In a Jimmy Kimmel interview, Warriors forward Draymond Green discusses his competitive mindset and experiences throughout his NBA career. He contrasts the optimism of a team down 0‑3 from the perspective of a losing side (Dallas) versus a winning side (Boston), emphasizing the psychological difference between false hope and realistic confidence. Green explains why losing in the NBA Finals is worse than missing the playoffs, noting the short off‑season and lack of recognition for a loss. He recounts his two suspensions this season, the league‑mandated counseling he underwent, and his interactions with his therapist about managing on‑court behavior. Green embraces his reputation as a villain, describing how being booed energizes him and how he enjoys the antagonistic role. He shares a rookie trash‑talk story involving Kobe Bryant, detailing how his early attempt at trash talk fell flat and left a lasting impression. Finally, Green reflects on his close relationship with the late Jerry West, describing West’s mentorship, candid advice, and personal support, and expressing deep gratitude for the connection.
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Our next guest is one of the best and most controversial players in basketball. He is a 4-time NBA champion and host of his very own podcast, "The Draymond Green Show." Please say hello to Draymond Green. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] How are you?
I am amazing. How about you?
I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. You know, I wanted to ask you first about this series that we've been watching. When a team is down 0-3, do you really— is there really any optimism?
Well, so you can look at it two ways. Obviously, you can look through it— look at it through the lens of Boston, or you can look at it through the unrealistic lens of Dallas.
Okay.
Dallas, they're in the locker room like, "Hey, man, listen, we got nothing to lose." Uh-huh. "So let's just go out here and play free. And if we get one win, it changes everything. The pressure goes to them," right? False hope. If you're Boston, you're going in like, "Hey, we know they can't," like, you're not gonna say, "We know they can't beat us." What you're gonna say is, "Listen, let's go out, let's take their punch. We know where they're gonna come out and fight. No one wants to get swept. We take the punch, we stay in there, then we'll get to halftime. We get to halftime, take one more punch, and we're home free." So it's two totally different things. One is real.
Uh-huh.
One is fake.
And that's just really something that experience teaches, right?
Absolutely. And quite frankly, as you know, I've been on the wrong side of it a couple of times.
Uh-huh.
Yeah. Been on the right side of it 4 times.
You've been on the right side 4 times. You've won 4 titles. You lost in the finals 2 times. Which is worse, losing in the finals or not being in the finals at all?
I'd actually not— I'd rather not be in the playoffs at all.
You'd rather not even make the playoffs?
Well, look at this, Jimmy.
Oh, wow.
You say I get about a 17-week summer. If you go to the finals, it's 9. So if you go to the finals and lose, you get the same 9 weeks that the Boston Celtics tonight are gonna get.
I see.
And if I get the same 9 weeks and I lose, no one remembers I lost.
Uh-huh.
So I'm gonna try to take a small break 'cause you're exhausted when it ends.
Right, bet.
And then everyone's expecting you to get better, come back in better shape. And it's like, dude, I just had the same 7 weeks off that Boston had. Now on the flip side, you got the championship team and they get a pass for 2 weeks. They get to be complete idiots, drink whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want.
Right, yeah, right.
And you just get a pass. Then they come back, Not in great shape, but everybody like, "Oh, they won the championship. They're tired." But remember, I had the same 9 weeks they had. And so it's the absolute worst thing you can do, losing in the NBA Finals.
That's just such an honest way of looking at it. Really, I've never heard anybody speak like that about it. It's terrible.
So the guys that get there and act like, "Oh, man, it was such a great experience," they lying to you. Okay, all right. It's the worst experience ever. It's good for me to know. Absolutely. Worst experience.
You were suspended 2 times this season for a total of 17 games.
That's it.
17 games, which is a lot of games, right?
Oh, it felt unwavable.
So then they made you go, which is somewhat extraordinary, to some kind of— what do they call it? Mandatory counseling?
Well, it was kind of mandatory, kind of not, but I had to go.
There's no kind of mandatory or kind of not. There is mandatory and there is non-mandatory.
Well, let's face it, Jimmy. We have HIPAA laws in America, so you can't make me go. I see. I see. But I had to go. I see. You had to go. I had to go.
But here's what I'm curious about. Like, this is a very specific world. Like, people go to counseling and, you know, have this or that or whatever. Like, what do they say to you? I mean, you're a basketball player. Is, like, Dr. Rodman your counselor? Like, how does it— how does it even work?
Well, it's very interesting because I talked to my therapist, and I'm like, "Hey, like, I keep getting suspended. I really got to get a grip on this." And he's like, "All right, great. So what are you— what's your— like, what's your plan?" If you ever been to therapy, like, you're kind of just talking. Talking through your own stuff.
Sure.
And he's like, what's your plan? And I'm like, well, I'm just not gonna talk to referees at all. He's like, well, that's gonna be [MASKED]. Like, I mean, that's awful. And so then I'm like, well, maybe I can find someone on our sideline to explode on if I need to kind of just get my words out. He's like, yeah, well, the camera's gonna turn to you and the whole world gonna think you're losing your mind. So it's a very interesting thing because I am a player that like I walk the line, you know? I'm gonna toe that line and see how hot it is if I dip my toe in.
Yeah, sometimes you're dipping your toe into another man's testicles.
Yeah.
In a hard way.
You know what those are, though, Jim? You know what it boils— I am very bad at flopping.
At flopping, I see. I'm awful at it. Maybe that's— you should be going to flopping camp or something.
I mean, there's a lot of great ones in the NBA.
Charles Barkley said, "In your mind, you've never committed a foul." Part true. Do you like being the villain? Do you like being the guy that the other fans boo?
I must say, I thought I'd get booed walking out here. So I really appreciate it.
Oh, no, no, no.
Oh, I really appreciate it. Every arena I walk into, maybe 2 arenas in the NBA I don't get booed of. And one of them's Chase.
I see, yeah.
And then the other one, I halfway get booed. It's like Detroit. Like, I'm from Michigan. But there's some Michigan Wolverine fans and Michigan State fans. I see, yeah, so you get that college thing. So it's like split down the middle.
Yeah, yeah, but you don't like getting booed.
I absolutely love it.
Oh, of course you love it, yeah.
It's the best. I mean, who's ever booed someone they didn't think was a threat?
I've been booed several times in my life and it's thrilling. There's something about it. It's just like, it's so much better than people being happy to see you.
It is. Well, number one, I know I'm under your skin, so that just leads me to do more things.
I got you, yeah, right. Are you the best trash talker in the league?
I don't see a close second. Were you—
did you, like— did you start— did you start talking trash, like, before you were a big star, or did you wait until you were a big star?
So growing up in Saginaw, Michigan, there's one way to play basketball. You have to talk. And so when I come into the league, um, I come in and— You know what? I remember I walk in the locker room the first day. I'm sitting next to Steph and Klay, and I'm like, "Yeah, we gonna talk trash to everybody." And they was like, "Man, like, you on your own. We don't really do that." I'm like, "Y'all better talk trash with me, or we gonna have a problem." And so I go out, being the dumb rookie that I am, and I try to trash-talk Kobe Bryant.
Great.
Now, mind you, I get in the game. I probably played 24 seconds that game. I get in the game for a defensive stop to take us into overtime in regulation. And you know, most people run a play like you pin down here, you pin down there. We're trying to get somebody open. Kobe just flashed to the ball. And so he flashed to the ball and it's me and Kobe, mano a mano. And I lock up, I get to sitting down. You know, we know what shot Kobe going to. Shimmy fadeaway over the left shoulder. He miss. I said, "Yeah, let's go baby. We're going overtime." He said, "Come on, young fella. That ain't had nothing to do with you. I just missed." You know, so you give him back like, "Yeah, all right, like, you know I locked that up." And meanwhile, he just walk away looking like, "Man, whatever." And it hurts.
Yeah.
It hurts.
It's a different kind of trash talk where you're just talking reason.
Well, before that game, you know, it was my first time playing against Kobe. Before that game, I missed all my pregame stuff because I watched his whole pregame warmup starstruck. Like, you have a pregame shoot, and I watched. I sat there like this the entire time. And I just watched it starstruck. I missed everything I was supposed to do in the back. And then we had that moment, and he leave me feeling like trash. It was unbelievable.
I just wanted to mention Jerry West, because I know you had a close relationship with Jerry West, who just passed away. What is— what did— like, what kind of a person was he to you?
He was absolutely incredible. I mean, me and Jerry had a great relationship. I'm super close with Johnny, Jerry's son.
Son, yeah.
And— You know, one thing I loved about Jerry was he'd tell me, "Draymond, they're gonna pay you.
Relax." Like, when you're in the contract—
Like, listen, I'm telling you right now, they're gonna pay you. You just relax. Do what you need to do, okay? Jerry has this thing. He go, "Okay," after everything he says. And, you know, to get that from him, like, he would give me all the things that I would do great, and he'd support me. And if you know Jerry, he's also gonna give you more things that you do bad. And so he's like, "Draymond, stop being an idiot. You can't keep getting texts. You can't keep doing—" And he'd critique you. And it was like the biggest honor in the world, you know, to get critiqued or to get love from the logo. Like, this is the guy who we all grow up, like you see that NBA logo, you wanna play in the NBA. And this is the logo talking to me. It was the most incredible thing. But even better person.
Yeah.
You know, he cared about you, the person. And the world became a much worse place. Losing him. He was a special, special human being. I'm honored to have met him.
Thank you for sharing that. Draymond Green, everybody. The Draymond Green Show. It's on YouTube and everywhere pods are cast. Thank you, Draymond. We'll be back with Lucky Day.
