NBA MVP Race Up For Grabs, Luka Doncic Complaining Too Much??, and NBA Injury Crackdown

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, I'll go around the league, get into J.K.'s amazing Hawks debut, the MVP debate minus SGA and Joker maybe, the Cavs been hot since getting James, 2028 Olympic roster, and much, much more. So let's get right into it. [MUSIC] The Draymond Green Show is proudly presented by Grooms. Grooms proves that you can do the least and still feel the most thanks to a delicious daily habit that does the heavy lifting. Save up to 52% off with code Draymond at Grooms.co. That's code Draymond at Grooms.co. All right, so I first need to address, obviously, Dubs, you know, 1-1 on the road trip. Should have been a 2-0 road trip. Would've been great to be a 2-0 road trip. Played the Pelicans in game 1 and lost. Played the Grizzlies in game 2 and won. The Pelicans got Dejounte Murray back for the first time in over a year. It was great to see Dejounte back out there on the court. And it was like, that's my little bro. So I was extremely happy. That he came back a game where I could actually obviously play against him, but see him get back on the court. Like if you know DeJounte, you know how much he love, eat, breathe, sleep basketball. Like basketball is DeJounte life. And so for that to be taken away for a year sucks, you know? Yeah. But to see him, you know, get back out there on the court, I know how much joy it brings Dejounte. So it's great to see him back out there. And you know, you usually see guys like, when they come back from an Achilles, they usually have like a little slight limp still, like they're pushing through something. And then as time go on, it usually go away. He didn't have that limp. Mm-hmm. And he looked like he didn't miss a beat. Picking up defensively, offensively, backdoors, 3, controlling the pace for the team. Like, and I'm sure he went over his minutes restriction. I don't know what his minutes restriction was, but I know how these minutes restrictions work. And I'm sure he went into it, but we were making a comeback, pressuring them, and they had to put him back in the game the last couple minutes, but. Yeah. Anyway, great to see DeJounte back out there on the court. I think he's gonna help that Pelicans team a lot just with his, obviously his play, but more importantly his leadership. I think he is the leader that that team has been missing, you know? And so I think, you know, with the talent that they have, everyone would've expected them to be better than they've been, you know? And I think getting DeJounte back will help salvage that. And I saw him talking about possibly making a play-in, or if not, More importantly, just building great habits, getting, you know, putting a stretch of good basketball together going into next year. So again, haven't seen talk like that from the Pelicans all year. All of a sudden their leader comes back and that's what the talk is. So good to see DeJounte back out there. There was obviously a reaction to me jumping on DeAndre Jordan's back. And quite honestly, Steve and I was talking about the foul. We were gonna take a foul, you know, the hacker shot thing where you foul a guy when you're in the bonus to send that guy to the line, essentially to get them to waste possession. He split the pair. You always hope they miss both, but splitting the pair, you know, sometimes work to your benefit as well. And so we needed to take a foul. In those situations, time is of the essence. And so talk to Steve, Steve like, "Yo, let's take a foul. You got zero fouls, so you could take the foul." I'm like, "All right, bet, perfect." Told the referees like, "Yo, I'm gonna take this foul." And so now, you know, I think outside the box a little bit when it comes to basketball. So I know funny to you guys, which I don't mind, you know, y'all do what y'all do, but— You funny. The reason I jumped on his back is because in that situation, DeAndre is 7 feet, I'm 6'6". If I just kind of bump into him, they're not gonna call a foul. They're just not gonna do it on the free throw box out. So the foul has to be a little egregious for them to call a foul right away. I want them to call a foul right away because once they inbound the ball, if I don't foul right there, Once they inbound the ball and they dribble the ball up the court, I can't stop, I can't take the foul until they dribble all the way up the court, cross half court, and actually come to a stop. Because if you don't, it's a transition take foul. So it's— so that would be one foul, I mean, one shot and the ball. And if I'm fouling him, then that would also be 2 free throws. So it's 3 free throws instead of 2 free throws. And the 1 free throw, anybody on the court can take. So you're gonna send your best free throw shooter up there. So to lose 6 seconds while they get the ball across half court, in those instances, time is of the essence. You need those 6 seconds. So I jumped on his back because I need them to call a foul now as an over-the-back foul. So if you foul, you call an over-the-back foul, Zero seconds come off the clock. They gotta march to the free throw line. And we still, I think it was maybe like 4 minutes to go, 4:07 or something like that. Say if it was 4:07, it's 4:07 on the clock still. We didn't lose a second. Those 7 seconds are valuable down the stretch. And so, great moment. Draymond Green, my brother, that's my dog. So fun moment, but I just thought you all should understand what's going on. You know, I know all the clickbaiters be like, Draymond's at it again. You know, when they're just quite dumb and can't understand what's going on on the basketball court. Draymond's at it again. He's doing it again. This guy is crazy. He need to be outta the NBA. Oh, just learn the game. Or learn that you can't think the game the way I can think the game. Either one works. Learning the game may be better for you, but a lot tougher to think the way I think. So just enjoy the game. J.K. Hawks debut had 22, excuse me, 27, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks. Incredible. Versus the Washington Wizards. Incredible, incredible game. JK was just getting out and running. They hitting him in transition, he getting to it. Once he get downhill and he get dunks, then the 3 balls start falling. I think it was 2 for 3 from the 3-point line. Just a beautiful game and I'm happy to see it. I actually talked to him the night before on FaceTime. I'm like, "Man, when you playing?" He like, "I'm at it tomorrow, big bro. I'm back tomorrow night." I'm like, "Let's get it." Let's get it. And then, you know, young fella come out with 27. What a great debut. Happy to see him playing. Happy to see him smiling. And I think, will J.K. average 27 for the Atlanta Hawks? I don't think so. Because in order to average 27, you gotta be at 30 and 35 sometimes because you're gonna have a down night in order to average 27. So will he average 27 for the Atlanta Hawks? No. I don't think so, but I think he'll definitely average over 20. You know, he did that in 24 minutes, by the way. You know, one thing's for certain is JK can really score the basketball. JK really loves the game of basketball. He competes. And you know, I absolutely love watching him go out there and put everything aside, fresh opportunity, new threads and go out there and show the world who he is. Obviously we all know who JK is. We know what he's capable of, but to get off to a great start, to have Atlanta excited, give Atlanta something to be excited about or something else to be excited about, another young prize possession to be excited about. It was beautiful to see. So just wanna see the young fella keep it going. I know he will. I know he will. And just continue to get better, man. Take advantage of the opportunity. New beginnings don't come around often, so you gotta take advantage of 'em when you got 'em. And he did that in night one, and I think he'll continue to do that as the rest of the season go on and as he gets more and more comfortable. After the break, I'll go around the association, discuss the MVP being up for grabs, Team USA's potential 2028 roster, the Luka Dončić complaints, and much, much more. Be back right after this. Sports and pizza have a lot in common. You know what rookie mistakes look like? Not listening to vets, getting lost on defense, and yeah, overpaying for pizza. When Domino's best deal ever is right there. And the right lineups in sports and pizza are absolutely necessary. With Domino's best deal ever, that lineup just so happens to be $9.99. So let me be a pizza GM for a second. I'm building my starting five. I'm gonna start Pineapple at the 1 because you need a little sweetness to the pizza. 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So he can still miss 7. Cade Cunningham is extremely in the clear. Tyrese Maxey is extremely in the clear. You got quite a bit of guys, you know, quite a few guys that's extremely in the clear, but Giannis is out, Bron is out, KD's still in the clear. Steph's out. Yeah. So you got a lot, you know, when this rule was put in, The rule was, Cade has missed 6 games with 25 to go, by the way. Jalen Brown has missed 5 games with 24 to go. Extremely in the clear. But when this rule was put in, this rule was put in more so to stop teams from load management. And when the rule was first implemented, I spoke about on my show, just about the unintended consequences that will come of it. You know, you start having guys miss games due to serious injury, and, or real injuries that they can't play through. And all of a sudden you start getting guys on the All-NBA team or getting guys winning the MVP that wouldn't necessarily win it if that wasn't the case. And you know, I think when you start implementing rules like that, it's also tough because you change the course of NBA history, but you don't go back in the past and change what would've been. You know, you think about— Yeah. —things in this world that when rules change over the course of time, you can get convictions thrown out if laws change, you know? And so in this case, you start implementing a rule that affects guys' resumes that people before resumes has benefited from, and they wouldn't have necessarily qualified. And so I always spoke about that being one of the unintended consequences of this rule. And now we're starting to see it, you know, LeBron James won MVP in 2011 and '12 season playing 62 games. LeBron James isn't the MVP that year if this rule is the case. Kawhi Leonard once won a Defensive Player of the Year award. I think he played 58 games if I'm not mistaken. You wouldn't win a Defensive Player of the Year award, you wouldn't qualify. And so I think to go now and add this rule It's hard to add a rule that affects the overall standing of the NBA, the overall history book of the NBA, when that wasn't always the case. You know, in 2020, right before the rule was implemented, Giannis played in 63 games, won MVP, wouldn't qualify. You know, and so I just think those, you know, When you implement a rule like that to combat something that's happening now, and you don't necessarily take the unintended consequences into effect, it's tough. You know, so here we are in a year where SGA and Joker has been widely discussed as 1 and 2, whichever way it may go for the MVP race. And they're both in danger of not qualifying. I think Shai will be back before, You know, but you know, all of a sudden you have an ankle tweak or something, you need to miss a couple games, you put yourself in jeopardy, you know? And so it's not fun, it's no fun when the unintended consequences pop up. You know, I think when you look at the top 3 candidates, I think next on the list would be Kade, which I think is having an incredible year. Team is having the success and he should be in the MVP talks. Yeah. Talking Jalen Brown, who I think should be in the MVP talks. I don't think, make no mistake about it. Jalen Brown has had an elite season. You know, and so it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out. But in saying that, I think if say, and you know, if Joker didn't qualify, SGA didn't qualify, I think your top 3 is K, Jalen Brown, and Wemby. Yeah. And I say Wemby due to the amount of games that yes, he did play, but he was on a minute restriction, you know, and played 20 minutes, 22 minutes, under 25 minutes. I think that has to matter. You know, they have a really good team, so they were still able to win. But I think that has to matter. So I would put Wemby at 3. I would put Cade at 1. I would put JB at 2. If ultimately those 2 guys didn't qualify, you know, but it honestly just sucks that we're even having this discussion that this rule is in place. I just think it, no one's load managing that many games. And so I think it's a reaction to the public saying, oh man, these guys load managed this game when they came to this arena. I think it's an overreaction to that, that ultimately has these consequences that I think are completely unfair. Yeah. Cold weather, packed schedules, kids' activities. Cooking doesn't always make the cut. That's why Factor has been such a game changer. Factor makes healthy eating easy with fully prepared meals designed by dietitians and crafted by chefs so you can eat well without the planning or cooking. I like that Factor has meals with lean protein and all the veggies. It's exactly what I need this time of year. Middle of the season, uh, kind of in the tough days. You need that fuel. To get you across the finish line. 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They are 6-2 since the acquisition. 6-1 with James. The second loss came the other night against the Milwaukee Bucks when James was out with a thumb fracture. I don't think he'll be out that long with a thumb fracture as it's on his non-shooting hand, which would be his right hand. Draymond Green, he did miss that game and they dropped that game by 2 points. But you know, you ask yourself the question, are they a real threat in the East? And the reality is this, James has been an incredible acquisition and I think, you know, it's made that team better for sure. I don't think anyone's talking about the Dennis Schroder acquisition as well. I think that's a big one for them as well. Backup point guard is extremely important in this league and Dennis Schroder is one of the best in the league. When it comes to backup point guards. And so I think, you know, no one's really, everybody's talking about James and rightfully so. James has been great. What he's, what Jared Allen has done since James has come over is very, very on cue with what James does when he have live threat bigs. And you know, he created a career for Clint Capela in Houston, you know, and, and, Nick Claxton had his best year playing, or a couple years playing with James, his best basketball playing with James. So that's what James does when he has a live threat big. And so not taking anything away from James, but more so just wanna make sure Dennis Schroder get his credit as well. I think he's playing good basketball. He has a great role for a very good team. And I know— Draymond Green. Kenny Atkinson likes Dennis Schroeder a lot. So they have prior history. So I think both of those acquisitions has helped this Cavs team quite a bit. And I think, you know, when you talk real threat in the East, I think they are a real threat as far as having a good team. But I think they have some guys on their team that has just struggled in the playoffs. Has had great seasons. Regular seasons and has struggled in the first round, second round of the playoff. James has been to the conference finals, James multiple times. James has been to the NBA Finals. You know, he's, he, James has that experience, but they have quite a few guys that have struggled in playoff settings. So to say they're a real threat from a roster standpoint, Yes. But they ultimately have to show and prove that they can get over that mental hurdle, which is the playoffs, and actually get through the playoffs, get through series after series, get to the conference finals, give yourself a chance at getting out the East. But they gotta get there. They have quite a few guys that have to get over the mental hurdle of the playoffs. Jared Allen once said, "Man, the lights was just too bright." But guess what? Once you say that mentally and once you admit that mentally, that's always gonna be swirling in your mind when the playoffs come around. So you gotta get over that mental hurdle. And so, like I said, from a roster standpoint, yes, they can be a real threat. From a mental standpoint, they got a few guys that need to get over the hurdle. And if they can get over that hurdle, then yes, but That's a big hurdle to get over in the end. I think they've had multiple opportunities to show it and they haven't. And so until you show it, I have a hard time just saying, oh man, they're a real threat knowing the history of what the playoffs have done to some of the guys. In other news, Zach Lowe says Luka Dončić is becoming unwatchable due to his complaining to the refs. It's every possession now. It's completely outta control. People have been complaining about Luka for a while with, you know, how he deals with referees. To say unwatchable, I have a hard time believing that a star, a guy who can create that much on the offensive end is unwatchable. Comes off as a bit of a catchphrase to me, unwatchable. Yeah. You know, I think if, you know, like maybe if you say, you know, watching Luka complain to the refs is becoming unbearable, but unwatchable, saying Luka Dončić is unwatchable is include, it has to include the full body of work. And there's just no way that Luka Dončić's full body of work has become unwatchable. You say you don't appreciate the, you know, lack of effort he gives on the defensive end. Great, I get it. You talk about the refs, great, go for it. Unwatchable to me. I don't know that Luka Dončić, especially at this point in his career and what he's still capable of doing, not sure a guy that— Draymond Green. Garners the name Luka Magic. In year 8, is he? 7, 8 becomes unwatchable. Get what he's getting at. I think unwatchable is just the wrong choice of words. Like I said, maybe unbearable to watch the complaining, but unwatchable, I struggle with that one just a tad. But that's been a big thing. You know, everyone talking about Luka's defense, you know, and here's what I will say about that. I'm not here to debate Luka's defense or, you know, Luka's complaining to the refs. I'll leave that for y'all. But what I struggle with is the wishy-washiness through media. I struggle with that because it's like these double standards that I just can't rock with. I think we were all quite shocked and baffled to see Luka Dončić traded away from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers. Like, you just don't see franchise players that young traded at— it just, you just don't see it. It's just not a normal thing. And so we were all shocked by that. And Nico Harrison continued to give his— His opinion. Reasonings on why he believed that was the right thing to do for the Dallas Mavericks organization. Was it the right thing or wrong thing? I'm not a Dallas Mavericks— I Maverick. I don't really care if it was the right thing or the wrong thing. But what I do care about is so many people crushed Nico Harrison for the reasons that he gave. And when Nico gave those reasonings, Everybody said he's ridiculous, he's crazy. This is no, this has nothing to do with Luka, by the way, what I'm saying. But now when I turn on the TV, all I see is everybody in the media who crushed Nico Harrison, who essentially aided in him getting fired, regurgitating the same things that Nico Harrison was saying. And I struggle with that because I haven't seen one person come out and say, hey, Nico, I'm sorry for the things I said about you when you made that move. Because I just said the same thing out of my mouth. I struggle with that a bit. Again, this has nothing to do with Luka Dončić and everything to do with the media and Nico Harrison. Nico gave his reasonings as the general manager of a team of why he thought that was the right move.. And everybody said, you're a fucking idiot. You should be fired. Worst general manager in NBA history. And now all of you people are saying the same thing. But no one has said, maybe Niko was right. Maybe Niko was validated in the move he made. Maybe Niko shouldn't have been fired. No one has said that. But everybody said, Niko should be fired. Because he traded Luka. I struggle with this. I struggle with the lack of accountability. We live in a world where media is allowed to go crazy and try to hold everybody accountable, and they have zero. Zero. But they'll go on TV every day, this guy this, this guy that, ah, this thing, that thing. I want to hold everyone to the highest levels of accountability, to the highest standard of accountability, and they have zero. I struggle with that. I really struggle with it. They have zero. So if y'all gonna keep saying the same thing, don't keep saying it without giving Nico Harrison an apology. Mm-hmm. 'Cause y'all changed this man's livelihood. And now y'all saying the same things with no apology before or after. I struggle with that. That's a little cowardly to me. And needless to say, Luka Dončić is a very special talent. Very, very, very special talent. But if everybody else is gonna say the same thing Niko said, y'all owe that man an apology. That's all I'm saying. In other Lakers news, DeAndre Ayton says, "They're trying to make me Clint Capella. I'm not Clint Capella." In frustration after Orlando Magic game. And listen, I don't know what DeAndre Ayton thought would be his role going to the Los Angeles Lakers on a contract that paid him $8 million a year. But that's kind of where he is in his career, you know, is, you know, you had the opportunity, got the big contract with the Suns, was ultimately traded to the Blazers. That didn't quite work out. Get a buyout and you actually end up on the Los Angeles Lakers. On it, making $8 million a year even after receiving a buyout where most people get minimum deals after receiving buyouts. DeAndre Aydin and Luka Dončić shares the same agent. And you know, agents, a lot of agents use as leverage when they got star players to do other things. I don't know that this was the case in DeAndre Aydin's situation, but— Yeah. Those types of things happen all the time and that would make sense to me. But I don't know what role he was expecting to have, you know, coming to a team making $8 million a year. Like that usually matters, the role that you play. And so I would say to DeAndre Aydin, like, you know, playing the Clint Capella role with Luka Dončić can be very, beneficial, but there won't be much else of a role for a guy making $8 million a year that's not a top 10 pick, making $8 million a year on a rookie contract. So yeah, we'll see how that plays out, but seems like the tensions are rising. I'll be honest, healthy habits have never been more important. So this year I actually found a routine that's much easier to stick to. Grooms. Feels like doing the least, works like doing the most. 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They predicted Cooper Flagg, Kyle Knoepel, Jalen Dern, A-Man Thompson, Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Ant-Man, Chet, Jalen Williams. Tyrese Halliburton, Bam Adebayo, Jayson Tatum. This looked like a roster to me that will still go win a gold medal because Team USA owns the Olympics and we own gold medals. They belong right here in America. This looks like a roster that could compete with that. I think you have the size in Jalen Duren, Chet Holmgren, Bam Adebayo, who would be playing in his third Olympics. And make no mistake about it, Scottie Barnes. Think you all know how high I am on Scottie Barnes, and there's no reason with his versatility that he shouldn't be on the Olympic team come 2028. Where this list gets interesting is Kevin Durant says he still wants to play. KD is still playing at a high level. If KD still wants to play and he's playing at this high of a level, why wouldn't he be? KD is Mr. America. KD is the all-time lead scorer. Mm-hmm. For Team USA and maybe the Olympics at this point. Don't quote me on that one, but I know for sure for Team USA. And he's still playing at a high level. If he want that, absolutely. I saw Steph said, I don't know that Steph said this, but I saw a report that said Steph may play in the 2028 Olympics. That wouldn't surprise me. Still playing at a high level, would definitely be invited. So this, that, that changes this list quite a bit. "Bam outta Bayou will be invited back. Still at a high level. Will be his third Olympics." JT, same thing. You need JT. You need that star power. Ant-Man, need that star power. Them your go-to guys. A-man Thompson, you need a defensive stopper. Concanup will shoot the lights out the ball. Cade Cunningham, young star. Cooper Flagg, next up. I love this list. Unfortunately on this list. Where do you all have Devin Booker? 2 years from now, Devin Booker will be still playing at a high level. Where is he? This will be his third Olympics. Definitely will have the opportunity. So y'all did this last time with Kevin Durant. Didn't think KD was gonna come back. All of a sudden KD came back, Bron came, Steph came. Let's just not get too ahead of ourselves with the predictions. If those guys wanna play, those guys will be playing. Nonetheless, you start talking about D-Book and adding those guys in, We got another gold medal coming and it'll be beautiful to see it won on US soil in LA 2028. So everybody's talking about the world is catching up, man. The world do this so great. AAU is broken. This thing's broken. The USA way is, it doesn't work anymore. But these teams can't beat Team USA. Yeah. Oh man, the top players in the NBA are all Europeans, or they're all international players. Yes, you're taking the best player from a country, which is also debatable if top 5 players are international, but you're taking the best player from one country and saying international is better. See, y'all have to be careful with the propaganda. They take one player from each country, throw all of those players into a pool and say international is killing us. Yeah.. But all of these guys are from different country. Wemby from Paris, France. Shey Gilgeous-Alexander from Toronto, Canada, Ontario. Um. Joker, Serbia. Giannis, Greece. So when we take all of these players and say, oh man, they catching Team USA because they're some of the top guys in the league. The international scene, they're catching the American scene in basketball. Well, yes, if you take all those players from different countries and put them together, if that was the Olympics, maybe they'd have a shot. Unfortunately, that's not how the Olympics work, and they have to play with their team, and they don't have a shot. So careful of the propaganda out there. Team USA 2028, going for gold again. Rick Carlisle says the NBA suggested medicating Aaron Neesmith so he could play through an injury despite the Pacers being 30 games under .500. The league then fined them $100K. The NBA is really cracking down on tanking. And I think to say despite being under 30 games, 30 games under .500. So if you were 30 games above .500, do you play? And if you saying yes, I think that's what the league is talking about. So to come out and say despite us being 30 games, and I don't know for sure that that's what Rick Carlisle said verbatim, but if he did, You can't like hint at being 30 games under and that's why you won't medicate him to play. But you would if you were 30 games over. That's kind of what they're cracking down on. The NBA also apparently are sending their own independent doctors to verify, to verify a Lauri Markkanen practice hip injury. A hip injury that apparently he sustained in practice. They're really cracking down on the tanking. Comes at a tough time as teams are in full tank mode. But the league seems to be cracking down on it. We'll see what comes of this. We'll see how teams navigate this. The Memphis Grizzlies said guys getting surgery. See other teams got guys getting actual surgery. So we'll see how they crack down on this. See what comes of it, if anything. Should be interesting. I wanna thank y'all again for tuning into the Draymond Green Show. We are hosting Lakers Saturday night. Till next time. Deuces. If you're rocking with the Draymond Green Show, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. And while you're there, go ahead and drop a 5-star rating and leave a review. I wanna hear what you think, and it would also mean a ton to me if you share it with a friend that you think would enjoy it. Let's keep this thing growing. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Audacy and executive produced in conjunction with The New Media. Our executive producers are Leah Reese Dennis, Danny Friesinger, and Greg Holtzman. Video production and creative design by Curt Courtney, Tim Meekle, Lauren Vieira, and Evan O'Brien. Special thanks to the team at The New Media and the team at Odyssey. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, and Jake Galley. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]