In the inaugural episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green asks former NBA guard Sam Cassell about the infamous "big balls" celebration he performed after big shots. Cassell reveals that the gesture was inspired by a scene in the 1980s baseball movie Major League II, where a player jumps on the fence with a large ball after a home run. He recounts first using the move early in his career, noting Bill Walton’s puzzled commentary when he first saw it. Cassell explains that the NBA, under Commissioner David Stern, eventually fined him $25,000 for the celebration, prompting him to stop. He later observed the move being adopted by Kobe Bryant, Jellybean (Jamal Crawford), and LeBron James, feeling a sense of pride in having helped popularize it. The conversation shifts to Draymond sharing his own memory of a game‑winning layup against the Miami Heat, describing his spontaneous "swag" celebration, tying together themes of on‑court expression and personal branding.
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Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. I have a question for you. I've wondered this since I was a child, and I know your basketball knowledge, your encyclopedia, if you will, on the NBA game goes further back than mine. And so I have to ask you this question. When you did the Big Balls dance, For those of you that don't know, you should go check YouTube. Where did you get that from? Because I remember when I watched you do it, I'm like, "Yo, that's nuts." Yeah, it's crazy.
Like, yo, this is not how we score.
This is crazy.
Right. I watched the movie Major League. Major League II. It was the, I forgot the Asian left fielder name. He caught a, he jumped up, somebody hit a home run and he jumped up on the fence and caught the ball and he just like came down with the big ball. I like that. I'm stealing that. I'm stealing that. I'm stealing that. It was the old movie. Mm-hmm. This movie in the '80s. I said, I'm gonna steal that. So I start making big shots as a young player. I said, I got something for him. My first time I did it, they was like, "Man, what is he doing out there?" I remember Bill Walton, rest in peace, Bill Walton, shout out to him. He was doing play-by-play with the Clippers when I did it. And he said, "I don't know what it is, but it gotta be something awfully big." So that was the biggest, that's my man, Bill Walton, rest in peace, man.
Absolutely.
Rest in peace.
And so initially you start doing it and you're not getting fined by the NBA.
No, no. At what point did they then start fining you Well, David Stern, you know, called me into his office and he said, "We gotta stop that." I said, "What you mean, Commissioner? Like, what do you mean?" He was like, "That, we can't have our kids, you know, doing that shit, Sam." You know, if you knew David Stern like I know him back in the day, David was a, he was a hard guy. He was a hard guy. He was a smart guy, but he was a hard guy. And he was like, "We can't have that. You can't have kids." making the big play, doing the bet shit you be doing in the games. But now, all you do it, $25,000. I was like, what? Well, that cut me out. 'Cause back in the day, the salaries weren't that high like you guys getting right now. So $25,000 would hurt you back in the day. So I stopped. So when I knew it got big, when I seen Kobe Bryant do it.
Yes.
When I seen Jellybean do it, I said, oh, I made it now. I made it now. And I see LeBron do it, I said, oh, I'm really in the big time now. You know what I'm saying? So it's a thing that I like, damn, I created that. Well, I helped created it for the basketball part of it. But I got off a movie. I got that off a movie.
That's fire, man. When you did that, by the way, to get that off a movie and plan it is one thing. I don't think people realize sometimes though, you can have this plan and you get in these moments.
Yeah.
And then you'd like totally forget the plan. I'll never forget my first game winner. Came against the Heat. Bron, D-Wade, Bosh. Was my second year in the league. No, it was my first year. 'Cause Jared Jack was on our team. Jared Jack dropped the dunk. I got the little layup. And in my mind I was telling myself like, yo, I'm about to swag on these boys. I had got into a back and forth with Bron that game. 'Cause he was calling me too little. I'm like, too little?
Are you crazy? Right, right.
And so we going back and forth at it. Then I hit the game winner. I'm like, oh, I'm about to swag. Man, I start running like a kid with my hands up like, oh my God. So to have the wherewithal to still get to it.
Right, you gotta get to it.
It's crazy to me.
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