In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green opens with a call to subscribe and then dives into his predictions and commentary for the NBA All‑Star Weekend events. He first examines the Slam Dunk Contest, noting participants such as former teammate Mac McClung, G‑League hopeful Jacob (Obi) Toppin, and others, and questions whether the contest should continue to rely on G‑League players, comparing the current field to historic dunkers like Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins. Green ultimately picks Mac McClung as his favorite to win, citing his fan appeal and stature. He then outlines the 3‑Point Contest lineup—Damian Lillard, Karl‑Anthony Towns, Malik Beasley, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Halliburton, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, and himself—predicting a final showdown between Lillard and Towns while highlighting Halliburton as a dark‑horse due to his quick‑release shooting style. The segment shifts to the highly anticipated Steph Curry versus Sabrina Ionescu 3‑Point showdown, noting Klay Thompson’s surprising pick of Sabrina, debating the fairness of the WNBA‑line distance, and ultimately backing Steph as the likely winner. Interspersed is a brief DraftKings sponsorship plug promoting betting odds and a promo code. Throughout, Green’s tone moves from conversational curiosity about the dunk contest format to enthusiastic support for his picks, analytical discussion of shooting mechanics, and playful rivalry banter regarding Klay’s choice.
Chapters
What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love, but you can get everything the Draymond Green Show right on our YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe, check that out. Thank you. My predictions for the big two events. Number one, the Slam Dunk Contest. First off, let's talk about the Slam Dunk Contest. Matt McClung, former teammate of mine, went to campus defending champ. Draymond Green of the Boston Celtics, Jaime Jaquez of the Miami Heat, and Jacob Toppin. Jacob Toppin, O.B. Toppin's younger brother, who plays in the G League. Now, Matt McClung won the dunk contest last year. And I thought it was great that Matt McClung was in it. I think he brought a different excitement back to the dunk contest. And I thought it was great. Now Jacob Toppin is in there. There's a, there's a Toppin in the NBA. Y'all could have had that Toppin in there, by the way. I just want to throw that out there. But what brings me— what, what I'm getting at here is, like, you— can you kind of call it the same NBA dunk contest that Draymond Green and Michael Jordan and Jason Richardson, Saginaw's own Sparty, Dominique Wilkins, human highlight reel. Like, can we actually call this the same dunk contest that those guys were in? Because it'd essentially be the equivalent of like having those guys and like players who were playing the CBA in the same dunk contest. Like, is it actually the same thing? Yeah. And are there no other dunkers in the NBA that could be out there that you have to— people in G League? Because we played against the Indiana Pacers last week and Obi Toppin actually said to me like, "Man, I'm trying to get in there. Like if Jalen drop out, I want that spot." And so I just kind of wondered about that. Like that's interesting to me. And I know, you know, the G League is way different than what it used to be. Even the Rising Star Game, you got like players from the G League Ignite, which I also think is interesting there. But I don't know, I just kind of wanted to throw that out there. I don't really know where I'm going with it. I just think it's interesting. And if you have to keep going G League route, is it time to do away with the dunk contest as a whole? Is it time to get more creative? Rick Welts. Draymond Green, who's the president of the Warriors my entire career until maybe the last 2 years, who was a key cog in creating what All-Star Weekend is as we know it today. Is it time to get back creative, go back to the drawing board and figure other things out? If you kind of have to go to the G League to get dunkers for the dunk contest. I don't know. Do you have to raise the money so that guys It's like, it's worth my time to go do it. I don't know. Me personally, I say raise the money because I'm all for guys getting their paper. But I just don't know quite how I feel about guys from the G League being in the NBA dunk contest. Because if I'm not mistaken, well, I'm not mistaken because Dark Tucker from Saginaw won it before. There used to be a G League dunk contest. And so I'm not sure if they still have a G League dunk contest or not, but— They do. I don't know, I just think that's a weird thing. Like, you can't go just be in All-Star Game, so why can't you just go be in a dunk contest? It's All-Star Weekend. So that's something that's a little funny to me. And saying that, my winner is Mack McClung. He's gonna have the fans, the fans gonna be behind him.
Mm-hmm.
He's the shortest guy out of all these guys, so his dunk is gonna look sicker. Because that's just how it goes. And so I'm picking Mac McClung in the dunk contest. 3-point contest contestants: Damian Lillard, the defending champ, Malik Beasley, his teammate, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Halliburton, first-time All-Stars, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Draymond Green. And that All-Star, um, and that 3-point contest is cool and that's good, but The one everybody is looking for comes after that, which is Steph versus Sabrina. In the normal dunk contest, I mean, sorry, 3-point contest, I am going to roll with a final of Damian Lillard versus Carl Anthony Towns. My dark horse in that group though is Tyrese Halliburton. And why I'm going Tyrese Halliburton to Carl Anthony Towns, because they don't jump on their shot. They are quick release, they stay on the ground and picking that ball up off the rack and not jumping, it's a different when you gotta pick the ball at the rack and jump. Like that's so many different motions. When you just picking up off the rack and fire, Carl, boom. Halliburton, his shot. And then Dollar's obviously Dollar. So Tyrese Halliburton is a dark horse, but I got in my final, Damian Lillard versus Karl-Anthony Towns with Damian Lillard being Dame and repeating as the champion. And then we go down to Steph and Sabrina.
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Interestingly enough, the world is all kind of like, "What? Klay picked Sabrina over Steph?" Of course Klay picked Sabrina over Steph. Klay needles Steph every chance he gets. If you're ever around, if you ever could see all of us interact with those two, it's constantly Klay just poking at Steph. Like, it's almost like your little brother just trying to poke at you like every chance that he get. And so I am not at all surprised that Klay picked Sabrina. Sabrina did break the record last year. I think she missed one 3. However, that stage gets a lot brighter, a lot bigger when you are up against the GOAT, Steph Curry, and that's just a little bit different. Sabrina will be shooting from the WNBA line with the WNBA ball. Steph will be shooting with an NBA, from the NBA line with an NBA ball. I quite frankly myself think Sabrina should also be shooting from the NBA line because Those 3 feet do make a difference. And you're essentially saying I'm as good a shooter or better as Steph Curry in these contests. And so I personally think Sabrina should be at the NBA line. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to it. I got Steph, of course. No need for me to needle Klay's done it enough. I got Steph, I got the GOAT. That's who I'm rolling with.
