In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green interviews veteran guard Jamal Crawford about the modern NBA’s treatment of seasoned players. Crawford recounts scoring 51 points and averaging 31.6 assists in a month yet receiving no contract, leading to a period of deep depression where he stopped watching basketball for over a year. He reflects on the importance of veteran mentorship, citing mentors like Oak, Rick Brunson, Kendall Gill, and the influence of veterans on his career. Crawford argues that teams should be required to keep at least three players with ten or more years of experience to guide younger athletes both on and off the court. Draymond adds his own list of veteran influences, emphasizing how these mentors shaped his demeanor and professionalism. The conversation highlights the psychological toll of being forced out of the league, the need for structured veteran presence, and the broader impact on player development.
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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. It's putting guys in a tough situation as well. Here you are, you score 51 points and then the next year you're not on an NBA roster. How is that possible? You know? And so just, where the league has kind of gone in a sense of veterans and the effect that it's having on these young guys. What's your take on that?
It's awful, Jay. And this the thing for me, and I've heard you speak about it before, when you had the David Wests, Jermaine O'Neals, right? Like all those vets to really kind of set the tone for your career. I had Oak, I had Rick Brunson, I had Kendall Gill. I didn't know what I didn't know until I saw them guys. Oh no, being on time is being an hour and a half early if you're a young fella. Yeah. Right? Staying after, you can't eat McDonald's before the game no more. Like that stuff set the foundation for my career. And I think that's what's missing. For me personally, I win Teammate of the Year the year before. I go to Phoenix, at first we're trying to win. They say we're trying to win. We're trying to make the playoffs. You can go back and check it out. Trevor Ariza gets traded. Tyson Chandler gets traded. Now it's just me and Ryan Anderson there. So now we went from trying to make the playoffs. So we just, we going young. And so now you gotta be a good vet, right?
Yep.
And you should want to because you've had your run, but you know, it's the younger guys' turn. That month, the younger guys are like, they're not, a lot of them, they're not playing. And now I have my highest scoring month of my career. I have 31 for the month of April.
Wow.
31.6 assists off the bench. And we won half the games and we didn't win shit that year. Winning half the games is impressive. Absolutely.
And— Y'all were getting mopped that year.
Always getting killed. I remember that year.
Right.
Absolutely. And so winning half the games was something to me. I averaged 31, 6 assists. In the last game, I get 51 and 5 off the bench. I just won Teammate of the Year. I'm like, oh, I know I'mma get a deal. I'm not saying I'm gonna get anything above minimum, but I know I'm gonna get a contract.
Yes.
I get nothing. And so I went through moments of depression, like, damn, I couldn't even watch basketball, bro. I couldn't even watch, as much as I love basketball and love the guy, I couldn't even watch basketball for a year and a half. I didn't watch basketball at all, at all. And then the bubble happened and I came back for that. And that's a whole nother story, but I hadn't played in 16 months or whatever, but I was depressed and I didn't know it. And my wife told me, she like, "You would go to rooms and just kind of just disappear and come back." And I've never said this. I would go to rooms and kind of disappear, then come back with the fam and just like, 'cause I couldn't understand why I was not getting a call. I didn't understand it. And all these same teams, "Why don't you come be a coach? Why don't you come run the front office?" I'm like, "Oh, so you respect my mind, you respect that, but you just don't want me on the court." Yes. And that part messed me up. And it took me a while to get there. And then I had to, be really reflective. I'm like, okay, if God said you have to go out, this is the best way I could send you out. 'Cause, you know, obviously he knew, but it was just crazy to me. And I think Isaiah's going through it right now. Not the depression part, but just certain days where you just, you know, you're like, damn. And I think what it is, is I think when you've had a following for a long time and you go to a team, that fan base is gonna wanna see you.
Mm-hmm.
And that could be kind of a distraction for a team that's trying to grow young people.
Interesting.
And it took me a while to get to that point.
Right?
Interesting. So if my name was Jamal Johnson and I was, you know, just the same vet, maybe I get signed with the same credentials. Maybe I get signed. But if I'm me and I have some type of following and people want to, "No, put him in the game," it could be a distraction. But what I will say to answer your question, sorry, that was so long-winded.
No, that was great.
I appreciate it. I think, there should be a rule that on every team you need 3 guys that have 10 years or more experience. Because you can help like slow some of the things that are happening down with the younger generation on, and especially off the court. 'Cause you know, we see it like, no, no, no, slow down. Like you gotta move like this. And if they just have one and it's still a bunch of young guys, that's not fixed. They gonna be like, man, this old dude. But if you have 3 or 2 or 3 are like, no, no, y'all need to slow down or you need to slow down. I think they hear it a little bit differently. I think that should be a mandatory— it'll help the league. I think it'll help the young players. It helps set their foundation.
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I agree 100%. I always talk about my vets that I had and how important they were to my career. Like, Like you was just talking, Jermaine O'Neal, Jared Jack, Carl Landry, David West, Zaza Pachulia, David Lee. Like the list goes on and on. Andrew Bogut, like Andre Iguodala. Yes. You know, and like these—
You just named 7 right there.
Right. Like I played with all those guys. All those guys I just named with between years 1 and 5, I played with all those guys. The things that they taught, Richard Jefferson.
Yeah.
Y'all did have RJ, okay.
The things that they taught me, like when you look at my demeanor on the basketball court, when I first came into the league, like I was me, but I'm like, man, I can't get texts, I can't do this. And RJ was like, yes you can, you should get texts. That's the only way you gonna make it. It's like being that guy, you have to be okay with that. And I'm like, yeah RJ, but I don't want the fine at the time. I'm making a few dollars. I'm second round pick. "Like, I need this." And he like, "But you have to look at it as an investment in yourself." That's real. He's like, "You just have to be okay with that because who you need to be for this team, you gotta be okay with getting some of that."
