In a candid, conversational interview, Draymond Green recounts the unlikely chain of events that led to the Golden State Warriors acquiring Chris Paul. The story begins with a wine‑dinner in Paris where Green’s friend Virgil asks him to name his least‑favorite NBA player; Green bluntly says Chris Paul could never be a teammate. Two days later, while flying back from Paris, Green receives an urgent call from Warriors GM Mike Dunleavy about a possible trade for Paul. Green reflects on his initial skepticism, his personal growth, and the timing that made him ready to embrace the partnership. He describes a subsequent lunch with Paul, the mutual connections (including Paul’s wife Jada and shared acquaintances), and the importance of mature, adult communication in building a functional locker‑room dynamic. Throughout, Green emphasizes that the trade succeeded because both players were at the right stage of their careers to handle the relationship, and he expresses confidence that their combined competitiveness will “fuck some people up.” The segment also includes a brief commercial read by Colin Cowherd for DraftKings, which is peripheral to the main narrative.
Chapters
It's funny, see, I have a friend in London. We were, I mean, he lives in London. We were in Paris this summer and we had a great wine dinner and I was sitting next to him. His name's Virgil. And Virgil asked me, see, I kid you not, this is, God works in mysterious ways. Virgil asked me, sitting at the wine dinner, who's your least favorite player in the NBA? Who could you not see yourself playing, I said, "There's zero fucking chance I'm ever playing with Chris Paul." That's great. It's not happening. I don't, it cannot happen, Virgil. He's like, "I knew you'd say that." He's a fan of the NBA. He's like, "I knew you'd say that." Literally, see, from that dinner, 2 days later, I'm flying back from Paris. I get a call from Mike Dunleavy and I'm taking off. And I'm like, "Mike, I'm, uh," I'm gonna hit you when I land. I'm fine. He like, "All right, hit me when you land." I'm like, "But I'm flying back from Paris.
It's 10 hours." It's gonna be a long flight.
He's like, "All right, well, it's a little urgent. Kinda need to know." He's like, "We got actually got a chance to bring in Chris Paul." And I was like, "Listen, Chris Paul is a competitor. Chris Paul is an adult. Chris Paul wanna win. Chris Paul played basketball the right way." I said, "We can figure it out." I said, "We can figure it out. All the other stuff, we ain't been the best of friends, man." Right. I said, "But we can figure it out." And for me, man, it's like you go through these seasons in your life, as you know, and it's like God placed you here at the right time. Yeah. Because I'm not sure if in year 9, in year 8, if I was even mature enough to handle it, right? Nah. Like if I was mature enough to even, had a conversation with you. Like, when you text me, I hit you back and we was supposed to talk and you call and I'm like, I couldn't even talk to you, right? Like, I was like, damn, CP gonna be our teammate. And like, they making this move, cool. But then I'm like, fuck. Like, what do I say? I don't know what to say. I don't know what to think. Like, what do I do? And then we went to lunch and I said to you, I said, man, I appreciate you letting me go through my process because I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to make of it. I did know like, yo, if he my teammate, we gonna make it work. And we gonna fuck some people up, Mike, I tell you that. But like there was a process that I had to go through. And you look at like going through these seasons of life and what you can handle. It's like, I don't know if you'll ever even meet Virgil, maybe you will. But for me to be sitting there randomly having a conversation with Virgil at a wine dinner and the next day, You my teammate?
That is crazy, man. And even think about that lunch that we had. And you know my wife Jada, and it's funny, man. Like, I remember, 'cause we went to the Bel Air Hotel, and she was almost giving me a pep talk before I left the house. She was like, "All right now, be cool. You good, you good, you good." She was doing all that. And it's so crazy, man, to know so many mutual people. You know what I mean? I think about Sheila and all these people who like, man, y'all need to talk. Y'all need to talk. And we went to lunch there. We ended up being there for hours. You know what I mean? Hours, man. And I tell you, and—
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That's where like just maturity, adults or whatnot, being able to sit and talk and to actually listen to each other. You know what I mean? And know that you both in a place where you like, dang, you know, even though we ain't got along for a long time, like at this point in my career, I need him. You know what I mean? Not just basketball-wise, it's been really cool. Like just, the locker room, you know, and like we talk about year 12, 13, nah, this ain't it.
Yeah.
This ain't gonna work, but everything happens for a reason.
