In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green opens by praising Stephen A. Smith, describing him as a mentor in the new‑media space and inviting him to appear on each other's podcasts. The conversation then shifts to the NBA’s 65‑game availability rule, which was designed to curb load‑management but, according to Green, now penalizes players who are truly injured. Green cites Joel Embiid’s torn meniscus—an injury that could cost him a second consecutive MVP—as a prime example of the rule’s unintended consequences. He also references Tyrese Haliburton’s recent injury (the “splits” incident) and argues that both players are being unfairly punished under a policy meant for healthy players who sit out voluntarily. Green contends that the league can differentiate between genuine injuries and strategic rest, likening the NBA’s investigative capacity to the FBI, and calls for a revised set of criteria that would protect injured athletes from losing awards and contract incentives. Throughout, Green maintains a supportive tone toward Stephen A., while being critical of the rule and its impact on player legacies.
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Stephen A. Smith, who also, you know, in his clip he said, "I got a lot of love for Draymond Green." That love is mutual. I shared that with you all before. I got a lot of respect for Stephen A. A lot of people having opinions on Stephen A. That isn't my opinion. The world's opinion on Stephen A. does not apply to me. Real guy. Very helpful to young guys like myself who's kind of come into this lane of media space. He's the first one to reach out when you do something right and congratulate you. He's the first one to reach out when you do something wrong and walk you through what you did wrong, how you should have done it, and what you should do next time, how you should approach things. Very much so. Um. One of the best in the space. I think he created a space that no one else can compete in. I think he is the best at what he does. So a lot of love for Stephen A here. And by the way, Stephen A, you are always welcome on the Draymond Green Show. If you wanna come on the Draymond Green Show once a week, we'll have you here, Stephen A. And I'll come on the Stephen A Show once a week. We can bump our gums wherever you wanna bump our gums at, Stephen A. I'm cool with all of that. However, the new media is speaking now. And when you say the new media didn't tell the whole story—
We all know, and I'm unapologetic about this, I got a lot of love for Draymond Green. We gonna call out Draymond Green right here on national television. And if he wants me to, I'll come on his damn podcast and call him out in front of his own damn audience. This is not his brightest day. Because you see, when you talk about new media, the obligation is to tell the whole story. He didn't do that. He complained, but he didn't highlight, as you both articulated, the origin of all of this. We're not talking about injured players. We understand legitimately injured players are legitimately injured players. What brought all of this about— you can take me off the screen individually. I wanna look at Wendy and Perk when I'm saying this stuff. We're talking about individuals who took advantage of the privilege privileges that were, that were given to them by people who came before them.
Well, quite frankly, my friend, I didn't need to tell the side that you all say every day because that's what people is listening to every day. They listening to Stephen A yell about players, uh, not, not, not playing and this, that, and the other. But what I specifically said though, Stephen A, was players are now getting punished for being injured. Because again, now we sit here and now we know that Joel Embiid, who was the front runner of the MVP of the NBA for a second year straight, is now hurt with a torn meniscus. And yes, a torn meniscus in that very knee that was already bothering him. So by the way, Jonathan Kuminga did fall on his— did fall on his knee and they said It's his lateral meniscus. I'm no doctor, Stephen A., but I don't think he tore his lateral meniscus by Jonathan Kuminga falling on the knee. The knee was already swelling up days leading up to our game that he played in, which is a sign of something's wrong. Um, when you have a meniscus injury, your knee does swell. So I quite frankly am not of the assumption that Joel Embiid hurt his knee when Jonathan Kuminga fell on him. I don't believe that. I, as I said, I'm no doctor. I didn't see any MRI. And so I'm not saying that is the case. I just don't believe he tore his lateral meniscus by his leg getting smashed down to the— I don't believe that. Now, Rick Celebrini may say otherwise. However, that knee was already swelling up and it was already an issue in that knee. So to my point, You got a hurt player, a guy that's legitimately hurt, being affected by a rule of guys— yes, guys were sitting out, I agree. But just like the NBA can investigate anything else, they can investigate and know when someone's sitting out because they're load managing and not sitting out because they're really hurt. The NBA know everything. They can figure out everything. The NBA is like the FBI. Y'all heard Melo— y'all heard Melo's interview before. The NBA can figure things out.
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So don't tell me they— that it couldn't be— it can't be figured out when a guy is really hurt and when a guy is load managing, and that's two totally different things. Because here it is, We have a Joel Embiid being affected by actually being hurt. We talking legacy here. MVP awards, those things don't come by often. Kevin Durant, who people regard as one of the greatest players to ever play, has one. One. They— MVPs are hard to come by. He has one. Yeah. So Joel Embiid on the verge of getting his second one, and he's essentially possibly going to miss extended time because of a rule that's aimed at players resting when healthy. But he's not healthy though, Stephen A. So my argument was no, low— guys should be able to load manage. I never said that. I said there's guys that's actually hurt. Tyrese Halliburton actually was. We saw the man do the splits. We saw it on TV. The man did the splits. Like, whoa, that's bad. We saw it. So you mean to tell me he's up against the same rule as everybody else? We saw it, Stephen A. We watched him do the splits and get hurt. But he's being punished by a rule that's aimed at stopping guys from sitting when they're healthy. And you can tell me all the older guys said this and all the older guys said that. I got a lot of respect for them. But let's face it, man, those games was 70 to 67. You score 67 points in the first half and you could be losing these days. The final scores was 70 to 67. Those teams was getting up 60 shots a game. You get up 60 shots in a game, my friend, you getting ran out the gym. You get like, maybe they weren't even getting up 60 shots. Like, but the game was so much slower. There's so much, so many differences to what, how the game is actually played. Those guys weren't running like we run. They weren't walking the ball up the floor, dumping it into the post. They weren't running like we run, getting up and down. All of those things make a difference. And so you got players actually hurt and they're getting punished by a rule that was made for people sitting out when they aren't hurt. There has to be a different way to place or to create a criteria.
Yeah.
Because in, in all criteria created, there's unintentional consequences. And an unintentional consequence of this one is Joel Embiid will be screwed and not win his second MVP in a row because he actually got hurt. And Tyrese Halliburton is a few games away from not making All-NBA because he actually got hurt. And guess what? That's an unintended consequence, Stephen A. So the new media has spoken. The whole story is right there for you. And my brother, you welcome on this podcast anytime.
