Draymond Green responds to being left off Team USA roster & Grant Hill's comments

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What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. Uh, we have an impromptu cave edition. Uh, welcome to the cave. Um, edition of the Draymond Green Show. And it's because I'm going to speak on something that I didn't necessarily think would have been a big deal. And, and, uh, well, in a sense, I kind of thought maybe it would get picked up on, but didn't quite know. You never know how something's going to land. Um, and that is— there it is— Shield USA Basketball and me not being included on the 41. Draymond Green, uh, play a pool, uh, for the Olympics for Paris 2024. Um, and I've seen people, uh, relaying their opinions about it, um, or expressing their opinions or sharing their opinions, um, on what should have been, what could have been, um, etc. And I think for me personally, uh, this is one of those things where like your perspective is everything. And so, so be that Grant Hill shared that I wouldn't, I was left off the pool due to suspensions publicly. I having the Draymond Green Show with all my loyal subscribers who subscribe and check for my thoughts and my opinions on things, I'd be remiss if I did not share an opinion or thought, or my thoughts and feelings about being omitted from the Olympic roster or the Olympic pool. And I'll say this, disappointed, yeah, of course. Like, to have an opportunity to play in 3 Olympics, It's crazy. Like, I'm not sure the amount of people that's had that opportunity. And even if you had the opportunity to play in 3 Olympics, which there's a lot bigger pool of guys, in particular Europeans, who've had the opportunity to play in 3 Olympics. Well, from all parts of the world, Europeans, Australians, South Americans, like they more so have had the opportunity to, I'm sure, play in 3. But in particular to have the opportunity compete for 3 gold medals is a totally different honor. Be that I am one of 2 players, I mean, one of 4 players in the league currently that has 2 gold medals. The other 3 being Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Chris Paul. Of course I would love the opportunity to compete for 3. However, I have been left off the pool. And I think where I have an issue is, or not even necessarily an issue, but—

Yeah.

Um, where I— where I necessarily don't agree, I'll say, is, um, number one, let me address me playing in the Olympics in 2016 and me playing Olympics in 2021, which is known as Japan 2020. Obviously the pandemic was in 2020. Draymond Green in 2021. I'll take you back a little bit. I played in the World University Games going into my senior year of college for USAB, and we finished like 6th or 7th place. And as you all know, playing for USAB, there's a certain standard that must be upheld. When you wear this shield, there's a certain expectation that come with that. And I think we placed maybe 6th or 7th or some trash like that. And for me, going from— 7th. Junior year to senior year where I said to my assistant coach in college, like Coach DJ, at one point beginning our senior year, like, "Man, D, I think this may be my last year playing basketball because I don't know if I can go overseas. Like, I ain't never left the state of Michigan. Like, I just think I'll be too homesick. I don't know if I could go overseas." And he laughed at me. He's like, "Man, get the hell outta here. Like, you gonna go to the NBA." I'm like, "I don't know, D. And I just don't know if the overseas grind is made for me." Number one, much respect and much love to all the guys that go on that overseas journey. I know it's not easy and I know, you know, the sacrifices that you're making. And so much love and respect to guys that make that sacrifice. 'Cause I didn't believe I could do it. And you know, thank God I was fortunate enough to be in the position that I was in for the opportunity to compete for an NBA spot and obviously go on to have the career I had. But in saying all of that, in the World University Games, in what I believe to be my last opportunity to ever play for USAB, my only, first and last, we finished in 6th or 7th place. So I was like crushed. Like, man, my only experience to compete with one of the biggest, best winning brands in history of sports, USAB.— he came in 6th or 7th. Sucked. And I thought I'd have to live with that the rest of my life. And then life happened, career starts to happen, and I get invited to the select team. And it's like, whoa, like probably was a little older than most of the guys on the select team, but I'm taking that opportunity. Like, 'cause if they see me for the select team, then maybe one day I just make, like, yep, I'mma go. And I'm gonna play against Steph Curry and Derrick Rose and all these guys and get those guys ready for the World Cup. And my ego is not too big. I am thrilled to have that opportunity. And I went and it was incredible. It was incredible. Incredible. A very memorable time. I think back to like, you know, you look at the NBA today, that's when Paul George had his catastrophic injury. Yeah. Like I was there for that. And that was me being on the select team. And so that's like a very memorable time for me. I remember all of those things. I did that with like total joy and thankful for the opportunity. No ego, no nothing.

Yeah.

I will practice hard as I can to get those guys ready. And it was also an opportunity to play against some of the best in the summer, middle of the summer, kind of what you've been working on, see how that's coming along. It was a great, but also the pride and honor of helping our national team go compete for a gold medal. I took that with pride and I was very thankful for the opportunity. Lo and behold, the 2016 Olympics is in Brazil and a virus come along known as the Zika virus. And a lot of guys due to the Zika virus and also what had been called and deemed very dangerous of Brazil, you know, like, as far as security and all of those things, a lot of guys didn't go from the 2016 team. Chris Paul didn't go, LeBron James didn't go, James Harden didn't go, Anthony Davis didn't go, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard. When you think about all the guys that was on those 2000, the 2012 team, Andre Iguodala, none of those guys went. Draymond Green didn't go. Kawhi Leonard didn't go. He didn't do any before, but he didn't go. And at the time, we know who Kawhi Leonard was. We know who he is now. None of those guys went. And so lo and behold, I get the opportunity to go to the 2016 Olympics. Would I have necessarily gotten an invite if all of those guys want to go? Probably not. But you think I care?

No.

You ever heard the saying, one man's trash is another man's treasure? So I was afforded the opportunity to go to the 2016 Olympics. And you know, at that time the Warriors is number one. We just winning championships. I'm Defensive Player of the Year, right? And those things, All-Star first time. Like the cards lined up perfectly for me. We're the best team in the world, just went 73-9 on everybody's TV screen. The cards lined up perfectly. And I took advantage of that opportunity and won my first gold medal. Fast forward to 2020, we all deal with, and I didn't, by the way, I didn't play a ton in 2016, but I played in some very meaningful moments and had a couple key plays in meaningful moments to help us reach a gold medal. In 2020, I come back and the team is much younger. Now it's not even the guys that went in 2016. Kyle Lowry, no DeAndre Jordan, no Harrison Barnes, no Paul George, no Jimmy Butler, no Kyrie Irving, no DeMarcus Cousins. KD's still there, I'm still there. No DeMar DeRozan. So no Klay Thompson. So me and KD are the only two guys to come over from the 2016 team to the 2020. But guess what? 2020 Tokyo Olympics, guess what we're faced with? What we all know as the coronavirus. So it gets shut down in 2020. In 2021, I have an opportunity to compete on Olympic team again. Just to take you back to Brazil, we stayed on a cruise ship where we were on the cruise ship, we couldn't go to many things, like a part of security, like smaller cruise ship, smaller room, shower small, guys didn't necessarily wanna do that. I took advantage of those things. Fast forward back to 2021, I have an opportunity to play. Now coming off the 2016, be that I played in that one, I think I would've had the opportunity to play in 2020, but you never know if certain guys wanna play. But I get the opportunity to play again. And this time, because of the coronavirus, we're locked in the hotel. The only place we can go when we leave the hotel is the arena. So in a normal Olympic experience, in 2016, I had an opportunity to see every event. You talking about— 16 events. Michael Phelps break the record. Katie Ledecky break records. Neymar kick for gold in Brazil. Usain Bolt break the record. Shakur Stevenson. I think Devin Haney possibly. Like I got to see Clarissa Shields boxing matches. Like Alison Felix. Beach volleyball, Kerri Walsh Jennings. Like, I had an incredible experience in Brazil. 2021, the only thing that, only other games that we could go see was women's basketball because they played in the same arena as us due to the restrictions because of the coronavirus. Tokyo was still on lockdown, so we could not leave our hotel. If you left your hotel, which you probably all may be familiar, a couple athletes got sent home because they found out they were outside of the hotel. If you left your hotel, you would be sent home. That was a sacrifice. I left my family in the middle of that for 7 weeks. Camp in Vegas for 3 weeks, then on to Tokyo. A lot of guys didn't wanna make that sacrifice. LeBron James, those guys, those level of guys, Steph. They didn't wanna do that. People didn't see that as ideal. So again, me and Kevin Durant being the only guys from the 2012 team, I'm 16 team to come over to 2020, which happened in 2021. And now I have an opportunity to not only be a part of the team, but to actually help lead the team because of my prior Olympic experience, because of so much. And I think I played a big part and had a big hand in helping win that gold medal. Yeah. From a leadership standpoint and also from a play standpoint. 'Cause I played a lot more than I did in the 2016 Olympics. Very proud of that. And so I said all of that to say, when I look at the player pool today, the Warriors are no longer the number one team in the league. We are not just coming off a championship, although we won one a year and a half, like, and not when we lost in '16, but we 73 and 9. Yeah. Draymond is different, different, different. Yes, the recent suspensions happened and I own those and I've been very transparent with you on my journey through that. I think what frustrated me is like for it to be like, oh, Draymond is not on this list because of the recent suspensions. And it's like, because Like some tough decisions were gonna have to be made. Like when you look at the pool of guys, like you think of all the things, this is Paris 2024. Everyone wants to go to Paris. It's gonna be fun. It's the first Olympics back open. Like everybody know everyone in the NBA and the fashion thing. Everybody think they're gonna go walk the catwalk and like all of these things. So like you got probably half the guys that want to go because of that reason. And they have to, some of the guys because they love USAB and what they, like Kevin Durant. Love USAB, love playing for USAB and what that means and what that brings, like myself, that's gonna play. You got Anthony Davis gonna play, Joel Embiid gonna play, Bam Adebayo gonna play, Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard. When I look at these, the names on that list, I probably wouldn't have made that team anyway. Unless it was from a standpoint that he's been on the last two Olympics and sacrificed during the time when other guys Guys wasn't willing to make that sacrifice. The suspensions kind of gave them an out so you don't have to face that. And I'm totally fine with that. As you know, I'm a man, I stand on my mistakes and things I've done wrong. And so I wish it just would've been like, yeah, like Draymond, I took advantage of situation. I'm a two-time Olympic gold medalist and no one can take that away from me. I'm very thankful to USAB. I know what it feels like to be on that island when you are over there and everyone around the world wanna see you lose 'cause you USAB. And every time you turn on a talk show from back home, it's like, man, we're over here out in the world fighting for our country. And the way that we can fight for our country, I thank you to all our troops who go and fight, put their lives on the line for our country. This is the way that we can fight for our country and honor our country. And over there doing that, you turn on TV screen and every USA, TV publication, all these guys who really, and women that really like cover the NBA and like us and are Americans, like they're crushing us. I've been on that island before with my brothers. I know how that feels. It's awful. To see Draymond Green, who is a part of our USA basketball brotherhood, and I say this story Being had, I said this to D-Wade, so it's not like something that people are gonna go run and say like, oh, like I said this to D-Wade personally. It hurt when D-Wade had just became an owner and he put, "Good luck to Rudy Gobert in the Olympics." And like, I get it, you just became a Jazz owner, but you can kind of say nothing because you're kind of one of us. You are one of us. You represented like we're now representing. And you know how it feels to be on that island and to look up and see one of our brothers say good luck to a Frenchman when they're trying to destroy us, end up beating us in game 1 and then losing to us in the gold medal game. But they beat us in the first game of pool play. Devin Booker had just got there the day of, Chris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, all landed the day of because the NBA Finals ran later that year. They landed the day of the first game and they all 3 played meaningful minutes. Jrue Holiday played 29 or 31 minutes out of 40, not 48. D-Book, who end up being a vital part of what we was doing. Drew Holliday changed our offense, guarded Evan Fournier, Patty Mills. You see those guys, you see them in the NBA, when they go over there and they play for their country, them boys is different. They like Steph Curry and all that when they playing for their country. Drew Holliday taking on that responsibility, but also leading our drive and kick offense that led to us shredding teams. Coach Pop in his first Olympics, Figuring it out. Drew Holliday unlocked our offense. Let's not overthink it, guys. We're the best players in the world. Let's do that. Let's have that meeting, players only. Let's do that. And so to see Dwyane Wade said it, like it hurt. And so I said all of that to say, I get it. Like I know how it feels. And me personally, I think, again, there's different perspectives and ways that you can take things. And I wanna express my gratitude. For playing, having the opportunity to play 2 Olympics for Team USA and honor my country and win 2 gold medals. Yes, a part of me is disappointed because again, if Grant was gonna say that publicly, which by the way, like I said, I got nothing but love for G. Hill. When I came into this NBA, and I've publicly said this before, there was 2 guys I was starstruck by. One was Kobe Bryant. Mm-hmm. And the other one was Grant Hill. I grew up in the state of Michigan, Grant Hill, Detroit Pistons. And so I wish that he would've just said that to me. You know, if, especially if you're gonna say that publicly. Like, and so it hurt me a little bit, like from a fan standpoint as well. I'm a big fan of Grant Hill. And to know like there's been a personal relationship to tell me you need, to tell me face to my face, that you're gonna need me for the Olympics. And then like to publicly find out that, although Steve talked to me and I appreciate Coach Kerr, I didn't see Steve publicly commenting. I did see Grantson. So, and I'm sure we'll talk the next time we see each other. I got much respect for Grant and Grant is a respectful man. But there's a lesson in this all. I took advantage of my opportunities. Regardless of what people may say, regardless of how people may feel or why you got the opportunity, like, don't let your ego get in the way of incredible opportunities. You may be the second option, you may be the third option. It's all relative. At the end of the day, we all get gold medals. Nobody's looking back. Until I just walked y'all through that, nobody's looking back like, "Oh, LeBron ain't wanna play because Zika." You just like, "No, he got two gold medals." Yeah. So I said all of that to say, yes, I was a little disappointed that it's like, oh, suspension's like, no, if I'm not good enough for that roster, just say I'm not good enough. Because guess what? Joel Embiid is Joel Embiid. AD is AD. LeBron is LeBron. Steph is Steph. Kawhi is Kawhi. You look at, you think about the 2028 Olympics. This is Grant Hill's first time around. They gotta prepare something for that. You're probably looking at bringing on some of the younger guys, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards possibly, Paulo possibly, because you gotta look ahead. And I think there's a place of entitlement where I could say like, yo, those guys could wait their turn because to be still good enough to play the third time around, I think is an incredible testament to my hard work. But in saying that, I get all of those things. And I said all of that to say, like I said, don't— Draymond Green. Be so big in your own ego to where you can't take advantage of opportunities that are afforded to you due to circumstance. Because I've been placed in an incredible position in my life and I work my butt off. And so you gotta work hard to be a product of great circumstance. And I've been a product of great circumstance and I worked for that circumstance and I'm very proud of it and I'm thankful for it. But don't get so caught up into yourself that because they ain't call you the first time or the second time. You like, "No, I ain't doing it now." 'Cause we see guys do that stuff all the time too and miss out on a great opportunity. I tell you what, I'm gonna support my brothers. I hate that this is over here because I think it should be about a heart, but I'm gonna support my brothers and watching them compete for a gold medal this summer. As you can see, I am— I'm excited. I have interest in other avenues. So maybe I'll do something with the Olympics through this avenue, or speaking about the Olympics with my Olympic experience, or something of that nature. There's always a silver lining. There's always other things and actions that you can take. And be that that's a path that I want to continue to pursue anyway, as again, to our loyal subscribers, thank you. Then maybe this is just another opportunity for me to do this. But guess what? Yeah. I am never too good to be second or third. A lot of things happen between the time of putting a pool together, putting a team together to play in the Olympics from now, which is January to July. People drop out. We had Brad Bill catch COVID at the Olympics, like about to head out to Japan. Zach Levine, no, Zach ended up making it, but he had COVID and thought he was gonna miss and he ended up clearing. Yeah. Like these are things that happen and I'm not too good for that. As I said, I thank you, SAB. And if I got a call, because some guys drop off that list, that's just unforeseen for whatever reasons. And then I need to fill a spot on that team. Guess what? I'll be ready with my bags packed and go play in the third Olympics because I'm not too big. Yeah. To be second. So I hope you all can learn something from that. Just a different perspective on things. And that is how I, my true feelings on the USAB situation. Would've loved to play, still would, but there's other things. And those guys gonna have my support no matter what, because I know how it is to be on that island by yourself against the world. Mm-hmm.. And only the guys who's in it can feel that. I felt that like no other in 2021 where we was already isolated from everybody, literally. So I'll be here supporting or wherever in the world supporting my USAB brothers. And if that roster don't pan out the way everybody see it, because everybody wants to play right now, I will gladly play again. Much love.

Much love.

That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Peace.