Draymond Green Previews Spurs vs Thunder & Knicks vs Cavs + SGA Wins NBA MVP

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, the Conference Finals matchups are set and they said, and then there were four. We'll get into both Conference Finals series previews, plus my thoughts on what happened to Detroit, as well as Minnesota's exit, SGA running it back to back, and much, much more in this episode. Let's get right into it. [MUSIC] Caffeine just got a serious flavor upgrade. If you're used to the same old routine, 5-Hour Energy shots are switching things up with tasty caffeine 17 different flavors, and they're not holding back. Right now everyone is talking about the Cotton Candy flavor. It's got that sweet, nostalgic vibe in a tiny, convenient 2-ounce bottle. It's a fun twist on your usual caffeine option, and it actually tastes like something you look forward to. And the best part? You get bold flavor with as much caffeine as a 12-ounce premium cup of coffee, plus zero sugar and no sugar crash. It's big flavor in a small package, easy to take wherever your day goes. I'm Draymond Green. So whether you're switching things up or just want something that tastes better, this is a solid move. Give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-Hour Energy Shots. Get yours in store and online at www.5hourenergy.com or Amazon today. The Cavs go into Game 7 on the road in Detroit and annihilates the Pistons by 31 points. Which is the third largest Game 7 road win in the history of the NBA. Listen, I thought Detroit would put up a better fight. It was a little disappointing to see the fight that the Pistons had. Once they got punched once, the Cavs never truly needed to punch again. And that's disappointing going into a Game 7. Like, yes, we all know Game 7s are unpredictable. Anything can happen in the Game 7. We know every cliché saying that's around, of course. But I just did not expect the Pistons not to punch back at all. So I was watching that game, it seemed very early in the game that like, yo, this is gonna be an Isaiah Stewart type of game. Like the Pistons ain't really playing with no force. They're not punching back. JB had been going with Paul Reed for the last few games and rightfully so. Paul Reed been playing, had been playing well. But it just felt like Game 7 wasn't what was a game where the Pistons needed some toughness. They needed— Toughness. Some force. And who brings that for them is Isaiah Stewart. And you know, he got in his normal stint the first quarter, got 3, 4 minute run. And you could see immediately he was putting up force to the offense. The dribble handoffs were extended out a bit. And the Pistons just never really punched back. Now we'll get into, you know, some of the issues as a team, but you gotta punch back. Like, it's Game 7, you at home. It's crazy because I'm watching that game and I'm, as I'm watching it, beginning of the game, they're like some bad fouls, which has been a thing with the Pistons all playoffs, but it's some bad fouls and they look like nervous fouls. You know what I'm saying? And what I mean by nervous fouls is like, When you're in these playoff games, when you're in these high pressure situations, these high pressure moments, you can kind of see on a guy face when it's like, "Oh man, like he really ain't ready for this moment." You can see it on guys' face. And I was a little disappointed in Tobias's demeanor. Tobias has played great all playoffs with the exception of the last few games. It was just a little disappointing. Like his first foul was an unnecessary foul and it's just like, oh man, I'mma grab. Then the second foul he took was an unnecessary foul and it's like, oh man, I'mma grab. And the look on his face when he was grabbing and taking those fouls, to me, just kind of looked at like deer in the headlights, uninterested. And that was just a little disappointing for me because for a team that, A, has already beat the odds, being the number 1 seed after, you know, winning 14 games or something like 16 games or whatever it was 2 years ago, to now be a number 1 seed, Draymond Green, Sinner still on his rookie deal. Kaze just now getting into his extension. Asar Thompson still on a rookie deal. Like it's, and on one side of it you say, yo, like yeah, they beat the odds. On the other side of it though, you know, with all the situations that I just said with the contract. On the flip side though, right now is the best time to beat the odds. Because now you gotta start paying guys and it just don't look the same. Rosters ain't gonna look the same. Some guys that are in are gonna be out. Like that's just the way this goes. And so the best time is actually now to beat the odds. And so, you know, Draymond Green. Everybody's talking about it. It's worst kept secret. Jalen, Jalen Dern's up for an extension. Jalen Dern was an All-Star this year. Jalen Dern did not sign an extension last year because he felt like he was worth more than they were offering. Well, now there's a fork in the road. Didn't play great all playoffs, yet had a great year. 22 years old. Still a lot of room for improvement. But sometimes when you have these situations in the playoffs, guys never get over it, never get over that hump. Now, I don't know that I'm not betting on the 22-year-old freak of nature. Probably gotta make that bet. But— And I think it was consistent across the Pistons. But if you gonna go down, you wanna see a guy go down or team go down with fight. And that just wasn't quite the fight that was expected. Now Donovan Mitchell came out, looks poised, chill. James came out, little aggressive, but didn't overdo it too much. Sam Merrill came out. We always talk about who gonna swing the series. If Sam Merrill does not do another thing in these playoffs, Sam Merrill has done his job. He swung one series. And as a role player, you only have to swing one series when your number is called. Sam Merrill's job in the playoffs is complete. Now, Sam Merrill can build on it. Sam Merrill can add on and help the team more, but his job is done because he swung a series and you gotta give him a lot of credit. 23 points on 70% shooting. When neither team really had nothing going, Sam Merrill got it going, which allowed— Draymond Green. Like Donovan Mitchell let it come to him. But I feel like at the beginning of the game, and rightfully so, man, a little timid, little nervous, and rightfully so. You talking to a guy who's in what, 8th or 9th year, it's been to the playoffs every year, second round oftentimes, haven't been able to get over that hump. And now you're going into a game 7. In enemy territory, you gonna feel them nerves. I think it's, you know, I think so oftentimes people act like you shouldn't feel them nerves. I could see the nerves Donovan Mitchell was feeling the beginning of that game. But again, you should feel that. Again, especially a guy who hasn't been over the hump because you're like, oh man, here we go. Like you live all of that stuff. So I understand. And right there, when you have champions, when you have people that knows how to do it, knows what it looks like, Right there, if you're the Detroit Pistons, you say, yo, he ain't all the way right. We gotta pounce right now. Unfortunately for the Pistons, they don't really have any guys who knows what it looks like, who knows how to do it. They're just trying to figure it out. And so in turn, they weren't able to pounce on it. The game sure enough came to him like he allowed it to, and he finished with 26, 8, and 8. Yeah. Like 26, 8, and 6. Incredible, incredible game. Not anything over the top, not actually what you've grown accustomed to Donovan Mitchell doing. It was just perfect. It was steady. Make buckets when I need to get buckets, make plays when I need to make plays. It was just steady. And it was brilliant to see. Who actually gets the game ball though, and the series game ball if you will, is Kenny Atkinson. James played great. There was a lot of talk about James in the beginning of the series. I was on Inside the NBA at the beginning of this series speaking about James and everything everybody had to say. And in true fashion, he bounced back. Yeah. Everybody said, "Oh man, this is staying on his legacy, staying on his career where he's headed to the conference finals." A lot of talk was going on. Steadied the ship, didn't do too much, didn't overdo it, steadied the ship. Why I say Kenny Atkinson gets the game ball is, start this series, you had James Harden in front of the defense with the ball, Donovan Mitchell in front of the whole defense with the ball, with Asar Thompson hawking him, Ryan Holland coming in the game hawking him, Cade Cunningham hawking him. And what Kenny Atkinson did was Kenny Atkinson started running the offense through Evan Mobley. Evan Mobley's had a down year. Evan Mobley looked like he regressed and took two steps back. Yet Kenny Atkinson started running the offense through him a lot like they did last year. And Evan Mobley this series looked like Evan Mobley from last year. Ironic how that worked out. But even more so than Evan Mobley having a big year, what did happen was it allowed James to play well. It allowed Donovan to play well. And the reason it allowed them to do that, because they just weren't standing in front of defense trying to make every play. Evan Mobley had the ball. And then they get the ball and it's attack. And that's a totally different thing from coming down, dribbling, dribbling, waiting everybody gets set up while a guy hawking you. All of a sudden they get into a ball screen, damn near half court, whole defense loaded up. Totally different thing. Evan Mobley now has it. They catch it downhill, catch it, shot, catch it, drive, kick. What? Weren't playing directly in front of the whole defense. And it was beautiful. It was beautiful to see. Beautiful to see. So I gotta give Kenny Atkinson a lot of credit on getting his team through this series, allowing his guys to flourish the best way they could flourish in this series. Give Kenny a lot of fucking credit, man. A lot of credit. Give James Harden a lot of credit the way he stepped up. Jared Allen was huge yesterday. Seems like in these playoff games, Jared Allen becomes this aggressive guy, rebounding, rim protection. It's beautiful to see. A lot of people go the opposite way when it's a closeout game. So gotta give him his credit. You know, he spoke about the lights being too bright, but in these closeout games, he been showing up. And you gotta give credit where credit is due. But again, the game ball, the series ball goes to Kenny Atkinson, making the adjustments he's made, Allowing James to be James, allowing Donovan to be Donovan, helping Evan Mobley play up to his potential. That's a great coach. That's a great coach for you. So shout out to Kenny Atkinson. You look at the Pistons, you say, where do they go from here? A lot of people say, oh man, they made a mistake not making a big mid-season trade. Well, let me tell you something, guys. Couple things here. How do you improve around Kade? Couple things here. At some point, yes, they'll need a secondary playmaker. They'll need a guy who can go get buckets. They'll need a secondary playmaker who can make plays for other people and get Kade off the ball sometime. I think down the stretch in this series, Kade just ran outta gas. Like I said before, same thing I watched Anthony Edwards do past playoff series. When you gotta do so much, guys run outta gas. And I saw K run outta gas. So yes, they'll need that. But everybody's talking about, oh man, they made a huge mistake not making a, a big off mid-season trade. Well, let's talk about this. Number one, very rarely does the, the best trades come in the middle of the season. It's just not a realistic thing for a team that won 14 games 2 years ago. Yeah. You don't need to press forward and try to make a big offseason, a big midseason trade. You rarely get the best trade. And in turn also what you do is you start your clock. Well, what is the clock, Draymond? Well, the clock is now you're expected to win. See, coming into this season, no one expected Detroit Pistons to win. No one expected the Detroit Pistons to be the number one seed in the East. It just wasn't expected. So in turn you go do that, you're playing with house money. And although everybody see that and be like, man, "They the number one seed, this is their chance." Not really. They weren't prepared for that. That roster wasn't prepared to be a number one seed and go win a championship. But it sets a, it lays a foundation that they can build up on. They've been in the playoffs now 2 years in a row. You can see who performed well, who didn't, who can we build forward with to ultimately reach the ultimate goal? Who can we not? It allows you to do those things. And so why start the clock if you're— Draymond Green. Trajan Langdon. You make this big offseason trade, now everybody's like, oh man, they made the trade, they're expected to win a championship. But if you're Trajan Langdon, you know this team isn't ready to win a championship. Not yet. Not that this team won't be capable of winning one in the future, but they're just not there yet. And so you go do that, if you're Trajan Langdon, now everybody— And now the team is under pressure to win it now. And they're not fit and built to win it now. And so I think give Trajan Langdon and the Detroit Pistons front office a lot of credit in not seeing the improvement that could possibly be made during the season and panicking and wanting to press for it right now, starting the clock. Now everybody's under intense pressure, intense scrutiny for not getting it done when ultimately, you know, you still got some things on that roster that need to be shifted. Mm-hmm. Don't make sense. And so to everybody saying they should have made a mid-season trade, no, they shouldn't. Tip your cap to Trajan Langdon. That's what you do. That's a guy who's doing the job. He's doing it right. Not hear everybody say, oh man, they got a chance. They can do it. Like, they can do it. They can do it. If they just make a trade— by the way, all the guys y'all want them to trade for aren't like the guy, the guy that for sure moves the needle, for sure puts you in contention. No, they may help, but they're not 1,000% the answer. So if you don't have someone that's 1,000% the answer, you don't do it if you're in the Pistons position. You wait, you assess this offseason, and now you can make some of them trades. You got some young assets, you got some draft picks. Now you can look at making some of those trades, but you just can't up and do that in the middle of the season. Get excited, that's fool's gold is what that's called. To sit— Pistons did not have a championship roster, and that's okay. It'd be fool's gold to think you're making one move in the middle of the season and winning a championship. So— Draymond Green. Again, I tip my cap to Trajan Langdon, to the Detroit Pistons organization. Job well done. Now they gotta go to the drawing board and get better this summer because now your clock will start. Got the coach locked in, Cade's locked in. We'll see what happened with Jalen Dern, see what happened with Asar Thompson. But now you make the moves and start your clock. You don't start your clock in the middle of the season. So, Job well done, Detroit Pistons. Great season. Now how do you build on it will be the key and it'll determine the next 5 to 10 years of Detroit basketball. This is a big summer for them. They must improve. They must come into next year better than they were this year. Does that mean they'll win 60 games? No, just don't always happen like that. Injuries and different things, but the team must be better. And I think it will be. If you're a dad like me, or if you're single, or if you're at any stage or age in your life, you have probably been worried about healthcare. 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So if you like alternative investments and doing your own due diligence, this one's worth a look. That's atarihoteles.com. Next up, we got the Thunder versus the Spurs. The Spurs went 4-1 against the Thunder this season. Um, the Thunder will come into this well rested as they played their last game May 11th. And this is, listen, I think this will be an interesting series. Obviously you got the young up-and-comers versus the champs. And champs getting that full strength. They got J Dub back for game 1. Like, but now is when it gets real. You won 4 games against the champs this year. You should when you're San Antonio. You know why? Because you're approaching all of those games like, man, we gotta beat these boys. We gotta prove them a point. And they're not really approaching those games like that. They're walking away like, "Oh man, these guys think they can really beat us." So now is the time for San Antonio to go prove that they're better. Now, J Dub returning this series, ultimately this is huge. And it's not huge because of how great of a player J Dub is. That's obvious. It's huge because in a series where you're gonna have to move Wimby around, In a series where you got one guy attacking the defense on the front side of the play, you need that other guy that can pin the defense on the backside of the play. 'Cause you attack the front side, you move Wimby out, you engage him. Now you swing it, you need to get back downhill. When that's Shae swinging to J Dub to get back downhill, or J Dub swinging to Shae to now get back downhill, looks different. Looks different. And so I think this is, huge for that reason for OKC, right? You're playing against the young up-and-coming team. You need to be at full strength. How much can J Dub affect, impact this series? Hasn't played a ton all year. Hasn't obviously been out the last couple weeks. How much can he impact this series from a health standpoint, from a conditioning standpoint? It's the conference finals, right? Like— Yeah. How much of an impact can he ultimately have on that, right? Now, another reason I'll tell you that can get interesting, J Dub may have to guard Wimby some. J Dub's got the length, he got the size, right? He can keep up on the perimeter obviously, right? So he may actually have to guard Wimby some. Obviously I'm pretty sure they'll start with Chet on him. Maybe Hardenstein. But if those bigger guys struggle, to have someone at 6'9" that moves like J Dub moves, can actually possibly have to guard Wimby. That team need to go small and they need to play J Dub at the big, they can do that, right? So I think this changes the series in multiple different ways, right? Defensively and offensively, I think this impacts this series. Largely. Now, San Antonio, excuse me, Oklahoma City is, everything they do is predicated off getting downhill. Well, San Antonio's built for them to get downhill. They got Victor Wimby-Yama at the rim. Sometimes Luke Kornet when Victor Wimby-Yama's out, but not Luke Kornet. He's not stopping Shay. He's not stopping J-Dub from getting to the rim, but Wimby. And so how can they figure that out? One thing that Minnesota was doing early in this series, they kept ducking them in. Right? As soon as somebody start driving, somebody ducked into Wimby to engage his body. So he just couldn't roam. They struggled with that later in the series and you know, San Antonio started to figure it out. But that was something Minnesota did that I thought was beneficial early in the game. Right? When you got Hardenstein out there, do you want Hardenstein ducking in? Number one, it's wearing 'em down. You gotta engage like that every play, it's wearing you down. Wearing you down for the defensive end, wearing you down for the offensive end. Right? So I think that can somewhat help OKC. However though, what this is gonna boil down to is OKC knows what the hell they're doing. OKC comes at you in waves. However, San Antonio comes at you in waves. They have built similar teams. Athleticism, length, getting downhill. Neither team overly relies on the 3-point shot. They've built very similar rosters. Yeah. Right. De'Aaron Fox, it's gonna have to be a huge series. They cannot win this series with a pedestrian performance by De'Aaron Fox. De'Aaron Fox almost must lead the charge. Like he almost must be the guy in this series. Yes, you want Wemby to play great, but De'Aaron Fox gotta control the pace, gotta control the tempo. You gotta sprint and get out to the races when you can run. Slow it down when you can. You know this team's gonna be swarming. Take advantage of Wimby at the rim, right? Like, De'Aaron Fox is gonna have to play well, but he's gonna have to have a masterful floor game. Masterful floor game. Very important to the Spurs competing in this series is De'Aaron Fox having a masterful floor game, which could mean some nights it may be 12 points and getting everybody else involved. Some nights it may need to be 28. 28. And it's gonna be on De'Aaron Fox to figure out when those nights are. Differentiate the two. But De'Aaron Fox almost has to be the number one guy in this series for the Spurs if the Spurs is gonna win this series. Because ultimately, what wins championships? Incredible guard play. You must have great guard play if you're gonna compete for championships. You look at all four of these teams that's left, Cleveland Cavaliers, great guard play. New York Knicks, great guard play. OKC, incredible guard play. San Antonio Spurs, they have very, very, very high-level guard play. It needs to be great. If they're going to compete in this series, the guard play has to be great. No, it's not gonna match Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but it can't just be Shai here, San Antonio guard play here has to be somewhat comparable in order for the Spurs to ultimately compete and have a chance at winning this series. Knicks versus Cavs. The Knicks went 2-1 versus the Cavs this season. The Knicks come in well rested as well as they played their last game one day before OKC played their last game on May 10th. And you know, listen, there's always the rest versus Russ, I don't get into that shit. Even if it costs you one game over the course of a 7-game series, like the conference finals, that rest is going to add up and it shouldn't cost you a game anyway. We're NBA players. Maybe it costs you a quarter, at worst it costs you a half. We're NBA players. You should still be able to get through that. So I don't buy the excuses. Ultimately, the New York Knicks, Gotta come out ready to play. New York is tailor-made and built to play against this Cavs team. They have a bunch of guys you can match up on the perimeter. Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, you know, coming off the bench. Landry Shamick, you know, is a pretty good on-ball defender. Jose Alvarado, you throw him in to see if he can hawk those guys for a few plays, right? Like they— Yeah. Deuce McBride, another good perimeter defender, right? So they're tailor-made to play against this Cavs team. Now, KAT pulling Jared Allen away from the rim, pulling Evan Mobley away from the rim, right? Like, this team is tailor-made to play against this Cleveland Cavaliers team and cause them some issues. If I'm Mike Brown, I don't think you need to stray far away from what you've been doing. Move Cat to that high post. It's been beautiful. Move him to the high post. Pull those bigs away from the rim. Get all those cutters going. Get OG back into the flow. Get Mikal Bridges into the series early. I don't think, what I don't think you need to do is, I don't think you need to come out ball heavy, ball dominant Jalen Brunson. And the reason I don't think you need to come out ball heavy, ball dominant Jalen Brunson is because I don't think the Cavs have many guys that can really match up with Jalen Brunson. So ultimately you need to get KAT going, get KAT involved, let him, allow him to get everyone else involved, allow him to engage their bigs. Maybe their bigs get in foul trouble, changes the game because there's not great perimeter defense. So they really rely on their bigs to clean up things and make up defensive mistakes in the paint and at the rim. KAT can negate that by pulling them away from the rim, possibly getting them in foul trouble. And so, you know, another interesting plot or subplot, if you will, is again, we talked about Sam Merrill swinging the series. Who's gonna swing this series? Is Mikal Bridges gonna swing the series? I think it's about time for him to really put his imprint on a series and swing a series? Is it gonna be Max Strus that swing the series? Will it be Sam Merrill again? Who's gonna be the guy for one of these teams to swing the series? Jalen Brunson gonna do what he do. KAT gonna do what he do. Donovan gonna do what he do. James gonna do what he do. I also think the Knicks need to, excuse me, the Cavs need to continue playing through Evan Mobley. Don't, it's gonna be the same thing. Yes, the New York Knicks does not have an Asar Thompson, right? So it's not gonna be Asar Thompson, but it's multiple guys who can get up and pressure and, you know, do the things. And so I think continuing to play through Evan Mobley has to be a key for the Knicks right now. That'll probably be OG Anunoby's matchup. What's OG doing, right? Like, is OG stepping up to that challenge? Maybe you get OG in foul trouble. OG need to press up, right? Don't let Evan Mobley handle the ball. Force it to be the guys, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. Because ultimately when those guys are handling the ball, they are great. Don't get me wrong, those two guys are great. But the team isn't as good because they're just lined up in front of defense. And when they're just standing in front of the defense, it's easier to key. On those guys, right? So ultimately, I think if you're, you need to be pressuring the hell outta Evan Mobley, right? Pressuring the hell outta him so that he can't run the offense. Because I think that's what this really comes down to. Who's going to be able to get into a better offensive flow? Neither one of these teams are great defensively, yet both are really good defensive teams. And so who's going to be able to find a better offensive flow? And ultimately, ah man, who do I have winning this series? Wow. Well, ultimately the Knicks are playing great. They have hit a stride, like unlike many teams that we've seen in recent playoff history. Hit stride. Like, they have found themselves playing incredible, um, and they should win this series. They should win this series. Donovan Mitchell's going home. James Harden back in the Big Apple. It ain't gonna be easy though, but the Knicks should take this series. Ultimately, I think I have to pick the Knicks. Yeah. The Cavs gonna make it really tough though, but I'm gonna take the Knicks. I'm gonna take the Knicks in 6. Knicks in 6. That's who I'm rolling with. And as far as the first series go, I am also going, I love what San Antonio's done, love how they're competing. I got the champs. I got OKC. If you're trying to keep up with the NBA playoffs right now, you already know. The games are kind of everywhere. One night it's on ESPN, then the next game you wanna watch is on ABC or NBC. And suddenly you're bouncing between apps trying not to miss tip-off. It can get overwhelming fast. That's why I've been liking Sling. It's one of the most flexible live TV streaming services out there. And it really lets you watch the playoffs your way. If you're mostly trying to catch the ESPN games, their passes are a great option. You can grab a 1, 3, or 7-day pass depending on what you need, which is perfect if you're following a specific matchup or just tuning in for a big weekend. And the best part is there are no long-term contracts, so you're not locked into anything. You can watch on your terms however you want. Learn more at sling.com. You know, I remember sitting in my car right before I hit record on my first episode. I had this pit in my stomach. The what-ifs were screaming at me. What if I fail? Taking a leap of faith was terrifying, but it ended up being one of the best decisions I've ever made. The difference between a what-if and a reality is usually just having the right tools in your corner. I really wish I had a partner like Shopify back then to ease these worries. 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And he won it by a pretty nice margin. He had 839 total points versus second place Nikola Jokic with 634 points. Wemby not far behind Jokic with 569 points, right? And so Luka Dončić was in fourth with 250 points. One interesting thing, Luka did not— Yeah. Received one first place vote. Kade received two first place votes. Listen, well deserved. Congratulations to Shey Gilgeous-Alexander. He was the MVP the entire season. I'm very surprised to see him get one fourth place vote. It's actually ridiculous. But well deserved. They were the best team all season. He was the best player all season. Joker, if Joker doesn't get hurt, maybe. You know, he can overtake Shea for the MVP. But Wimby came on a bit late, made a great push, but just came on a bit late. And so Shea gets it back to back. And like I said, I think it's well deserved. I think one of the things that was probably more interesting to most people was that everybody probably thought Vic would be in second as opposed to Joker being in second. Yeah. Listen, this is great. There was a discrepancy with this. Shams leaked it. Listen, I think the NBA has to do something about that. Like ultimately you're the NBA, you control the media. Like, yeah, like Shams is an NBA reporter with ESPN who is a partner of the NBA. Like to tweet at 6 o'clock in the morning who the NBA MVP is, it's actually embarrassing. Like it makes our league look— It's embarrassing. Like we have no organization. It makes our league look like, like it just makes it look like that's child's play. Like we can't hold the winner of the most prestigious individual award in the NBA. We can't hold those results until like it's actually time to be announced. That was a little disappointing. Um. Like, there's no way that can happen. Like, if there's supposed to be an announcement on Amazon Prime, like, the announcement has to happen on Amazon Prime. Like, this is something Commissioner Silver has to do something about. Like, this, this can't happen. Like, come on, you leak it on Twitter? Like, it can't— it also can't be that important to, like, leak information. Like, come on. I, I thought that was pretty Pretty pathetic if I'm being honest. Like the NBA has to do something. That can't be the case. The MVP gets leaked at 6 o'clock in the morning on Instagram. I actually thought it was fake 'cause I saw somebody else tweet it. So I had to start searching. I'm like, I mean, Threads it. So I had to start searching like, then go on Instagram and like, oh no, it's true. Like that's, Come on, something has to be done about that. Like, that cannot happen. The leak of the NBA MVP, like, come on, what are we doing here? Like, it'd be one thing if it's a reporter that's not a prominent reporter in the NBA, but like, it's Shams. Like, Shams has to be in partnership with the NBA to be as prominent as he is. That can't happen. So I thought that was embarrassing. Needless to say, um, congratulations to Shea Gildress-Alexander. Congratulations to all the guys. Uh, rounding out the top 5 was Cade Cunningham with Draymond Green at 6, Kawhi Leonard at 7, uh, with one 5th place vote, as well as Donovan Mitchell with one 5th place vote. So congrats to those guys on having incredible years. Uh, well deserved. Beautiful to see. Happy to see Draymond Green named somewhere on this list. Obviously he would've hoped it would be higher, and I hope he keep putting that work in like he's always done and marching on up that list. But it's beautiful to see, and congrats to all the guys that made this list, putting the work in. It's not an easy feat, especially SGA, Joker, guys who's won this award multiple times and to continue to stay at that level. Yeah. Um, is huge. Now you got the game where game one, Shea Gildress-Alexander will be presented the award and Wimby's on the other side. And usually it's a very tough game to play in when these things happen. OKC doesn't seem to be bothered by things like this, but emotionally you see a guy get the MVP award, it's usually a very tough game. Now, What will Wemby's mindset be is the question. The reality is, is like, you're not getting any more motivation from not being voted the MVP than trying to win a championship anyway. This is the conference finals. There's 4 teams left. You got all the motivation you need. You stand in the way of us being one of the final 2 teams. That's enough motivation in itself. However, it is tough emotionally to see your guy get that award and then reset and go play that game right away. It gets tough. We shall see how OKC handle it. But I would not be surprised if OKC struggles a bit coming out in this game because you just trying to get over the emotions of watching your guy do some incredible things. And it's tough at times. So we'll see how they handle it. But you don't need any more motivation. Miles Turner has some explosive comments about the Bucks culture under Doc. On his Game Recognize Game podcast. He said, Doc never find anyone, so guys relate. Kind of called out Giannis. And what I'll say here is Miles Turner trying to get the hell out of Bucks. He's trying to get the hell out of Milwaukee. I don't know that that's gonna happen with the way he played this year and the contract that he signed, but he looked like he don't wanna be there. Talking about stuff like that outta the locker room. He has no interest in being there. It's been a very forgetful year for him after leaving Indianapolis for the first 10 years of his career, the way it all went down. And then for the season to play out like this, pretty shitty. But he looked like he's trying to work his way outta there. Listen, I know Bobby Portis wasn't happy. I saw Bobby Portis' comments and rightfully so. This was crazy. But listen, Miles never liked Giannis. They had their thing when they was in Milwaukee and he was in Indianapolis and they had a thing, right? So this just kind of follows up on that. But he was gonna get his money and he got his money and kudos to him. The Blazers owner Tom Dundon made some viral comments on the Game Over podcast with Rich Paul and Max Kellerman. He said, "I just made a mistake," when speaking on two-way players not traveling during the playoffs. He said, "I just don't understand the league. In hockey, we don't travel extra." with extra people because we're not on vacation. We're here to win. I don't want the distraction. The NBA seems to live with those distractions. So I thought this was a very contradictory statement because on one hand he's saying like, I just didn't know I made a mistake. On the other hand, he's calling the guys distractions and we don't want the distraction. What I will say to him is, listen, I love the fact that he got the balls that he have to come in the NBA doing what he's doing. Much respect to him. Mm-hmm. Kudos to him. You bought the team, do whatever the hell you wanna do with it. However, what I will say to him is, you build relationships with these guys that's on two ways. And to see them not around for meaningful games like the playoffs, I'll say to him, it will suck. It does suck. Sometimes our two ways get sent down. I wouldn't say sent down, but sent over to the G League. And when they get sent over, you like, yo, some of the energy is missing. Some of the things that kind of help us operate is missing, right? When we're going, when we're in practice playing against a two-way player as opposed to a coach or video guy, it's different. Give you realistic reads, right? So what I would say to Tom Dundon is no harm, no foul, but get to know the value that those guys bring. What do they bring to your star player? How do your star player feel when he look over at that two-way? He's built a relationship with that guy. That's what I would say to Tom Dundon. There's no harm, no foul, no big deal, but just get to know the value that a two-way player brings, the value that those young guys bring to the locker room. That's what I would say. And then I think he'll better understand it as opposed to looking at it as a vacation or just an extra cost. Like, no, even when they're not playing, they still bring valuable— value. If you have— Even when they're not playing, they still bring value. If you have the right two-way guys in your organization, they still bring massive value. Guys still wanna have them around. They're a part of your team. It's like you remove 3 guys from your team, like your team don't feel whole. And so that's what I would say to 'em is just get to know their value. It may not look as valuable on paper, but get to know the value. That's why it'd be so important for like owners to be on the ground and have eyes on the ground because these different things that take place like this, you get to understand you start to understand the value that these guys bring as opposed to just a hotel room or an extra flight. You start understanding what it does for your team. So that's all I would say, but no harm, no foul. And I love how he's approaching it. I'm doing what the hell I wanna do with what I wanna do it with. Can always respect someone like that. Pelicans hired Jamal Mosley as the new head coach. And quite honestly, with where the Pelicans are, I think this is a great hire. You need someone that's gonna come in and establish a culture. And Jamal Mosley has proven that he can do that. He came into Orlando, established a culture, hard nose playing team. Every night we used to go in, every day or night we used to go into Orlando, you go in sleepwalking. 4 years ago, I realized you can't go in Orlando sleepwalking anymore. This team playing hard, they'll embarrass you. And that's all due to Jamal Mosley. So similar spot for the organizations. I think he can do it. You know, you got a Paulo Banchero and Zion Williams. You know, you got different pieces. And so, you know, I think it's gonna be fun to see if Jamal Mosley can go build this out. I have zero doubt that he will. I think ultimately it's a great hire by Joe Dumars and company. And now it's time for our Slingshot of the Night. Brought to you by Sling TV, the most flexible live TV streaming service. Watch the NBA playoffs on ESPN with the Sling 1, 3, or 7-day pass starting at $4.99. Learn more at sling.com. Donovan Mitchell, end of the first quarter shot from half court. The way he stepped into it and shot it with 4 seconds to go was a different type of aura that he knew it was going in. And you know, the Pistons was trying to make a run there. They was cutting it to 6.— to go up 9, that shot took the life out of the Pistons. When you hit shots like that, it reminded me of the shot, a couple shots that Jordan Poole hit when we was on our championship run in 2022. Team making a run, you hit a shot like that, just sucks the life right out of the team. So you gotta give Donovan Mitchell a lot of credit there. The half-court buzzer beater was a huge shot. It changed everything. And then also it's, I got another shot. Mm-hmm. Completely different way. Sam Merrill takes a brutal charge from Asar Thompson. Asar Thompson was sending a message. He was not trying to go around him. I'm going straight through your body. I'm putting you down. Let's see if you can get up from this. And Sam Merrill got up and continued to play well. And I would say that may have been the biggest shot of the night 'cause dude got crushed. But that was our Sling Shot of the Night, brought to you by Sling TV. Sling puts the consumers in control with their flexible subscription options. Wanna watch one game or even a full series on ESPN? Grab a 1, 3, or 7-day pass starting at $4.99. If you wanna watch as many games as possible, get a monthly subscription with their combo package. Either way, Sling lets you watch the playoffs your way with no long-term contracts. Learn more at sling.com. Wanna thank you all for tuning in to the Draymond Green Show. Enjoy these playoffs. Holler back at y'all later this week. Looking forward to checking out OKC-San Antonio game 1 tonight. Till next time, deuces. If you're rocking with the Draymond Green Show, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. And while you're there, go ahead and drop a 5-star rating and leave a review. I wanna hear what you think. And it would also mean a ton to me if you share it with a friend that you you think would enjoy it. Let's keep this thing growing. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Audacy and executive produced in conjunction with The New Media. Our executive producers are Leah Reese Dennis, Danny Friesinger, and Greg Holtzman. Video production and creative design by Curt Courtney, Tim Meekle, Lauren Vieira, and Evan O'Brien. Special thanks to the team at The New Media and the team at Audacy. Maura Curran. Josephina Francis, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, and Jake Gally.