In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green interviews former WNBA star and Olympic champion Lisa Leslie about her coaching career. Leslie explains that she has never been approached to coach a WNBA team and that personal relationships with former teammates (e.g., Candace Parker, Nneka Sebek) make a coach‑player dynamic uncomfortable. She emphasizes the need for a "clean slate" with players she isn’t close to, and she prefers coaching men in the Big 3 where she feels more at ease. Leslie outlines her coaching philosophy: strict discipline, no shortcuts, early preparation, and a relentless work ethic. She admits that motivating elite athletes is challenging, especially when she feels she must "babysit" them, and she stresses respect for the game and the honor of playing at a professional level. A memorable anecdote about a conversation with Kobe Bryant highlights the importance of readiness and personal accountability. The episode also includes a brief DraftKings sponsorship plug.
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What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love, but you can get everything the Draymond Green Show right on our YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe, check that out. Thank you. You coached in the Big 3, won a championship. We just saw Becky Hammond a few years ago lead the San Antonio Spurs go coached the Las Vegas Aces and she's been dominating last 2 years, winning a championship in both years if I'm not mistaken. Coaching in the WNBA, never quite wanted to do that? Never a thing for you?
Kind of— Well, first of all, I never say never about jobs. You know, I love to work. That's not a problem. I think the hard part was that, I'm still so— I was still so familiar with all the players there. And I think you need a break of like, you know, I could come in and maybe the new generation have that opportunity. But I feel like, you know, I can go back to the Sparks and Coach Candace, who was my teammate, you know what I mean? Like, that's my girl. But it's like she would just— we were too close for it to really be, I think, a coach-player relationship. Mm-hmm. So I think over time it would be better to coach team players. Like, like now I think we're kind of finally at the, you know, Candace may be finishing up in a year or two, you know, Nneka, like all the girls at Chenet, people that I'm like really close with and have relationships with. I think it would be better when you have groups that you don't have those types of relationship with so you can just have a clean slate. But I've never really been approached about coaching a WNBA team, to be really honest with you. Yeah. Not that I've even thought of it, thought about it or applied for it. But I really enjoy coaching the men. I have a good time. And I don't know that it's just because they're men, but I enjoy coaching in the Big 3, I guess I should say. The hard parts about coaching though, coaching is a lot, man.
Yes, it is.
It's a lot. I mean, you take it home. I mean, I can't stand losing. And I don't like when you're at a professional level and you need to be motivated to do your job. Like, that's probably the biggest part that I didn't really understand. And I think when I looked at my teammates, I kind of was like, as a leader, like, y'all, let's go. Like, we gonna run the lines. Like, don't cut the line. You know what I'm saying? Touch the line. Like, I've always been that kind of player. Like, don't cut corners. 'Cause if you cut corners now, we are not gonna deserve to win in the end. You know what I'm saying? Like, whether we on the track, we're in the weight room, don't be a player who's late. Like, be 15 minutes early. Like, I'm just that kind of person where the efficiency of how we train affects everything to me. So I'm like, it's already hard. Let's not add to it. Let's not cut corners and then expect the best, you know?
Absolutely.
And so being that, you know, you know, you're a champion. It's just, It's just the— it's the nature of it. And so I have a really hard time trying to motivate people to do something that you should be passionate about, you should love, you should be seeing that it is an honor to be able to play this sport because you could get hurt at any time and not be able to play. So to me, it's like respect the game. And I have a hard time with like babysitting people and just trying to— I don't know. I'm just— I'm not built like that. So it's— that's the difficult part for me.
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You know, I think it's one thing when you talk about like high school kids, everybody, you know, some people sign up, you got to pick the best people you have at the school. Every kid's not that— like, that's not their dream, but they may be athletic enough to make a team.
Mm-hmm.
OK. But when you're talking about top tier, you're talking about a professional, bro, I don't have time for all the excuses. I don't have time for all of, like, I was out last night. Like, don't waste my time. You know, Kobe and I used to talk about that, which is so funny because I always think about our conversations about just being ready and how you show up. You know, and the fact that you have to tell your teammates, like, we got a big— we got a game tomorrow, so you might not want to go out tonight. Like, I shouldn't have to explain those things to you because my hard work is a part of what we're trying to build here. And I need everybody. We need everybody to win. You know, that's the— that's the hard part. Absolutely. So coaching for me, I'm like, oh, I cannot motivate you to want to win. That's all that I know. I'm so bad. Like, it's spades. I'm this way with everything though. Spades, backgammon, whatever we playing, bro, dominoes. Like, you don't want to see me in nothing, tong, whatever it is. Like, I am playing to win. Don't sit down at the table with me if you try— like, what are we doing? I don't like people who just want to play for fun.
That's funny.
Don't come to my table.
I agree with that. Just so you know, you never want to see me in dominoes. So you should never sit at that table.
Man, come on. I'm slapping bones at what, 20?
Oh, I would love this opportunity. We'll make sure we make that happen.
