In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green and co‑hosts discuss several pressing topics surrounding the Golden State Warriors after their recent playoff exit. Green explains why Steph Curry’s injury in the Wolves series was a non‑option – the star simply couldn’t play – and contrasts it with his own past hamstring issue, emphasizing that playing at less than full capacity isn’t viable in the postseason. The conversation then shifts to the mid‑season acquisition of Jimmy Butler, which Green describes as a turning point that reshapes the roster and opens new avenues for offseason improvement. They evaluate the development of the Warriors’ young core – Jonathan Kuminga, Brandon Paczewski, Moses Moody, Jordan Kuk, Trace McGrady, Gui Santos, Quinn Poole – noting how increased playoff minutes accelerated their maturity while also highlighting the “gift and curse” of early responsibility. Green stresses the importance of a growth mindset during the summer, the need for continual self‑delusion to stay competitive, and the organization’s role in judging whether players will translate potential into progress. The segment concludes with a promotion of the show’s new merchandise, directing fans to thedgbdshow.com and encouraging them to wear the gear at games.
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And people was asking me about Steph, the injury. Like somebody was like, "Man, wouldn't you just play if you had—" Like, of course he would play if he could play. But if you can't play in the playoffs, you can't play. It ain't nothing you can do. And coming back, you gotta be all the way right because you're literally a half, a quarter. Like I remember I pulled my hamstring in the Dallas series. And if it wasn't for just the momentum, like, my hamstring was torn. I was just like, fuck it, we gonna ride it till the wheels fall off, right? But, you know, Steph's situation is different. He can't play. He can't move. So there's no reason to get out there. And now you're looking at your big puncher, your knockout puncher, like, damn, dude. All right, we gonna keep boxing and squabbling with these dudes. But like, damn, our head, ooh, if we had our knockout guy over here, it'd be a different story. And so when you playing like that, you really just, like you said, uphill battle playing to survive.
But yeah, man, we've seen Steph play through a million injuries, hamstrings, quads, calves, muscles. If he could've gave us 60%, I say no. If he could've gave us 70%, I still say no, that's not the answer. So moving on, it was great to, you know, bounce back this year throughout the course of the year and not see a whole year just go by the wayside.
Real talk.
Actually, you know, make, you know, give ourselves a chance.
But y'all had a chance to win it too.
Absolutely.
Y'all had a strong chance, y'all had a strong belief. And man, the way y'all bounced back and, puts our name in the hat. You put your name back on the board outside of like, damn, we about to be mediocre and get and be, you know, mid. You're not mid no more.
Fact.
You back to being in the league.
Yeah. And I think we got a chance now where you like, all right, so one of the toughest things is, you know, to do in this league is like, it's hard to fill the top of a roster. Meaning you got Steph to then plug a Jimmy Butler in. Like, that's a very hard thing to do in the NBA with how people work, with how franchises work. It's a very tough thing to do. I think we've done the tough part now. Like, we added a Jimmy Butler. So now you can now look at your roster and say, okay, we want to improve here. We want to add this thing because we now know, okay, this is the style that Every game that Jimmy plays, we need to add X, right? Like now you're accounting for different things and you're able to really build this team the way it should be built. And so that's, that to me headed into the off-season is the exciting part, you know, of where it's like, yo, we got a chance to fine tune this thing and put it together and give it another go or 2 or 3, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
So I think we all can still compete at that level. We've shown that, we know that regardless of what people may feel was shown, We know we can still compete at that level, which is huge. Moving forward to the, onto the offseason, I think we move forward in a much better position this year than we were in last year. So I'm excited about that. Obviously, you know, this league is very unforgiving. You know, gotta survive the offseason, but we'll see what happens.
Yeah, man, you know, offseason gonna be tough, but I think, For getting Jimmy mid-season. Well, you told me mid-season was not the All-Star Game, didn't you say?
It's not.
Yes, okay. So like getting him towards the tail end of the season and working that chemistry. But also I think it was a learning and discovery thing for Steve Kerr as well because you had Jonathan Kuminga, you had, y'all had a, I like to say like you had a competitive team. And young talent was emerging. Now you look at, you know, Kumingas playing in the playoffs in Houston, also in the Minnesota series, you know, the young guys being able to, with Steph coming out, with Steph not being able to close out that last series, with the young guys being able to assume all them, all those minutes, it's gonna breed a lot of maturity for them.
Right.
Talking about the Warriors' future, looking at next season, like, what do you think is going to be the focus?
Most importantly, you know, going into the summer that you gotta improve. Can't come back looking the exact same. You going into the summer, you gotta improve. So that's number one. And I think everyone will have that mindset. I think as far as the young guys go, when you get those opportunities, that can be a gift and a curse, right? Like, you can get those opportunities sometimes before you may be ready for it, you know? But I think we all believe as NBA players that we're always ready for it, right? The delusion in our minds as athletes, which is what allows us to make it to this point, because you have to have some sort of delusion in your mind in believing that you're one of the 300 or 400 best players in the world. Yeah. To play in this league. You have to have a little delusion in your mind to believe that. So we all have that thing.
Yeah.
In this league, young guys will come in, including all of us that came in, and think you're ready for something before you are. That can be a gift and a curse in this league because you could have the potential to do something and not quite be ready in that moment. But you will then be judged off the moment as opposed to the potential. As opposed to if people never see you do it, then they'll just continue to say it's potential. But the potential could still be there even if you struggle in that moment. So, for instance, I think Brandon Paczewski struggled a bit in this series, right? Now, I feel like— And his best game was probably the last game of the series. Because he struggled right now today in year 2, a little bit in the series against some guys who's been through it now, and because he struck— does that now mean that the potential isn't there? Because he struggled a bit in this moment or after year 2. Yeah. And having that moment, does he now say, "Oh, okay, they did X, Y, and Z to me in this series that made me struggle. Now I know that. Now I can go get better and improve up on that thing." That's what the summer for, yeah. And then what an organization has to decide is, do I believe that that guy is going to do that work, right? I've been playing with him for 2 years now. I know he's one of the guys that, will do that work. I actually got a text from him earlier today asking me, "What do you think I need to improve upon this summer?" Right? Like, that is the type of kid that he is. And young man, I'm not gonna call him a kid, he's a young man. But that's the type of young man he is. He works, he— and so his thing, like, "What do I need to do? What do you see that I need to be better at, that I could do to improve up on myself next year?" Right? And so, When I look at our young guys, they all show promise. They all grew from where they were last year. And so will every single one of them be back on this team next year? Just off short numbers and the way this business work? Probably not. That's what every team in the NBA, that's just what it is. But I do think all of our young guys from, BP, Moses, JK, Trace, Gui Santos, um, Quinn Poole. The list goes on and on. I think all of them showed that they improved, they showed promise, and in order to do that, they've shown work ethic. What's up, RR fans? We got some great news. We're thrilled to announce that the new show merchandise is available. The site is now live so you can check it out and grab your favorites. Go to thedgbdshow.com. That's thedgbdshow.com.
If you're watching on YouTube, there's a QR code on the screen that you can scan. You can click the link in the YouTube description. For all the listeners, head to Draymond Green Show on TikTok, IG, X, Facebook and hit the website link in the bio to access the merch store. Yo, we finally get some merch for the show, baby. We get the fans be able to rock the merch, rock the show, tap in with us.
I think these should be the shirts on the seats at the game.
Come on, let's do it. We need that.
Game 4, we need that Monday.
Come on, man.
Let's do it.
I'll be at the game. We can get that cracking.
We excited to have all y'all represent the show. So go to thedgbdshow.com and get the new merch. [MUSIC] Merch.
