life like as an athlete, as a professional athlete in the NBA, like you spend so much time together, whether that's on the planes, games, practices, road trips. Like you name it, you spend so much time with the people in that locker room.

And because you spend so much time with those very people, you see the good, the bad, and the ugly, like of everybody.

Like, because you're going to, like, we all have bad days.

And so, You're gonna see the greatest days, like you're gonna see the highest of highs, you're gonna see the lowest lows throughout the course of the 9 months. Like if you imagine 9 months of your life, like, and what goes on in your life over the course of 9 months, like that's the amount of time we spend together each year, like a lot of time within those 9 months. And so if you imagine the things that you see, like you see the best and you see the worst, when doing this job. And Klay said one of the most interesting things to me.

We just sat down, we played dominoes on Wednesday in Utah. We were supposed to leave, we got stuck there. Miserable.

It was like everything was just on a loop, you know? Like then you come down the next day, you see everybody in the same clothes as the day before at the hospital.

And it's just like— Yeah.

Like you live in this nightmare and can't escape anything.

It was miserable. But Klay said to me, he said, "Man, when have you ever walked into the facility and been like, man, what's Decky on today?" Like, because we all have our days, right?

Like I'm sure there's some days Klay walk in and be like, "Draymond on some bullshit today." And like, it's some days we all walk in and be like, "Man, what is coach on today?" Everybody, 'cause you see the best and the worst from everybody.

Like, that's just the life we live.

I don't know what the worst of Dechi was.

Like, he was always the exact same. Always smart, super smart, smart as hell.

Joyful, just bringing the best, like great energy. Stay out the way, but like— Yeah. You feel his presence and he walk up to you, he shake your hand, hug you, smile, "What's up, brother?" Laugh.

Like, and like that's what you got from Decky.

And you couple all of that with the most brilliant basketball mind.

Just a special presence.

And like, all that's great, right?

But like, we lost such a great, incredible person, great man.

And being that close to someone, it hurts.

Like, here we are, Monday night, we haven't played a game since last Monday. And our first practice was today. And it's crazy how it all worked out.

Like the two games were canceled and like, I'm thankful to the league for canceling those because I'm not sure how emotionally you can step out there on the basketball court But yet there's another side where it's like sometimes the basketball court is our safe haven. Like it is our escape. It is your way of losing yourself in the game. And so it's just been a weird space to be in. In the same token, in that same breath, on Thursday when we finally made it back, I went to the gym to get shots up. And like in a 40-minute workout, I stopped and started talking to Jacob in the lane like 6, 7 times, just talking about Dechi. And so then I realized right there, like, dang, this court is not offering the escape that it normally does, how most of us use it in times of need where you like, you hurt, you down. This court not really offering that escape.

Yeah.

And I realize like every time I'm on the court, I'm stopping and saying something like, "Oh yo, Decky." And it's just, it's tough. I saw one of the most incredible things today when we started our film.

Decky, again, for those of you that don't know, Decky is a legend.

Legend.

In European basketball, FIBA basketball, play with Partizan in Serbia, big club, EuroLeague legend, 3 MVPs in a row legend.

He comes over here and act like he's no one. Like, "Ah, I'm just here, I'm here to coach." Like, no legend. Yep.

I'm just here to coach, do his thing, stay out, like act like he's none of that.

So today we had the opportunity, but right before we started film or golden hour, what we call, ironically, Ducky's team club that he played for, Partizan in Belgrade, Serbia, was playing against the team that he coached, Mega. Draymond Green, Nikola Jokic, Timothy Luwawu-Kabirò. The list goes on and on.

That's where he coached most of those guys, with Mega.

And ironically, they're playing today, or they played earlier today, but— We got to watch the tribute at the beginning of the game, and it was so powerful. It was incredible.

Draymond Green! Draymond Green! Draymond Green! Draymond Green! Draymond Green! Draymond Green!

The love that he had, the tears that would drop, the emotion, the chants. The amount of time they clapped, the amount of time they allowed the memorial to be, then a moment of silence, then they cheered again. All for Dickey.

They had a huge poster of him.

They start lighting their flares. It was incredible to watch.

Yeah.

Because when it's all said and done, you can only hope that you had that impact on someone.

There's 20,000 people in those stands. It's incredible to watch, but it hurts.

And so, um, He was a fun guy to play for.

He's a straight shooter.

You know, there was a little bit of a language barrier. So you getting it straight. Like, you know, sometimes people sugarcoat it or try to find a nice way to say it.

Like, you getting it straight from Ducky.

Like, whatever he means, he's saying it. No, not pacifying anything. In the NBA, people are very careful on what, like the things that they say players, not Decky, say the players, not Decky. He going straight to it and don't understand why you won't say it.

'Cause he going to. And we lost a special, special person.

Yeah.

It hurts.

You know, I feel for Steve, like coaching staff, like every day you gotta walk in there and you gotta see that seat.

Like, you know where he sits. Like, I feel for them.

Like Kevon Looney, all of a sudden you going on the court and you're working out with someone else, like Dario, Trace, like, I feel for them.

Um, because you'll be reminded of it every day. You know, like, we've lost people, friends, family that you don't necessarily interact with every day. And so there's an escape from it. But like, this is every day. His family gonna have to live that every day. And like, when legends go, the family don't necessarily ever get to live it down because the world never really let it go down, never really let it die down. And so I send my love to his family. Everybody lives he's touched. I know how special it was. To all his family and friends back in Serbia, fans, we all took a hit, big hit. It hurts. It hurts a lot, but I ultimately just praying and sending my love to his family.

In other news in the NBA, Pascal Siakam, All-NBA player, All-Star Pascal Siakam, NBA champion, not to be forgotten, former Draymond Green show guest. Pascal Siakam traded to the Indiana Pacers. Very, very interesting trade. Number one, I don't think Indiana Pacers, I think that was a place that Pascal Siakam approved to be traded to. Because number one, Pascal Siakam is a Toronto Raptor legend.

No debates there. Done.

He's going to be respected.

Masai Ujiri is a very respectful man, known to respect guys, respectful to work with. And so I know there was some communication there.

He's not gonna send Pascal somewhere that Pascal doesn't wanna be just to get the biggest bang for the buck back for the— Yeah. Raptors, not how Masai moving. So I know that's somewhere that Pascal had to say, oh, I'd be cool going there. And why wouldn't he be? You got a very young, just signed the max contract point guard, soon to be All-Star, All-Star point guard, fake All-Star, All-Star point guard, Tyrese Halliburton. Um. That's a dream for a guy like Siakam. So when you look at it from Pascal's point of view, I can go play with this all-star point guard. Also got a big man rim protector in Myles Turner. Pascal, who you know can switch forward, can guard on the perimeter. Now I can press up even more knowing that I got a great rim protector.

Yeah.

On the back line and Miles Turner that'll allow them to mess with the pieces a little bit. And Pascal Siakam has come through the East to win a championship. So he's very familiar with the Eastern Conference. So he's probably looking at that like, wow, we got this. We got Miles Turner, we got Buddy Hill.

Like, I can roll with that. Nimhard, Young, Knee Smith, Young.

I can roll with that. Now I come in, I bring my championship pedigree, my veteran presence with those young, them boys running. Like, I don't know if y'all watched the NBA Indiana Pacers play this year. Them boys is running and gunning. Now I can bring my veteran presence to that, my championship pedigree. I like the look of that.

So.

I have no way of confirming that, but I think I know this business pretty well. And I think that's something that Pascal approved. Job well done, sir. I think that's a great fit, a great trade for the Indiana Pacers. I also think it was a great trade for the Raptors. You got Pascal 4 months away from being a free agent. Unrestricted free agent, which means he could go to wherever he wanna go. Now you may say, oh, he's just not gonna do that to the Raptors. But 10 days after winning the NBA championship, Kawhi Leonard did. So that's a very realistic thing for the Toronto Raptors. That is a reality. And last season, Fred VanVleet walked for nothing. There it is. Like, So you've seen this loud and clear. You know it can happen. So they get 3 first round picks back. And although I don't think their picks will be great, maybe the one down the road will be great, but these 2, I don't think will necessarily be great picks. But again, you got a guy who you want to do right by because he's won you a championship and you get 3 first round picks for a guy who's about to be out the door in a couple months. I think it's a great trade for both. I think that is beautiful to see how Masai worked out with a guy he won a championship with. If I'm not mistaken, may have drafted. I'm almost positive Masai drafted Pascal, but they both have African ties, obviously both being men from Africa in the NBA doing big things. Like to see them work that out, that's very respectful, very respectful trade, great trade. I think, I don't think there was a loser in the trade. I actually think it's every now and then you get a Tyrese Halliburton, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Sabonis that works out for both teams. Every now and then you get great trades for both sides. It's not always a winner and a loser. There can be two winners when you're talking about a trade. And maybe Indiana are just, it's just the team to make those wins happen for both sides. Hope them GMs out there taking notes. They may be a team that's saying, hey, you get something great, we get something great. But I'll tell you what, in looking at that team and what they got, the key to how great that team can become, and again, it's not, it doesn't just happen in 4 months. You got some young guys, you got Pascal Siakam, I think is 29 years old or 28 years or 29, like still fairly young with experience. And you got a bunch of young hogs going to get it. The key that's gonna make that team what that team is gonna end up being, whether they can push it past the Jermaine O'Neal Conference Finals, Reggie Conference Finals, whether they can ultimately push this thing to where we all want to go. The key to that is Benedict Mathurin. Young guy they already got. Not, I ain't saying go get this Benedict Mathurin. That kid I think has a great deal of potential. He a go-getter. He not soft at all. He ain't a bully, which you ain't gotta like, but he ain't soft. Like you ain't bullying him. He ain't backing down. He can shoot it well enough to where if he in that gym, his shot can become good. He can handle it. He's pretty athletic. Benedict Mathurin, I think, is the key to that team. 'Cause I love his potential. I love that draft pick for the Pacers. And I think he's on a good trajectory. Like, it doesn't happen overnight. That's a part of the growth. That's a part of getting young guys and grooming them. But what Benedict Mathurin can become will decide ultimately what that franchise can become. Tyrese is great, right? Like, I won't say great yet because the young fella's still on his way, but he's a— He's a star. One of the better point guards in this league for sure. Pascal Siakam, champion, All-NBA All-Star. Like Miles Turner is a great rim protector, knock the 3 down, athletic, will finish on you. Like Buddy, we know Buddy shooting it. Obviously you don't know what happens with Buddy's free agent, will they trade him, will not. I mean, if they keep him, we know Buddy can knock it down. If not, they got young fellas and they free that cap space up. I think it's a win-win there. But Benedict Mathurin is the key. His growth will determine ultimately how far the Indiana Pacers can take it. 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. 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Draymond Green.

Kevin Durant, uh, says, why is he— well, I'm going to read this because I want to quote this. Uh, KD kind of asked a rhetorical question in a sense. He said, because I went to the Warriors. He's speaking on the GOAT conversation. Why is he not in the GOAT conversation? He said, because I went to the Warriors. Why shouldn't I be in that?

Question mark.

That's the question you should ask. Why not? What haven't I done? Well, um, I say you got to be very careful in saying that you yourself is a GOAT. That's something you have to be very careful of. Yet I, Draymond Green, said I am one of the greatest defenders of all time. If I may have said the greatest defender of all time. So I totally get where he coming from. I can't be one to sit here and be like, you can't throw yourself in that conversation.

I did. And if you ain't gonna put yourself there, ain't nobody else gonna put you there.

So you gotta embrace that. So I respect that. What I will say is, I think oftentimes KD has a huge problem with the media. He'll probably come out and say, why everybody say I got a problem with the media?

It just seem like you do.

He'll probably come out and say like, ugh, Or these dudes say anything on podcasts and like all that stuff. He got a podcast by the way. Or had one. As far as my GOAT conversation though, I think KD is one of the greatest scorers we've ever seen. Like no one ever says LeBron James is a scorer, but he's, scored the most points of all times. Because it ain't the flashy, Bron gonna get to the bucket, he gonna get to the cup, he gonna get it done.

We know who Bron.

But people always say KD's the greatest scorer of all time. Like you can make that argument. Like the way KD scored the ball is so effortlessly, like so effortless. Like that's what KD do. He's never seen a bad shot. Like he gonna get you 31 points on, 14 shots. He gonna be 10 for 14, 6 for 6 from the line, 2 for 2 from 3. Like that is a normal KD night. As effortless as anyone we've ever seen.

Like, and KD works like one of the hardest workers I've ever seen.

I've already told y'all like every rep is game speed. That's mind boggling. Like that's crazy. Steph work like that.

Yeah.

And like, obviously I'm not one that's gonna be like, KD's championships aren't real.

Like, stop it.

Like, there's no championship that's not real. People say the bubble championship ain't— like, there's no championship that's not real. And KD put in work for them championships. Averaged 36 in one of the series and maybe 33 in the—

like— 37.

KD put the work in. So the whole, the championships is not real. That's not a thing. You couldn't help off Klay and you couldn't help off Steph at all, ever. And you had to play one-on-one with KD and good luck, good night. And so that's what it is. And KD defensively, when he was here, was insane. Like KD, allowed our small ball lineup. We had two rim protectors. I was a rim protector. He was a rim protector. And really kind of two and a half, 'cause Andre kind of does some of that too in a different way, but like in a much different way. Anyway, KD was incredible defensively too when he, like when he was here. So the whole championship thing, not he, he ain't got real championships. That's not a thing. Stop it. However, Steph didn't get the credit that Steph gets today until 2022 when he led this team to a championship and won the Finals MVP. So if you, if you not giving Steph that credit, which people didn't, just didn't, like, And by the way, as a fan of basketball, I've watched Steph do everything. When I watched him do what he did in 2022, he took steps up for me. Like, oh no, this dude is like, he up in that conversation now.

Yeah, yeah, he there now. You gotta go do what Steph did to get to that conversation, in my opinion.

I'm not in the GOAT conversation. That's fine. But in my opinion, my opinion, you gotta do what Steph did to get to that conversation. Maybe the team ain't as ideal as you want it to be. Maybe, you know, maybe, you know, everything ain't perfect.

But guess what?

When it's time, I'm gonna say, hey, come get on my back, let's go here. When everything, all else failing, hey, come get on my back and let's go here. The team ain't gonna always be the most perfect. Our 2022 team sure wasn't the most perfect team. But when it was time, and by the way, guys contributed in a major way. Andrew Wiggins, myself, Jordan Poole, Klay, Loon, like we all did our things. Like, Belly, like, Every GP, people stepped up and did they thing, but like you not gonna go back through that team and compare it to any of our other championship rosters and be like, yeah, that's it. Otto, Otto was huge.

Like, but we went and got it done.

And in large part, when all else was failing, Steph said, "All right fellas, come on, let's go there." Period. That's how he got to that conversation.

So for me, you gotta do that first.

When all else has failed and the team ain't ideal, "All right, come here, let's go do that." I got nothing but love and respect for KD.

Won 2 championships with KD. So. It's never no hate, in all love, but for me, for me, I can only speak for me, but you gotta go do that thing.

Nobody mentioned Bron, like really respecting Bron like that till 2016. Yeah. Bron had respect before that. We all know who LeBron James was, but really calling him the GOAT, Like really saying LeBron James is in the GOAT conversation, 2016. That's when that happened. So you got to do that thing. Man, before we get out of here, we always talk about the old debate, the old school, new school debate.

I myself, along with my team, the new media, which is official, by the way.

Y'all know how I kind of feel on those things. It gets weird. You know, you get some old schoolers talking like this, you get some old schoolers talking like that. You get some old schoolers saying what they think about you and don't realize, well, what you really saying about who you act like you were. Like, you get all of that, man. It's funny.

Oh.

With these older guys, you know? Sometimes guys don't keep it real.

It's funny.

Give it to Shaq Diesel. Shaq always keep it real in every instant.

Shaq keeping it 100. I can respect that.

Ironically been my favorite player since I was, since Lando Magic, since I was born.

Lando Magic, nightlight, onesie zip up.

Shaquille O'Neal iron on my first jersey in my life. 32, big fella. I got nothing but love and respect for Shaq. And to see how he is and growing to become the man that I've become, to see how he is, it's just crazy to me when I go back to like my 5-year-old self, like 11-year-old self, like diehard Shaquille O'Neal fan, to see how he is and like what he stand on, what business he stand on. It's just crazy how life works. It's insane. And saying that, the big fella keep it real, a lot of people don't.

KG keep it real.

I got a lot of respect for KG. KG do keep it real. KG was recently just on his podcast, KG Certified, with All the Smoke Productions, with Paul Pierce. And they were talking about, the code and like the element of the game that's lost, you know, which is the competitive element they said is lost. One element that's missing from, I think this era from like yesteryear eras.

What's that?

It's that competitive energy.

Yeah.

I don't wanna shake your hand. I might not, I might be staring at you the whole time. It was an energy of brain boxing. I respect it because a part of it is loss. Although I know when you get between them lines, like most guys, you trying to, you still trying to kill this dude. Like, yeah, you may laugh. Okay, maybe they didn't laugh. I don't know. You may say something here and there. It's respect. You know what I'm saying? Like a lot of guys, They'll go out and they'll say these elements lost or like, we ain't talking. Like they asked, they asked Joel what he said to Joker. He said, I told him you still the best big man in the world or something of that nature. And it's like, I never really find quotes from back then of those guys like really going in how they be saying they went in. Now again, I know how KG talked because I know how KG tried to talk to me when I came into the league. And I've heard a million stories from guys personally of what he said to them. Like, so KG really talked like that and like really walked that, like I get it. But like a lot of guys be saying how they said this or they did, but like you can't find those quotes. You can't find the quotes. Like if we could find those quotes, then I'll believe more of it. But like, if we say anything, it's all over everything. And now you gotta deal with that. Not even from that person. Like, forget what the person says, right? Like, forget if Joel was like, "Ah, I don't think Joker that good." And Joker took it personally. Like, they gonna play. Like, all right, bet. He gonna take it personal next time we play. If I really feel like that, then I stop him. Like, or not. Like, you gonna go play the game. But all the other stuff that you have to deal with coming from everybody who knows nothing, that's when you like, ah, I don't really know if I even want to say that to even deal with that. Like sometimes it's just not worth it. So I have a problem when older guys be saying like, oh, this guy shouldn't have said, did this, or like he, like he, they, they don't do this or do that. And it's like—

Draymond Green.

Yeah, to a certain extent, everybody, like if you do anything, say anything, everybody else pick it up, make it a thing that you didn't have to live and deal with. Because it's a totally different day and age. Like you talking social media, you talking everybody got an opinion. Those that don't know shit got an opinion. Everybody think they should be doing a podcast and doing this and they got a Twitter, they should say this. And they create all these different pages and different public— Like anybody can have a voice today. You're subject to all of that. So even as like putting something out there, is it really worth what comes with it? It's not necessarily what you think the other guy gonna do that you could be talking about, but like what all these Twitter fingers got to say and Instagram commenters and people that blow your comments up because they either don't got no money, got a bad job, Um, got nothing else to do, no responsibilities, suck at taking care of their responsibilities and would rather comment on your responsibilities. Like, these are the things that you subject— do you subject yourself to. And so the whole thing actually don't even make sense, man. Guys still compete at the highest level. The NBA is at the highest level it's ever been. The talent in the NBA is as best as it's ever been.

Like, so let's stop it. Like, the game is big as it's ever been.

Yeah, social media and all that has something to do with it. You still gotta be able to play. And like, there was still a time in the NBA when guys were going left with they right hand, where guys could shoot. If you can't shoot in the NBA today, it's gonna be hard for you. You get away with not shooting back then.

Like, the game is as good as it's ever been.

Like, let's stop it. Let's stop the, oh. And by the way, this ain't even the KG thing because KG is actually one of those guys that really lived that and did that. But like, so many guys be talking, stop it, enough. Like, we get it. It's old, it's tired.

It's not new. Just stop. The game is great. It's in great hands.

As we all know, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has the best post game captions. His captions are like full, like bars.

It's great.

You don't know, you should go check it out for yourself.

It's incredible.

Dude got like real bars on his captions. And he's obviously dressed to part, like he do his thing. Like, you know, Shays, league's best dressed, all of that. With the captions is insane. And playing the way he be playing, first team All-NBA, carrying that team, number 2 seed in the West. You kind of gotta respect it. You have no choice but to respect it all.

Like you gotta respect the whole little makeup of it.

One of his caption the other day said, I'm gonna read it to you. I'm gonna read you the caption because don't leave it to me to butcher the caption for you because how a bar was intended is exactly how you should receive the bar. The caption says, They talk about me for my post game. —two words— post game, comma, not my post game. One word, post game. That's a bar. Because you can actually read that a couple different ways, uh, which any bar you hear Drake or Jay or someone, it actually can have a few different meanings, which is what makes those guys great. Because then you like, oh wait, uh, like That's a bar right there. And, um, I then went to see Anthony Edwards said something about him postgame getting free throws. He was 12 for 13 from the free throw line. And I'm just here to say, if that is a response to what Ant-Man said, the caption is even crazier, which I think it probably is because Shai real quiet but talk like that and with all that. Yeah. But keep to himself, but like own all that. This young budding rivalry right here, Shae Gildress-Alexander and Anthony Edwards, my God, I'll be watching it for the next 15 years.

'Cause this is gonna be a special one. Let's go 10, 12. Shay and your 6 or 7. Let's go next 10 years.

I'll be locked in. 'Cause there's gonna be a great one. Neither one of them guys backing down. Ant's gonna say a little more. Shay don't say much. His captions gonna say everything. But they both like that. Both All-NBA players, both All-Stars, both guys leading their team, number 1 and 2 in the West. Young guys doing it. Gotta respect it, gotta love it. So if that's happening, buckle your seat belts up, people, and go along for the ride, 'cause I am, I'm gonna watch it. Gotta respect it. I love how they bump it. Till next time, that's a wrap from the Draymond Green Show.

Peace.

Peace.