Draymond Green shares how Steph Curry broke Doncic-Davis trade to Warriors | Baron Davis

Let's move around this league. Ah man, start with what everybody been talking about. And I mean everybody reacting to the Luka trade, Luka and AD trade. I saw a meme, by the way, that's, it's such a shocking trade. I saw a meme that said, everybody's so shocked that Luka got traded that we acting like Anthony Davis is Hasan Whiteside. And that couldn't be more accurate. No disrespect to Hassan because I think, you know, for Hassan to go from a second round pick to, you know, if I'm not mistaken, I think he was an All-Star. If not, he got really close.

Yep.

But I think he was a one-time All-Star. But signing a $100 million contract, second round pick, out the league, G League, whole thing, work his way back and do that. A lot of respect for Hassan and what he did in this league. So no disrespect to him, but I thought that meme was hilarious because everyone act like they didn't get Anthony Davis back. Like, you know, and everybody like, oh, they got, they should have got so many picks, bro. They got, they, yeah, they got Anthony Davis at 31.

Yeah, you got AD, he damn near in every category. He top 5 right now in every category.

And, and no disrespect to Luka, but Anthony Davis is a top 75 player in the NBA history. Luka's not that yet. Now he has the potential to be that, and he will be 100 by the time, you know, top 100 by the time the next one come out. But Anthony Davis is a perennial all-star.

He's that guy.

A top 75. And everyone acting like like he's nobody, you know. But nonetheless, I think it was very shocking. I personally was at the Warriors poker charity night when the trade went down. And I'm, Steph's two tables behind me. And Steph go, "Draymond, you see this?" I'm like, you know, I had heard of a, I had heard like the Warriors were looking at making some trades and all of that. So.

Yeah.

He goes, "You see this?" And I'm like, "See what?" He like, "The trade." I said, "They did it?" I'm thinking he talking about something that just came up with us. He like, "Luka and AD." I said, "Huh?" What? I walk around his table, he showed me the phone. I'm like, The question everyone had, is this real? I look closer like, it's from Shams. It's real.

It's real.

It come from Shams. You could bet your bottom dollar, it's real. Man, I was at a loss. I'm still at a loss for words.

I'm still like, uh, uh, uh, uh, AI generated or like for real?— it still hasn't hit. I think now it's starting to hit, you know, everybody's saying their farewells. But when you heard about the trade, like, why do you think the Mavericks would do a trade like this?

I think a couple reasons. Number one, where were you? I feel like this is one of those things that you— it's such a big deal that you'll always remember where you were when it happened. Where were you when this trade went down?

I felt like I was at, I was chilling with my girl and she showed me.

That's crazy.

And I called bullshit. And I called bullshit. I was like, man, that's some bullshit. And then I looked and I was like, oh, Shams.

Shams.

It's over for me.

It's real, it's real. So when I look at this trade, I think it happens for a couple reasons. Number one, as great as Luka Dončić is, he was not drafted by the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks, the current general manager.

That's true.

And so as great as he is, general managers have in their mind how they see fit for a team that they construct.

Yeah.

And how they want it to work.

Yeah.

How they see it working, how they see themselves getting to and winning a championship. Now, the first thing people will say is, but Luka just went to the finals last year, so they close. And I'll say, I agree, Luka did go to the finals last year. But what I'll also say is sometimes making it that far to the Western Conference Finals, sometimes that can be a little fool's gold. Look at the Atlanta Hawks. Was it 3 years ago? 3, 4 years ago going to the Eastern Conference Finals. Barely has sniffed the playoffs since. Sometimes it can be a little fool's gold when you make it that far. Now, I don't think Dallas was fool's gold. I think they made great trades mid-year last year, acquired PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford.

Yeah.

Who helped boost their lineup and put them in contention to compete for a championship. And they got there, they got close, weren't quite able to close it. So now when you look at that, as that general manager, you're going back to the drawing board and you're saying, what do we need to do in order to get over the hump? Quite honestly, I don't think anyone in the world would think the thing to do is trade Luka Dončić. Trade Luka Dončić. I don't think anyone does that. But when I saw the trade, my first thought was Dallas must know something that we don't know.

That's, man, I've been saying that.

They must know something. They must have some intel or something. You know, Luka's been dealing with a calf, right? Like, I'm like, they must have some intel or something that we don't quite know.

Yeah.

That, and that, so that's one of my first thoughts. Yeah, second thought is naturally like, superstar players don't get traded in their prime at 25.

In the middle of the season.

I'm not even sure if he's considered in his prime yet, right? Like, but at 25, and you're right, at the trade deadline, like big trades like that.

That's crazy.

Don't normally happen at the trade deadline. And so when I look at it, I'd say Nico Harrison, who's the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks, for those that don't know, has, like, when I look at the makeup of his team, he go get a Kyrie Irving that everybody's afraid of. Everybody think Kyrie's off his rocker. Everybody think he won't be able to be talked to. However, Due to being the, the guy at Nike for so many years, Nico already had a relationship with Kyrie and he thought to himself, I can deal with Kyrie, so I'm gonna go get Kyrie. And guess what?

Mm-hmm.

It's been stellar. Kyrie's been stellar. He been locked in. So operation successful. So there's that. You didn't give up a ton to get him, right? Like, so operation successful.

Super.

So now when I look at that and then I take a step back and look at this trade, my first thought is, or second thought, here's a guy who you see the Lakers say, ah, they're worried a little bit about AD's durability. They don't think he's a 1A guy.

Yeah.

X, Y, and Z. But then you got Nico Harrison who's like, yeah, y'all may not think he's a 1A guy, but what I know for sure is he's a 1A talent.

Yeah.

And so with my relationship, with J. Kidd's relationship, because he played, you know, J. Kidd was on the coaching staff when they won a championship in 2020. Duds, Jared Dully's relationship with AD, I think we can get AD to play at that 1A level consistent, consistently.

Yep.

And I think that's the bet that they're making. But more importantly, the bet that they're making is if this ship is gonna go down, if I'm gonna go down, if I'm Nico Harrison, what I see is him saying, I'm gonna go down with someone I trust, not necessarily someone that the GM before me trust. And yes, Luka's a superstar. Yes, Luka's great, but Luka was never Nico's guy.

Nico's, yeah, that's true.

And now Nico is bringing in his guy and saying, I'm gonna swing for the fences. And if I fail, I fail, but I fail doing it my way. And you gotta respect someone who's willing to take that stance.

I mean, I agree, dude. He is doing it the way he wanna do it, right? Something about the Luka thing, even though they went to the finals, I think for him, it was, there needs to be a final piece, right? I think they also experienced like, hey, you know, Dallas got, Dallas got cracking, Dallas got hot in the playoffs, Luka got hot in the playoffs, but it was really the team that played so well, right? That allowed Luka to be Luka in Luka moments.

Mm-hmm.

And then also, When Luka was dialed into, you know, the success of the team, right? Trying to play defense, trying to do the different things on the defensive end, that's when they won.

Yep.

Those are the games that they won. And you get to the finals and you look and you say, hey man, my superstar is being put on an island by this entire roster.

Mm-hmm.

We are vulnerable. If he does not defend right, if he does not take up on this leadership responsibility in the finals, we don't have a chance. And I think Niko saw that. And when you see somebody like AD, you looking at, if I had AD in that game with the squad we had, with the way we play, we got a better chance of winning that series on the defensive end with somebody like AD. And then stacking the deck, now you're the biggest team in the West.

Yep.

You got the most size, you athletic in the front court, you know, it unlocks Kyrie to go be Kyrie again, right? You got Klay over there that can be a great compliment to Kyrie. So I think the 80, the 80 for Dallas is their upgrade now.

Yes.

We need to go now. Everything, we putting all our chips on the table. We need to go now. This 25-year-old kid, right? We don't know if this is, if we built this team for him. This team is not necessarily constructed and built for Luka, right? And for the future of Luka. So you would've had to continue to make iterations and keep moving pieces to figure out, okay, is this the right fit?

Mm-hmm.

'Cause you got, not that you got lucky last year, you earned and deserved everything, but there was some teams that were tired, teams that were hurt, right? And This year is way different. You see the fatigue, right? You see the coming back from the Olympics. You gotta know something. Like it's too much wear and tear. Where is he gonna be at 30 versus AD at 35? Like who's gonna have, you know, over the next 3 or 4 years, who's gonna have that window of longevity? And we gonna see where these dudes kind of measure out.

Yep, that's a fact. And I think when you even look at Nico's press conference and stuff, The one thing I respect the most is he's standing on it. He gave his reason why.

No, he's standing on it.

And he said, listen, what I thought was a very, very bold statement. And like I said, I respect it. He said, listen, we will see if I was right or wrong. Pretty much saying, I know that this move is either gonna get me, make me a long tenure GM. Or it's gonna get me fired and we'll see if I'm right or wrong. And I respect that. I will say, listen, anybody that make a move like that and they stand on it. Yeah, woo!

Hey dude, Jason Kidd was not, he was in the meeting like, uh-uh, I ain't going. [LAUGHTER] Hey dude, Jason Kidd, I had never seen Jason Kidd like that.

J-Kidd looked like he had just saw a ghost. He looked like he saw a ghost.

He was like, man, I gotta be here, I gotta be here, I ain't got nothing to say. He was in shock. That is the face of a coach in shock. What do you think somebody, what do you think is going on in J-Kidd mind just based off that press conference? You know, what is he thinking? What is he contemplating?

What he's thinking is he has to change his entire offense. That a guy you could just get a ball to and let him go figure it out is gone.

Yeah, yeah.

I think he's trying to sit there, he's sitting there trying to process what it is like that's in front of him, what it is that just happened. Like, I think J-Kidd, I think J-Kidd was all over the place. Sitting there because again, also like Nico said it, like J-Kidd didn't know, right? So like even being in the dark, like you start thinking of, I think J-Kidd sitting there thinking about all of that. It was like, you just see the look on his face was crazy.

Why didn't you tell me? Just tell me, homie. Don't let me sit like this.

Hey, I respect it though because, They are right. Like, you see Shams get stories and like all— a lot of people that be leaking stuff these days, like, it's not like you just got 4 coaches anymore. Like, I think our coaching staff may be 20 guys.

That's crazy.

And so all of a sudden you tell your coach and he tell his guy on the coaching staff, and he go tell his young guy on the coaching staff.

Yeah.

Right? And all of a sudden they get back to Shams, And then it don't go through. Now if you're Dallas and you're secretly trying to trade Luka and it don't go through.

Ah, that's, ooh.

Now you got a real issue, you know? And so I think I understood it, right? Like everybody's like, "Oh man, like how could you not say this to J-Kidd? How could you not?" But like in a situation like that where—

You can't tell nobody.

You can't tell anybody. And we live in this world where, people tell everything. People show you their location exactly where they at, when they there.

Yeah, yeah.

Right? We live in this world where everything is leaked to the media. So the one time that something don't get leaked, people trying to say, "That's crazy." No, that's how actually things probably should be. Like, you know, like if you're doing something to better your team and you're trying to make it straight, it's probably best that you don't say that to anyone. And so, I think in looking at that, I think I would hope that one of the main takeaways for people is keep your mouth shut. Like that deal got— Luka Dončić got traded and it was quiet, which means everybody else can shut the hell up. Like stop sharing every little secret you have to like try to get a leg up or gain a friend. Like I don't understand it. So I respect the way they did it. Did they get the most value that they could get for Luka? People like, oh, they could have got 3 picks or they could have got 4. They got Anthony Davis.

Bingo.

And a first round pick.

Bingo.

That, you know, we'll see how it goes nonetheless. Like if they wanted to flip Anthony Davis right now, they could flip Anthony Davis for 4 first round picks.

Yeah, for sure.

Right? So it's not like they can't get the first round picks if they wanted the picks, but they trying to win now. And they got a guy who helps them win now. Not to mention they just put him next to a center, which he loves. He loves playing next to a center. And they just put him next to a big-ass center in Daniel Gafford and a big-ass center in Draymond Green, right? So that kills those problems for AD.

Yep.

Listen, man, I think in a situation like that where you traded Luka, I'm not sure there's many guys that they could have got back that you go from wherever they were in the West to like people saying, oh, that's the best team in the West. Like they traded Luka Dončić and people are saying it's the best team in the West now.

People are saying it's the best team.

But then on the flip side, like you got people like, oh, that's still a dumbest trade. Well, how are they the best team in the West, but it's the dumbest trade ever? Like, I don't quite understand that. Nonetheless, I feel for Luka because you've poured into that community. You have taken that city on, made it home, and like outta nowhere blindly get traded. I do feel bad for him 'cause that's the shitty side of the NBA. Like if Luka came out and was like, yo, I wanna be traded, there'd be this huge uproar of like, oh my God.

Oh yeah, they would.

You know what I'm saying? Another star player wanna leave the team and like we need to stop this.

But this man gets traded in the dark in the middle of the season.

Of the night. He literally got traded after midnight.

That's crazy.

Eastern time, after midnight, right in the middle of the night, Luka Dončić got traded.

Luka Dončić got traded.

It's crazy. Like I saw, I feel for Luka, you know, I think Luka, if I'm not mistaken, I think he just had a kid, you know?

Oh wow.

So like—

Just bought a house too.

I heard he just bought a new crib. Like, and that makes sense because his home had just got broken into. So I'm sure he was probably moving somewhere with more security or whatever. But man, I do feel bad for him, you know? And Luka is not a guy that's gonna come out and say something. He not. I saw his dad said something, but Luka not a guy that's gonna come out and say something. So I do feel a little bad. I feel bad for Luka for sure.

Okay, I don't feel bad for Luka. Why? He going to the Lakers, baby.

Ooh, that's—

Ooh. You coming to the land.

That it.

Come on, you an international superstar, a megastar. Now it's rock and roll time. A lot of them games that we was hearing about or didn't see, oh, we get to see that. And you know how Laker fans are, they gonna take it up times 10. Now with Luka, you got, you have time.

Yes.

The Lakers have bought themselves a great opportunity to build now, to compete now, and start to mobilize how they wanna be in the future.

Yeah.

No, that's a fact. Around a superstar.

At 25.

So I think at 25 years old, okay, who do you think won the trade?

In the interim, in the interim, in the interim right now today, Anthony Davis. Dallas because, and the reason I say that, that's a made team. You got Luka if you're the Lakers now, but now you don't have a big, you know, you don't have a starting caliber center. And so I think for them now they have to figure out how to make, how to build the team, right? Like you got Bron.

Yeah.

You got Luka, you got Austin Reeves, you know, but now you gotta like figure out how to build the team up. So now they'll need to at some point get a big, right? And so I think as of right now, current, Currently, as it stands today, you lace 'em up, you go out there and play tomorrow. It's Dallas. But I don't think this was a move that the Lakers was making to say we're, we're betting right now for today. I think what the Lakers thought was—

No.

This team ain't great. We not winning the championship. We got a chance to get Luka Dončić. This gives us a chance to possibly sign a couple guys and compete right now with Luka and LeBron.

Yeah.

But also gives us a chance to compete to where with Luka now, that 2027 draft pick ain't gonna be as high as people thought it was. 2029 probably won't be high as people thought it was.

No.

Even with adding Luka to this roster. So I think, you know, currently as it stands, the Mavs, but this is a, this is a right now and long-term play for the Lakers. And so I think as they build the team out, then that could change. But they're gonna need to build a team out now. And also before we say something else, shout out to my young fella, Max Christie.

That's right.

You know, has earned himself into the starting lineup. I think now for Max, Max is going to a team that's more loaded in that position now, you know? So he gotta go figure his way out. Nonetheless, he a Spartan dog. He gonna do things out there that, a lot of those other guys ain't gonna do because they ain't been coached by Tom Izzo. So I believe he'll figure it out either way.

Yeah, I believe that was kind of like the caveat in the deal. Watching Max Christie, his evolution, you know, JJ playing him, I saw why they drafted him, I saw his potential. And now moving that piece over to Dallas, complimenting a Klay Thompson, right? Being over there complimenting Klay Thompson, 'cause Max gonna play some defense. Max can score, he can cut, he cut to the basket, he athletic, right? So Dallas is now getting not only AD, but they getting a young dog.

Yes.

Right? They got another young dog that can fit into that, that ecosystem and what they building.

100%. And here's the thing, like when you look at the NBA and a lot of things I think fans don't understand is like contracts. Your contract matters.

Yeah, it does.

And so for instance, Max just signed a 4-year, $32 million deal. He's gonna get an opportunity and he'll probably get the opportunity over Quentin Grimes because he has a meaningful contract. And that's where I don't think, like I said, I don't think people understand how much that matters. When you like, oh, that guy should have signed for less. Like, yeah, you signed for less, you're also setting yourself up to get screwed because you signed for less.

Yeah.

Your value is no longer as high as it was. You know, if you, so if you're not in a certain position and you signed for less, you can screw yourself. And so here's where I think like Max signing that deal actually gives him more security than just financial security. It gives him more security to get an opportunity or 2 or 3.

Yeah.

Because he got the contract. And so I think—

Totally.

And I think with an opportunity, he figures it out. Spartan dog, that's what we do.

I agree. I also wanted to dial in the Utah Jazz, right? They didn't even know that Luka was being traded. Can you explain how is that possible for them to be involved in the trade and then not know somebody being traded?