Giannis Trade? CP3 Sent Home + Can the OKC Thunder Break the Warriors Record?

The NBA on Prime is back this Friday with a spectacular doubleheader. It's Lakers-Celtics followed by Mavs-Thunder. Not a Prime member? Sign up for a 30-day free trial. Coverage starts Friday at 6:30 PM Eastern only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See amazon.com/amazonprime for details. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We are here in Philly. We got to Philly today. Big game for us tomorrow. You know, we want to get off to a good start on this road trip. I think we ended last game pretty good. So, you know, uh, I wouldn't say ended it pretty good. We, we had a good run there in the second half, but we'll get into that anyway. On today's show, I'll get into the Thunder's chances of breaking our regular season win record, uh, the latest news on Giannis, CP3, and then we'll wrap things up with another edition of Golden Days. So let's go, let's get right into it. The Thunder are currently 21-1. And, you know, obviously with that type of record, all the talk start now about breaking our 73-win record. And I mentioned last night, you know, I was asked the question like, what do I think about them breaking the record? And I made a comment. I said, well, they can go for it. 73 wins took a couple years off my life. And what I was really referring to, as I was half joking, At least I hope I was half joking. What I was referring to is just the level of focus that it requires to get there. The level, the health that it requires to get there. And although last night I said they seem to not be bothered by health, what I was referring to when I said that was, Lew Dortman's games, they don't miss a beat. Caruso miss games, they don't miss a beat. J Dub miss games, they don't miss a beat. Hardenstein miss games, they don't miss a beat. Like they're literally just plug and play. One guy goes out, obviously that could be different with Shay. But again, I think that's one of the most impressive things about their team is like no matter who's outta the lineup, they're still a great team. They're still, no matter who's outta the lineup, with the exception of Shay, we haven't really seen that. They're arguably still the best team in the NBA. And it's very interesting to watch it and see it through that lens. But also, you know, when we were going through for 73 wins, I got cracked. We were playing against Utah at Utah and Joe Ingles and I, this maybe had to be like with 6 games left, could even been 4 games left. Joe Ingles and I, I feel like I was going for a loose ball and like Joe Ingles cracked me. I was 1000% concussed. And at that time I was living in the hills. I was living in Berkeley Hills at that time. And so it was really windy to get up like to the house. Like the streets were really windy and wind here and wind there, wind. And I was so lightheaded going up for a few days. But I wouldn't tell anybody. And the reason I wouldn't tell anybody, because in my mind I was like, if I tell somebody I'm concussed, I'm gonna miss at least a week. And that may interfere with us getting 73 wins. And I more than anyone wanted the 73 wins. So I didn't tell a soul. And I had the symptoms for a few days. I still never told anybody. So y'all are kind of, I may have said it once loosely, but I've never gone this into detail about it. So y'all kind of the first to know. I hope our training staff don't get in trouble because I never told them either. But yeah, you know, so just you're playing through things like when you're pushing towards that goal, it just requires so much. And so that's what I was hitting at when I said, took a few years off my life. It was like, no matter what went on, you're just pushing through. And also another thing that I noticed when we were going for 73 wins is it, it wasn't always about the process. And what I mean by that is as you're trying to win a championship, sounds cliché, but every day is a part of that process on the way to that championship. You're building every single day to get to that championship. Mm-hmm. And as you're building to get to that championship, what started to happen was we started just winning games. So because we were so good, because we knew no one could beat us, it wasn't necessarily about getting better anymore. A lot of games, it was just like, let's just make sure we win this game. You know, whatever we needed to do towards the end, we're gonna go just figure out how to win this game. And in turn, I think, you know, you're missing out on some of the process as well of getting better. And so do I think they can do it? They're a great team, man. I think of course they can do it. Obviously, like I said, you need a lot of things to go right. I will say, I think Cleveland was on a similar path last year. And once you lose a couple games, it also gets tougher, you know? And so, you know, you lose 2 in a row or something like that, which they haven't done. They only got 1 loss on the season. But, you know, things start to get tougher as the season goes. Right now it's still pretty fresh. As the season goes, it starts to get tougher. Um, but like I said, in my overall opinion, I think they are capable of doing it. Do they actually do it? I'm gonna say no. And again, not because they can't do it. I just think as you start to get in the season, the nicks and nacks add up. You start to weigh what's worth more. And I think where OKC is right now, currently, what's worth more to them would be trying to compete for a championship. Just my opinion. Nonetheless, they are capable. We'll see what happens. In saying that, in playing against them last night, I thought, obviously with Steph being out, with Jimmy going out at halftime, team could have laid down. We didn't lay down, and in turn, It's not that we found a moral victory because I don't do moral victories. I'm not a moral victory guy. But in turn, I think we found something. You know, I think we found things that we need to do in order to be successful. I think we scored 44 points in the third quarter. That's against the number one defense in the country. I mean, in the NBA. You know, and so I think we were able to find some things that we can build up on, some things that, like, all right, you see you're doing this. We were doing these things in the offense and that works. Do more of that, right? Like, so I think, you know, there's— if there's a silver lining, like I said, there's never a moral victory. But if there is a silver lining, I think we found some things. And especially if Jimmy's out tomorrow, that's going to be pretty much the same guys that were playing in the second half of yesterday will be in the game tomorrow. And so knowing that you found those things and can build up on them, I think it's big for us right now. It was great getting Sdot out there. You know, with S Dot, Seth Curry. Incredible debut. His shot making ability was huge. I think the thing that a lot of people tend to forget about S Dot is he can also put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. He's such a great shooter that he almost just gets like the, you're a shooter, almost like Kyle Korver treatment where you look at him as just a shooter. But S Dot can handle the shit out the ball. Yeah. You know, we saw some of that last night where he got in his back a couple times, step back, and we'll need that. You know, just having another guy that can handle the ball, I think, adds, adds a different dimension to this team. Um, and obviously rotations and all of that stuff will have to be figured out. De'Anthony Melton coming back tomorrow versus Philly, I think that's, you know, that's really good for us. I spoke last night about, you know, everybody trying to put this pressure on Melton, and I think Last year, Dennis Schroder came to our team, and when he came to our team, everybody was looking at Dennis like he was gonna be the savior. And not that he couldn't be, 'cause I know what Dennis is capable of. Dennis is a great basketball player. You know, you look at his success in the NBA, his success on an international level, anywhere Dennis goes, he makes that team better. And so, I'm not saying Dennis, anything about Dennis personally, but I think it was, except I think it was unfair, the expectation that was placed upon him. So then he never got to truly be Dennis because everyone, fan base, front office, players, coaches, everyone was looking for something to grab onto. And he was traded in order to make that happen, except You know, it was almost like we was asking him to come out and be Steph Curry. And not the way Steph do it, but you get my point. And so I don't want that to be DeAnthony Melton situation. This guy's coming off an ACL injury, which means he's gonna be on a minute restriction. It's gonna take him some time to get his confidence and get the flow and condition and all those things. And I hear a lot of people like reinforcement is coming. Like, let's not do that. Let's let him go through his process. We, the players that are healthy and have been healthy, need to play better and figure out how to win games and allow his process to be what his process has been instead of trying to throw all the pressure at him and act like, ah man, he gotta, you know, he gotta come save the day. Like, nah, it's a lot of us out there playing that need to do that, but it's not him that need to do that. And I don't want it to be unfair to him. So I just wanted to put that out there, but we're excited to get Mel back. I think he's also going to be a great addition, uh, to this team. And lastly, in the Dub Nation, before we move on to Around the Association, uh, I was incredibly honored last night to find out that I am the second player in Warriors history, along with Steph Curry, to reach 900 career regular season games. Um, as a second-round pick, a guy who was never expected to make it in this league, There's guys who were drafted above me that played far less games. And that goes down the list, you know, of many, many years that played far less games. And to be the 35th pick in the NBA draft, find my way, create my way, and become who I've become and reached the milestone of 900 regular season games played. Number one, I wanna thank God because it takes an incredible bill of health in order to do that. And so I'm thankful. My teammates, my coaching staff, our front office group, you know, I speak Bob Myers in particular, you know, taking a chance on me that he did, sticking with me through my tough times. Joe Lacob, Peter Guber, Nicole Lacob, you know, all of the ownership group sticking with me through times where, A lot of people would probably be like, "Nah, that's not our guy no more. We're moving on." You know, and this organization has stuck with me through thick and thin, whether that's playing, whether that's few issues here and there on the court. I'm not an off the court, big off the court issue guy. That's not really how I roll, not how I live my life, but stuck with me through a lot and allowed me to reach this milestone. I'm forever grateful, forever thankful. I'm Dub Nation for life. Dub Nation for life. I think you all know that, but it's an honor, you know, to play the second most games in the franchise history. I'm a bit baffled that that thing happened to me. So I'm forever grateful, forever thankful. The league's been great to me. The basketball, that round ball has been absolutely incredible to me in my life. And I'll forever be thankful for that. Draymond Green. After the break, I'll go around the association and discuss both of the big news announcements about Giannis and CP3. Couple big news about Giannis, yet also CP3. Highlight some breakout performances, and I'll give my thoughts on Boogie's praise of Dylan Brooks, and also something else Boogie said. That'll come up next. Hey, Draymond here. The NBA on Prime is back this Friday with another great doubleheader. The action starts with one of the best rivals in sports as Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers face Draymond Green and the Boston Celtics. Then Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks meet SGA and the Oklahoma City Thunder. And if you're not a Prime member, that's not a problem. Sign up for a 30-day free trial to get started today. The Mavericks and Thunder, man, those matchups are crazy. You're getting offense, defense, stars everywhere. This is must-watch basketball. Mm-hmm. Coverage starts Friday at 6:30 PM Eastern, only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See amazon.com/amazonprime for details. As promised, moving around the association. First, we will start with the Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Unsure about his future with the Bucks. However, before we get into his future with the Bucks, wanna get into his future as a player. Giannis tonight, tweaked what they're calling right now a calf strain. However, as an athlete, As someone who's seen some of these things, I played with Kalen Lucas, who was Big Ten Player of the Year. One of the best guards to come through the Big Ten in the last 25, 30 years. One of the greatest guards that Michigan State University has ever seen. And Kalen's junior year, we were playing in the NCAA tournament, I think versus New Mexico State. And Kalen laid the ball up going across the lane, turned to take off and run. Went to run and went down. And when he went down, he was just going to push off and boom. And so I didn't like the way Giannis jumped, and that scares me. Uh, needless to say, they are saying Giannis have a calf strain. Quite crazy that this happens the day that all these reports come out about his future with the Bucks and having conversations about trades and all these different things. As Brian Wynhorst reported, that he requested a trade from the Bucks in the offseason. And I know all of his, you know, all of the noise outside has been like he's talked to him and, you know, he wants to try to figure it out. But that's what's been reported. And, you know, quite honestly, when I look at the situation, um, when I look at the situation, there's obviously some brewing. We all know that Giannis wants to compete at the highest level. Does the Bucks right now give him a chance to compete at the highest level? They are currently 9-13. They are 1-5 without him, meaning they're 8-8 with him. 500-level team with him, which is quite honestly where we are right now, a 500-level team. Does that mean you're a 500-level team for the rest of the year? No, but that does mean you have to change some things up if you're going to be a 500-level team. With the Bucks roster and everything that happened with Damian Lillard and how that handcuffs them over the next year or two, I think that makes things a bit more challenging. You know, but you don't quite have the flexibility to just go out and get free agents. They did some funky stuff with Myles Turner this summer. Cut Dame, sign Miles Turner, and did some— when I say funky stuff, I mean some loopholes within the CBA. But they don't really have many resources to go out and actually improve the team. And so where does that leave Giannis, who we all know wants to compete for a championship? I think that leaves us right where we are. Um, until there's something that happens one way or the other, I think we'll continue to hear these reports as the years go on. I mean, as the year go on. Um, or years for that matter, whatever the case may be. I think we'll continue to hear those things. Giannis yesterday, a lot of people made a lot of noise about him deleting all Milwaukee Bucks, um, references off of his Instagram account. And what I will say about that is, if you're Giannis and you're trying to press the team to do something, those are the types of things that you would do. In order to make the team realize, I'm not happy, I'm off y'all, it's going public now, y'all better figure it out. You know, so you can apply pressure like that. And that could very much so be Giannis applying pressure. What I will say is it's not the easiest to trade someone that makes $50 million because in most cases you usually have to deplete your whole team just to even make the salaries work unless you're doing someone a very high salary. As well. But it's not as easy to trade that. So it almost limits the amount of teams unless you get a third or fourth team. It limits the amount of teams that Giannis can go to. Now you ask yourself the question, with all he's done in Milwaukee, they'll want to treat him right. They'll want to help him get to where he wanna go. At least I believe. I think John Horst may look at it different, But I think a guy who brought a championship to Milwaukee, who's been Mr. Milwaukee, stayed true to that city, true to that organization, I think they're gonna want to help him try to get to somewhere where he can contend. Usually when you're making a trade like that to try to help a guy get somewhere, contend, it'll probably be in the Western Conference because you don't want to face that guy 3, 4 times a year. They know what Giannis is capable of. So where does that leave Giannis? Giannis. I don't know. I think he'll have a list of clubs that he'd be comfortable going to that he'll share with the team. And I think they'll try to make it happen. I'm not one to really speculate, you know, what happens. I know the circumstances and what could possibly happen, but we'll see. But I think that's something that's brewing. I think it's something to continue to watch. But most importantly, I'm wishing Giannis a good health. Speedy recovery from his calf injury and fingers crossed, hope that it's nothing too serious. In other news of shit in the NBA, Chris Paul, CP3, the point god, was released at 3:00 AM by the Clippers. Shams has reported that CP and T-Lou wasn't on speaking terms. Um, there was a report that, you know, CP had been vocal on holding management, coaches, and players accountable, which the team felt was disrespectful. I'm not in their locker room, so it's hard to say what's what. I have not spoke to C, um, have not spoke to anyone that's in their locker room around the situation. So it's hard to say what's what, especially when a team's losing like they're losing with the salary that they have and expected to be what they're expected to be. There will always be finger-pointing. That's just the way shit goes. Most people don't want to say me. Most people don't want to point the fingers this way. They want to point them that way. That's just the way these things go. But what I will say is holding management, coaches, and players accountable seems like something that needs to be done in order to win at a high level. It's just my opinion. I think there's ways of going about that, that we all try to understand the proper way of going about that. But I think those are things that must be done in an organization to be competitive and compete at the highest level. CP has always been that guy to hold everyone accountable, and it's been great. I saw something that DeMarcus Cousins said earlier today, and I tip my hat to Boogie. Boogie said, "CP3 deserves to have his flowers. CP3 is a legend. CP3 is one of the top 5 best point guards we've seen in this league." If I'm not mistaken, he said top 5. Boogie also said, "I still hate the shit outta him." And I called Boogie and I said, man, I just listened to what you said about CP. And I wanna say much respect, much love and appreciation for what you said. And the reason I appreciate that is because in the media today, in sports media, personal vendettas usually take the— they usually take the cake. Personal vendettas usually take precedent level of importance over anything else. Someone can play great, but someone has a personal vendetta that has a microphone, they're gonna downplay it. That is sports media today. And in the world of sports media today, where Boogie says, "Oh, make no mistake about it, I hate this guy, but the facts are the facts." I respect the fuck outta that. Because the facts are the facts. CP is as great as we all know he is. And Boogie also said, and when you're great, and CP has been this guy his whole career, when you're great, it's fine. And they accept the vocal leader and the holding people accountable. They accept that. But when you're on the end, all of a sudden, your experiences don't matter anymore. Your everything you've gone through, your knowledge doesn't matter anymore when you're at the end. It's like, oh, we can get rid of this guy now. We don't have to listen no more. But then you should ask yourself, is that one of the reasons why when stars leave franchises that they usually start back from the ground up? Because everyone who's been listening to some of what those stars say feel like it's my opportunity to show my bravado. It's my opportunity to be in charge. It's my opportunity to show everybody what I'm about. And you ask yourself the questions like, does that really get in the way of your organization succeeding? Because the knowledge that one had once they got later in their stuff, we wanted to throw that out. And we were never gonna let anyone else pick back up there because it's my chance to poke my chest out. You see a lot of that. And so I feel bad for CP, who has been overly vocal about how thankful he was to be back with the Clippers, how it don't matter if he played a minute. How grateful he was to be back with his kids after not living in the same city as them during the season for 8 years and his wife and how this was his last season and he was cherishing it and taking it all in and being in the city that, with an organization that he really made relevant, how grateful he was. And then to see this happen at 3 o'clock in the morning on a shit team. Yeah. A team that's playing awful. It's unfortunate. You don't want to see— if that can be done to Chris Paul, imagine what can be done to the rest of us. And so I think if you're an NBA player, this should bother you. If you are an NBA player, that should bother you. Yeah. Because that shows you what can happen to you. And if that can happen to Chris Paul, imagine how bad it can get for the rest of us that aren't to the level of Chris Paul. So I feel for C. I hope if he want to sign somewhere else, he get the opportunity, 'cause he should get the opportunity to walk outta here the way he walked in, on his own two feet. Yeah. Stood on his own 10 the whole time. And he should be able to stand on his own 10 on the way outta here. I think that's well deserved and well earned. So I hope if he has the desire to go somewhere else and finish out this year, I hope he get the opportunity because it's well deserved. As promised, we are going to talk about some breakout performances and one in particular. Ant-Man has been hooping. Last 6 games, 44, 5 rebounds, 6 assists. 32, 6 assists. 39 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists. 31 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists. 43 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists. 41 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists. Excuse me, 4 assists. Ant has been putting it together. And I think, you know, really needing him to put it together because they've been trying to figure out what they're doing with their guard position and different things. And obviously was struggling a bit. And Ant has said, buckle up, let's go. Come on, let's roll now. And I respect what he's doing, playing great. I think, you know, with what's going on in the guard position, I still think the next iteration of Ant-Man's game— to take that next step that I know he wants to take is gonna be the playmaking. You know, 6 assists, 5 assists, 5 assists, 4 assists, 4 assists. You know, I would love to see some 8, 9, 10 assist games. Nonetheless, that's just nitpicking because of his greatness. So we'll always find something to nitpick because of his greatness. Make no mistake about it. He is great as he's been looking. I'm just nitpicking on what that next thing can be. And I think, you know, you wanna see the assist start to climb if you are evaluating Ant-Man. Nonetheless, the performances that he's having, man, incredible to watch. And I think he continue to have them performances, they continue to win more games. He can put himself in that MVP conversation that no one ever puts him in. I think, you know, with the type of numbers that he's been putting up lately, he continue going on that path, you're gonna have to put him in the conversation as long as their team are winning games. So great to see Ant-Man balling like that healthy. I know he missed a little bit of time, but it's great to see him back out there healthy and doing what he do. Gallinari, Danilo Gallinari officially retired after 20 seasons, I think 16 NBA seasons. Man, Gallo was one of those guys, like when I first got in the league, he was one of those guys that he be getting off and I get thrown in the game to try to go stop him. Stop him. And man, Gallo was a tough cover. He had one of the greatest shot fakes. And if you ain't going, his shot fake looked just like his shot. So if you don't go for the shot, he literally can shoot it right there and he shoot the lights out the ball. But it was always an honor to play with Gallo. Super chill, super cool dude. Like I said, great competitor, great basketball player, skilled as they come. Always made teams better and was always a matchup nightmare. I hated Garland Gallo. Yeah. Gallow, you know, he was on those teams. He was on those Denver teams when we first played them in the playoffs. I think my first year in the league, you know, and Gallow was a hell of a player. Then he went to the Clippers, you know? And so a lot of battles with Gallow. Congratulations, my friend, on a well-deserved retirement, well-earned retirement, an incredible career. "You made Italy proud and it was great to share the court with you. I wish you well in everything you do next, Gallo. Much love, my friend." Last but not least around the association, two times in one show, DeMarcus Cousins, Big Boogie Cousins, praised Dylan Brooks and said every team should have a guy like him. And said, "Dylan Brooks is in the conversations of myself, Marcus Smart," Dennis Rodman. My thoughts on that list are, listen, I think Dylan Brooks, I spoke to some people from the Suns earlier this summer and I was like, listen, y'all get Dylan Brooks. Y'all like, Dylan Brooks is going to raise the level of play on a team from on a nightly basis. That is who he is. That's what he does. I got a lot of respect for that. The way he's playing right now for Phoenix has been incredible. He's scoring the ball. He's shoot— And every which way, mid-range, 3 off the dribble, sidestep, getting to the cup. He's doing it all. And obviously still playing with that same chip and tenacity that he's always played with. So you gotta tip your hat to him. I saw something today that said he could possibly be an All-Star. Anybody who can grind and become an All-Star in year 8 or whatever year he's in, à la Kyle Lowry, I got a lot of respect for that because that mean you putting the work in. That mean you're actually doing the work to get better. And I can always respect— Yeah. Guys putting the work in, um, getting better at their craft and then going out there and showing the work that they're putting in. And Dylan Brooks has been doing that. Um, as far as him being on that list, I think the thing that stands out to me on that list is all defensive teams. And I'm not sure how many all defensive teams that Dylan Brooks has. Yeah. So Dylan Brooks has made the All-Defensive Team one time in 2023. And, and he, yes, he made the All-Defense Second Team one time in 2023. And so I guess you can put him in that category. I think you need to get a little, a few more All-Defense teams under his belt, um, which I think he's capable of. But that can also be a respect thing too, right? Like if people aren't necessarily looking for you in that position, then you just don't get the votes. So it doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't always an all-NBA-level defender because he guards some of the best ball handlers every night, you know, over the course of his career. But he only got one all-defense team. So you would love to see that list continue to grow. Uh, but nonetheless, I do think he is your hard-playing guy. I think he is your— the heart of your team. I think he is the guy that's going to mix it up. And so I'm not mad at Boogie putting Dylan Brooks in that category with what he's continued to prove. I wasn't sold earlier in his career, I'll be honest. But you continue to work, I'm gonna always be honest and keep it real. And he's continued to put the work in and I respect the work that he's put in. So I'm not mad at us putting him in that list. And you know, he continued to play the way he's playing. I think he'll be a little more than all defense. I think he has a legit opportunity with the way the Suns is playing and where their record is. The way he's been playing, I think he has a legit opportunity to be an All-Star if he keep this up. That's it for Around the Association. Next up, we will move into Golden Days. As you know, if you've been tuned into the show, if not, what Golden Days is, is it is our segment where you can write in your favorite Warriors moment to draymondgreen@audacy.com. We will check those out and your moment, your memory may be featured on the show, which takes me back down memory lane, which takes us all back down memory lane. Today's question is from Michael Eby. What's up, Draymond? I was at the 73rd win in 2016 and wanted to get your thoughts on what the feeling was going into that game, seeing Steph start off hot, going for the 400 threes mark, and then at what point it sunk in that you guys were going to set the record for most wins in the season. So what I will say, Michael, is going into that game, we knew we could beat the Grizzlies. Uh, you know, that's a team that we had battles with, but we were very confident we could beat them. We also knew that Steph was going for the 403 mark for the first time in NBA history. And when Steph has an opportunity to do that, watch out, Steph is going to do that. And he came out hot knocking threes down. Everybody else fell in line. That was an incredible moment. But then you go on to win 73 games. And I remember running after the ball to grab the ball for the memorabilia after the game. And I still got a score sheet at home from that game. Yeah. I mean, just what an incredible moment. And obviously, you know, hindsight's 20/20. I didn't know that 73 wins would lead into not winning a championship. I thought it'd be back-to-back championships. But nonetheless, during that moment, the 73rd win at Oracle Arena, I mean, just what a time it was. And like I said, for those two things to meet, where 73 wins and then also Steph, Draymond Green hitting 400 threes. That was just a night to remember. That was one we thoroughly enjoyed. And I think for us, you know, you go through the, like, that's an entire season you go through and you start to hear it. You look at the Thunder now, they're 20 games in and people are talking about them winning more than 73 games. So you can imagine the amount of time that you're living through people talking about that thing. And then you finally get there and it's like, wow, we got a chance to really break this thing. We about to do it. And it was a dream come true. It was a memorable moment. The most wins in NBA history. I'm forever grateful for that moment. Like I said, took a little bit off of you. It's tough, very challenging, but nonetheless, we accomplished it. And I was incredibly grateful for that moment. Draymond Green. Thank you all again for tuning in to the Draymond Green Show. We got the Sixers tomorrow. We also have the Cavs and Bulls coming up this weekend. See you guys Monday with a mailbag episode. Till next time, that's a wrap. Deuces.