Seattle and Vegas are Getting NBA Teams! + Wemby Challenges for MVP & Kawhi Leonard is Must-See-TV!

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, we have another edition of the monthly Draymond Green Awards. But before we get to that, I need to share my thoughts on NBA expansion. Now that it's official that Seattle and Vegas will be getting the teams, if the votes pass. 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. Everybody has been waiting for Seattle to get a team again, for Vegas to get a team again. And wow, has it been time. You know, I think with those two teams being added, number one, you know, everybody speaks about, you know, expansion and is it great for the NBA? One thing's for certain is it's gonna make a lot of money. And when it make a lot of money, money talks, bullshit walks. And so these franchises will go from anywhere, what they're saying is $7 to $10 billion. Which is crazy for expansion franchise. But there are people out there that can afford it. And then guess what? If those two go through, there's only 32 of them. So you can kind of sell it for what you wanna sell it for. And so I think it'll be very interesting. Obviously the first thought is with the conferences, what happens with the conferences? You essentially, you have two Western Conference teams coming in. Vegas has to be in the Western Conference. Seattle has to be in the West Conference. But all is not broken. Minnesota needs to go to the Eastern Conference. Minnesota is a hour and 5, 10-minute flight from Michigan. Minnesota's a Big Ten conference. Minnesota should be an Eastern Conference team. So no harm, no foul. Memphis, which should probably be in Nashville, Should be an Eastern Conference team. Definitely should be in Nashville. It should be an Eastern Conference team. I think, you know, I've played in actually several playoff series against Memphis. Flying all the— flying to Texas is bad enough. Flying all the way to Memphis for a playoff series, for one game, for game, 5 for Game 7 or for Game 6? It's brutal. Like, brutal. And so Memphis, of course, should be in Nashville, but Memphis should be in the Eastern Conference. So no harm, no foul there. Like, I think it's actually very easy to realign the conferences. But you ask yourself, Or do you just get rid of the conferences? I think you still need to keep conference from the standpoint of like what team and divisions from a standpoint of what teams are playing what teams, how many times a year. I think you do need it from that perspective. But it poses the question, do you get rid of conferences when it comes to the NBA playoffs? Because I think you still want to keep it at 8 teams. Yeah. Right. Per conference. Like I think you, that fundamentally you still want to keep that. And so yeah, I think you have, you move them and you keep 8 teams. The conferences will align perfectly. It'll just be 8 and 8. 8 will make it, 8 won't. You know, 16 teams in each. So it still works. If you start adding a 9th team, now you're talking about a first round bye for the, Draymond Green, first team. But I don't know how that plays out with the schedule. So I think you keep the playoffs the same. You got 8 and 8 expansion, both Western Conference, Memphis and Minnesota going over to the Eastern Conference. Man, can you imagine though, players that are playing in the Western Conference, you get Vegas and Seattle. Meanwhile, the East pick up Minnesota, in Memphis. Now, man, that's a drastic change. And guys in the East, guys in the West, you are ecstatic. Like, yo, you get trips to Vegas and Seattle now, as opposed to going to Minnesota more than once, as opposed to going to Memphis more than once. And just do Memphis, just do everybody a favor and move that team to Nashville. There's no great hotels in Memphis. I love the people of Memphis. They are incredible. Shout out to the people of Memphis. I love them. But just from an NBA standpoint, man, like there's not a sauna or a hot tub in sight. Nowhere. Not at the gym, not at a spa, not at a hotel, nothing. Not in sight. So the NBA either need to send that to Nashville so they can have proper facilities. Or even better, the NBA, it should be mandatory that teams have at least a hot tub and cold tub, but probably a sauna in their visiting locker room. Like, it should be mandatory. It should be mandatory that all the seats in the NBA are higher up. These things should be mandatory. But also, get Memphis the hell outta Memphis and send them to Nashville. Like, come on. Like, do the right thing, people. Yeah. It's a reason the Tennessee Titans are in Nashville. Do the right thing. Just going on to Nashville. Shout out to the owners. Don't charge them a relocation fee. They just going up the street and doing all us a favor. So let's not charge— Adam, Joe, I know you're on the competition committee, Joe Lacob. Yeah. Let's not charge them a relocation fee, please. Let them just do us all a favor and take the team to Nashville. No problem, no harm, no foul. The relocation fee, you gotta leave that arena that I'm sure they own. Relocation fee, it's a swap. You leave that arena, you ain't gotta pay the relocation fee. Go to Nashville. Do us all a favor, Adam. Nobody will be upset. Yeah. Not one person will be upset. So GP said, young GP, GP2, my teammate GP, said he'd request a trade immediately if he had a chance to play as a Seattle Supersonic. I bet he would. But careful with your words, G, 'cause you got a home here in Golden State. Now I don't know if them Seattle Supersonics gonna accept you like that, G. So be careful with your words. Steve Kerr. Reaching 600 wins, 4th fastest coach to do so behind Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, and Gregg Popovich. Might I say first ballot Hall of Famer? Absolutely. Shout out to all the people on my threads that call like, "Steve Kerr can't coach and he's so lucky that he coached that team. But meanwhile, I suck and so lucky to have played on the team. And meanwhile, Klay's a bomb and he's lucky to have played with Steph." You people just say anything. Shout out to Steve Kerr. Job well done. I see it every day, the greatness. People gonna talk. People tell you the sky's green today 'cause it's St. Patty's Day if you listen to 'em. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention, do this place look familiar? Because this is actually the room in Boston where everybody was like, "Yo, you shouldn't be podcasting. You should be focused on the game." And here I am, 3 and a half years later, podcasting from the same room that still, you know, I came back to after our championship, when I shouldn't have been podcasting. So anyway, back to Steve Kerr. You have to ask yourself, where does Steve Kerr rank amongst all coaches of all time? And if I look at the opinions on threads, you think he's the bottom of the barrel. 'Cause I saw somebody say, "Man, if they could only get this coach and replace Steve Kerr." And it was a coach that has failed and never won a championship. And I was like, "Wow, these people say anything." So where does Steve rank amongst all-time coaches? I don't know. What I do know is amongst all-time coaches where he rank as far as rings go, well, Those three. Maybe Red Auerbach. Maybe. But that's the list. So for all the people that say, "Steve Kerr, sup?" That's the list. And all you people love lists, until the list don't work in your favor, damn it! The list don't matter. Yeah. But that's the list. So you tell me where he ranks. I know that Steve Kerr came to Golden State and he was the champion in the room that showed everybody how to be champions. Ah, cut. That's what I do know. Sorry guys, don't fit your narrative. But after the break, I'm gonna present the fourth edition of the monthly Draymond Green Awards. We'll be right back after this. Ah! Welcome back from the break. As promised, we're gonna go through the fourth edition of the handout, our fourth edition monthly Draymond Green Awards. But before we do that, you know it's March. You know it's time, it's O-Time, Mr. March. And what that mean is we got our tournament check-in. So with our tournament check-in, we must first talk about the East bracket. East bracket, number 1 overall seed, Duke. You're welcome. You got toughest bracket. You got Ohio State in that bracket. TCU, sleeper teams. St. John's, team that had a great year. Didn't get any love from the tourney committee. Kansas got arguably the number one pick on their team. And guard play in the NCAA tournament is everything. Good luck, Duke. Congratulations. You also have Louisville, who has a potential top 5 pick on their team. Guard play, very important in the tournament. You also have Mr. March himself, the great Tom Izzo, and the Michigan State Spartans. You also have UCLA. Oh, and by the way, if that wasn't enough for the U's, goddammit, you got UConn. Now how's that for the number 1 seed? This may be the toughest bracket in NCAA tournament history. This East bracket. And it sucks that my Spartans had to get tossed in that bracket. Because there's no reason that we didn't do enough to be the number 3 seed in the Midwest bracket. There's just no way. By the way, that would set us up with a— Yeah. Elite Eight showdown with the scumballs from up the highway. There's no way Virginia, you should've put Virginia in the East and us in the Midwest. Let them deal with those guys. But that East bracket is crazy. Nonetheless, it's hard not to pick Duke coming outta that East. But my Spartans played 'em once and we got the book on 'em. So. Yeah. Tough going to be, gonna be tough for us to get past UConn in that Sweet 16. But we got Mr. Marshall himself. And we got Jeremy Fears, the All-American Jeremy Fears. First team All-Big Ten Jeremy Fears. We got Jeremy Fears. And we got the solid Jackson Kohler. And the forever improving Carson Cooper. And the high flyer, Cole and Carr. We rolling into March with the two young freshies getting the minutes. We rolling, baby. So shout out to my Spartans. I got my Spartans coming out the East. I don't know if y'all thought I was gonna do anything else. Cam Boozer's had a great career. It ends with them Spartans, brother. Shout out to the Spartans coming out the East. Shout out to Arizona coming out the West. Go Arizona! In the Midwest, I hate to say it, but the scum bums got an easy path. So they definitely coming out of the Midwest. And coming out of the South, it's gonna be outta Houston and Florida rematch of the championship. I don't see Houston beating Florida. I don't think their offense is potent enough. So there's your final four. Florida, Michigan, scum bombs, Michigan State, the great Michigan State, and Arizona. That's who I got in the final four. All right, the final four always comes with some big first round upsets. And I think when I look at the first round, there's definitely gonna be some upsets. Who I think is in, who I think is in danger of a big upset is Iowa State, man. They got Tennessee State in their first game. Nolan Smith knows what it's like to be on this big stage. He's a national champion himself. He's coached at the highest, at the highest level in these NCAA tournaments at Duke. The confidence he has those guys playing with, he can put a game plan together, stifle Iowa State. So I'm watching that game for a possible upset. That Tennessee, Miami, Ohio, SMU possible first round upset. Alabama, Alabama has lost one of their top leading scorers. I think second leading scorer in Aiden Holloway. That puts you in trouble against a Hofstra team. We always see those 4-13 upsets. North Carolina, no Caleb Wilson, one of the best players in the country. I think could possibly, should possibly be the number one pick, at least considered. VCU's been here. You know, I'm looking at that one. Nebraska versus Troy. You know, Nebraska's happy to be here. Could they sneak around, mess around and get upset? I can see that happening. Cal Baptist versus Kansas. Kansas has been up and down all year. Cal Baptist has a very dominant guard, and I talked about guard play, and Dominique Daniels Jr., this kid can fill it up. He can get buckets. Fast and in bunches. And that can get you in some trouble in the NCAA tournament. So there can be some upsets. St. John's, Northern Iowa, 5'12". Like there's gonna be some upsets and I'm watching those games closely for some upsets. So we'll see how that first round shake out. But one thing's for certain, it's March, baby. It's coming. And I told you all who my Final Four picks are. And if you ever think I'm picking against Michigan State for a national championship, you are outta your damn mind. Go green, go Sparty, let's go Mr. March, let's get it done. 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. A simple, delicious daily habit that makes a real difference without overhauling my life. If you haven't heard me talk about Grooms before, they're a convenient formula packed into a daily snack pack of gummies. I love that it's not just a multivitamin, a greens gummy, or a prebiotic. It's all of those things and more at a fraction of the price. And the best part, they taste amazing, so it feels like a treat every day. Each pack is vegan, nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and free from artificial colors and flavors. 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But Jaylen Brown has kept that team in the number 2 seed all year. He's played incredibly well. He's had huge games. Must be on the first team. There's been talk about all the named Jaylens in the NBA. We got another Jaylen, Jaylen Johnson. Hawks winners are 10 in a row. Jaylen Johnson is playing like a bona fide superstar. He is triple-double watch every single night. Scoring the basketball, getting his teammates involved, rebounding the basketball. Significance of him rebounding the basketball is when he get the board and he starts to break, he's fast, he's running, he's advancing it ahead, getting the ball back for dunks down the lane. Young J.K. on the wing now, so him getting the rebound and starting that transition, them guys flying up the court. So, you know, his rebounds are— all rebounds aren't created equal. You know, his rebounds unlocks a part of their offense. So, Jalen Johnson's been playing great. Kawhi Leonard, who I think I saw is— He's been good. Ranked 9th in MVP voting, which I think is ridiculous. No way Kawhi Leonard's not top 5 in MVP voting with the basketball that he's been playing. Hopefully he can stay healthy. He is 2 games away from not qualifying for an All-NBA or an MVP award. So hopefully Kawhi can stay healthy down the stretch of the season because he's well deserved. Joker, who came back right before the end of January, picked up right where he left off at playing MVP-level basketball. You know, stand right up there in the top 3 of voting. But someone has passed him in MVP voting according to the trackers, and that is Wemby. And Wemby's been playing incredible basketball on both ends of the floor. It's been special to watch. And San Antonio are winners of 18 outta 20. And that's all due to Wemby's dominance, and obviously other guys, but Wemby's been incredible. So that's our first team of the month. Those guys have been amazing. All their teams are— Amazing. Playing well and in a great position right now. An interesting stat, with their 10 games in a row, Atlanta went from 8th to 8th. I don't know what's going on in the Eastern Conference, but they're still in 8th. So we'll see how that plays out. But that's our first team. Moving on to our DG Certified Defender of the Month. And there's gonna be a name that pops up on a lot of these awards. And this one will go to none other than who? Draymond Green. Victor Wembiyama. Wemby has been incredible defensively. He's altering shots as we know he does. He's blocking shots. He's chasing guards around. He's just, the competition level that he has on that side of the ball, especially with what he does offensively, is absolutely insane. He changes the game defensively. If he's healthy and can withstand, I think he got 4 more games. If he can withstand those 4 more games. He is by far the Defensive Player of the Year. There should not be another first place vote. Nuts. Absolutely nuts. So Wemby's our Defender of the Year. He's been fully healthy and he's been great. So shout out to Wemby. Certified Defender of the Month. Excuse me, I said Defender of the Year. I meant Defender of the Month. But Wemby will be the Defensive Player of the Year. Yeah. Two awards in the most improved category. And we broke this award up in two because in the NBA it's just kind of goes to a young up and coming superstar that kind of moves into that space. And I just don't think it quite, I think it needs to be broken down in two. So we break it down in two and it's the guy who made the jump award. Good player who is now a really good player, probably headed towards greatness this one. Jalen Johnson continues to take that next step. He's doing that while winning. And it's beautiful to see. I think the jump that he's made, you know, he's growing into a star in this league and is special to watch. So, you know, he's a good player who, you know, by his contract, you could tell everybody thought he was gonna be good. Well, by his next contract, you would know how great he's gonna be. So shout out to Jaylen Johnson for continuing to put in the work. I know him and Chris Johnson do a lot of work together and Chris Johnson's been very high on him. Since coming outta Duke, you know, and you know, it's been beautiful to watch. So shout out to Jaylen Johnson continuing to make that jump. And then our Outta Nowhere Award is a bench guy who now is a real contributor. And that has to go to none other than Gee Santos. First off, congratulations on signing the new deal. But Gee Santos has been incredible. He's pretty much a walking 18 points a game, a night guy. You know, and just the way he's been doing it. Like he's had the ball in his hand. Steve Kerr has gotten more and more comfortable running him, been picking roles and post-up plays for him and different things. You know, and he's shooting the ball really well, playing great basketball. So shout out to Guy Santos, man. The Outta Nowhere Award just continues to get better and better the more time he gets. So shout out to Guy, happy as hell for him. Our Firestarter of the Month. Has to go to none other than Lou Dort. Lou Dort has pretty much been trying to take Joker out a couple times last month. And you know, not much is made of it because OKC has a clean image and apparently Lou Dort has a very clean image, but he is definitely the fire starter of the month because you make the plays that he's making on Joker, same guy, you know, you gotta be the fire starter of the month. Word. Like I said, they don't really get off into that. They do it and then play like, "Oh." But fire starter of the month for sure. And then we have an honorable mention. And that goes to a guy that's not even playing, Dylan Brooks. Dylan Brooks has had a couple incidences off the court. He fire started with the cops. But, you know, I don't wish that on nobody. So I hope he can pull it together. You know, he's having a great year and you just don't want the year to be defined by these couple things off the court allow people to kind of devalue what he's done on the court. And Phoenix is having a great year. So honorable mention go to Dillon Brooks and it's all off-court related. So hopefully he can pull it together. Like I said, I don't wish that on nobody. Guys are up against a lot. Lawyer fees is a lot. So Dillon Brooks is the honorable mention fire starter of the month and it is completely due to nothing with basketball. Okay. Our must-see TV player of the month has to go to none other than Kawhi Leonard. Like I said, I think Kawhi has to be higher up in the MVP voting. They traded James Harden, they traded Zubac. Kawhi Leonard publicly said, "Well, it's over now." And Kawhi Leonard publicly, out loud, showed something completely different. He's playing great, he got that team playing great, young guys and all. He looks like the Kawhi of old, except better. He's continued to march the Clippers on up the standings. So I don't know how you can look past what Kawhi's done. So Kawhi, and it's been beautiful basketball. So Kawhi Leonard is our must-see TV player of the month. The KD, Just a Hooper Award has to go to Wemby. Wemby's doing everything, offensively, defensively, winning, everything, you name it. And he just hooping and it's beautiful to see, man. He looks like he's in incredible shape. He's healthy. Like you're starting to see that potential unlock and he ain't scratched the surface. But he just going out there and hooping and his guys are falling in line. So Wimby wins the KD Just a Hooper of the Month Award. And last but not least, our Nick Young Swing Player of the Month Award goes to Chris Dunn. Also on that Clippers team with Kawhi, one of the mainstays, has not missed a game all year. Shooting about 38% from 3. Defending the best guy every night, bringing the edge to that team. Found a home. Shout out to Chris Dunn. He's been playing incredible basketball all year. He kept that up through the month of February. And I think he deserves acknowledgement. Think he'll also be an All-Defense Team performer. So shout out to Chris Dunn, man. Revitalizing his career, finding a role with a team and helping that team win. I love that. I respect that. That's it for our monthly awards. That's also it for this episode of the Draymond Green Show. I wanna thank you all for tuning in. We're back at it in Boston tomorrow because I'm in this beautiful hotel room where you all told me don't podcast. Until 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 Audacy. Maura Curran. Josephina Francis. Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, and Jake Gally.