In this debut episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green recaps the Warriors' 2023‑24 season, explains the NBA play‑in tournament format, and previews the Warriors’ upcoming play‑in game against the Sacramento Kings. He highlights the Warriors’ 46‑36 record, their 10th‑seed placement, and the historical rarity of ten teams finishing 10+ games above .500 in one conference. Using a humorous anecdote about explaining the play‑in to his mother‑in‑law, Green breaks down the 7‑8 and 9‑10 play‑in mechanics, emphasizing that a loss for the 9‑10 game ends the Warriors’ season. He then analyzes the Kings’ roster changes—Keon Ellis starting, the absence of Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter, and the increased role of De’Aaron Fox—while noting the importance of Domantas Sabonis. Green outlines the Warriors’ game plan: protect the ball, generate quality rim looks, and play disciplined, physical defense. He stresses the significance of Andrew Wiggins on both ends and positions Jonathan Kuminga as the X‑factor, citing his athleticism and finishing ability as crucial for a win. The segment ends with Green’s confidence that Kuminga will step up in the moment.
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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. Let's talk these play-in games. Number one, the Dubs finished 46-36 and finished a 10 seed. Crazy. My first year when we made the playoffs, we finished a 6 seed at 44-38. I'll never forget that. We had a water champagne shower in the locker room at the end of the regular season. Last game of the regular season. Coach Jackson was coaching us and we had a water shower because Coach Jackson don't do alcohol. Not his thing. Ain't doing it. Ain't coming around. Keep it over there. And so there was no champagne shower. There was a water shower and splash water everywhere. You know, it was the first time Dubs had made the playoffs since the We Believe season. And second time in 23 years the Dubs had made the playoffs. We was, everybody was happy. And that was 44 and 38. We're 46 and 36. After what most would say was an awful year for the Dubs. And I agree, it was a bad year for us. 46 and 36, 10 games above .500. Which last year would've been good for 4th in the West. However, it is good for 10th in the West these days. And it's also the first time ever that 10 teams has finished above, 10 games above .500 in one conference. Absolutely crazy. Needless to say, we are in 10th spot in the playing game, which means for those of you out there that are still confused, with the play-in situation. And I know there's a lot of people out there confused with the play-in situation. I'll tell you why. Because my mother-in-law, I had a conversation with her that almost made me late for practice today for about 10, 7 to 10 minutes explaining the play-in to her. And my mother-in-law loves sports. She loves basketball, loves football. She watches every game if she ain't at the game. She's into it. And she was so confused by the play-in situation. So I explained it to her forwards and she didn't really get it. So then I explained it backwards and she really didn't get it then. And I explained it forward again and backwards again. And then finally, like the 5th time, I'm like, yeah, Nana. So, you know, we're 10, they're 9. Okay. SAC is 9, we gotta go to SAC. She's like, "Well, what happens if you win? If you lose, you're done?" And I'm like, "Yeah, you know, the Pelicans and the Lakers are in 7 and 8." And she's like, "If they lose, they're done too." And I'm like, "No, no, no. Actually, if they lose, whoever lose that game, they're gonna play against the winner of our game. And then whoever lose that game is gone. But the loser of our game in 9 and 10, they're outta here if they lose." So like, I could be seeing you tomorrow night, man, and our season is over. Or I could be seeing you and we're not done, but we're not quite still going. We still gotta win one more. Like we gotta— So for those of you who don't understand, 7-8 plays, that is the New Orleans Pelicans at the 7th seed. That is the Los Angeles Lakers at the 8th seed. 9-10 plays, that is the Sacramento Kings at the 9th seed. That is the Golden State Warriors as the 10 seed. We are here in Sacramento. If I open my window up, it'll, the sun will blind you, but the arena's right here. We play tomorrow and the Lakers and Pelicans play tomorrow before us. Winner of that game becomes the 7 seed. That winner takes on Denver. So there's a lot of talk around, do you bomb that game and, try to stay away from Denver. Let me tell you, you don't bomb a game to get in the playoffs and leave yourself with one game to get in. So any loser who came up with that idea, you're crazy. That makes no sense. You don't leave yourself in a game where the Pelicans could shoot the lights out and send you home. Although you could do a lot to win that game, but they could shoot the lights out. Like we've seen it happen. Far too recent. We've seen, I mean, way too recent. We've seen that happen. So we know that can't happen. So you just don't blow a game to blow a game. So winner of that game takes on the Denver Nuggets as a 7th seed. The loser of that game plays against the winner of the Kings versus the Warriors. The loser of the Kings versus Warriors tomorrow night goes home. Winner faces either the Lakers in LA or the Pelicans in New Orleans. Winner of that game on Friday will then move on to face OKC in OKC on Sunday as the AC. That is the play-in. That's where we at. Let's get to the game. Same Sacramento Kings team that we played last year and sent them home. In the first round of the playoffs. I was telling the guys earlier today, if I knew we'd spent so much time in Sacramento since last year, I probably would've bought a home here. That's how much we've been here. That's how familiar I am with the area, which means that's how familiar they are with us and we are with them. This is very much so a game that I know you, you know me, game 7. Game 7. You know everything I do, I know everything you do. Who's going to make the necessary plays that it takes to win the game? That's what it's going to come down to. They're not gonna run any sets. I mean, yeah, Mike Brown may drop one, two, but they're not gonna run any sets that we don't know they're gonna run. Are you going to follow your game plan Give up what you're willing to give up, take away what you wanna take away to win the game. Are you gonna do that over and over and over again? Offensively, are you gonna execute your offense and you gonna do that over and over again to win the game? Because there ain't one down screen, one pin in, we gonna run for Klay, one down screen, a ball screen, we gonna set for Steph. That they're not expecting. They're expecting everything we do, we're gonna be expecting everything they do. Now, little different of a team we're facing. No Malik Monk, no Kevin Herter. So it's a different team. You got different guys, number one, different personalities. They're playing Keon Ellis a lot. He's starting, two-way wing, shooting the ball pretty well, 40, 41% from three. He picking up full, he's bringing that energy to the defensive end. So that's a different look than what Kevin Huerter gives you. Kevin Huerter is shooting, Keon Ellis will slash a little bit, but you're not quite overreacting to him as much defensively as you would to Kevin Huerter, be that how they use Kevin Huerter. But Keon Ellis brings a totally different thing. Yeah. Averaging like 10 points and he's been really good for them. So we gotta be aware of him. He's bringing a different flair to the game. And then obviously not having Malik Monk off the bench changes things. That changes things a lot because Malik Monk plays with a lot of force. Malik Monk is a primary ball handler when Fox isn't in the game. And even when Fox is in the game, Malik Monk is one of their primary ball handlers. So puts a lot of pressure on your defense. So that changes things a bit. However, I think how they've supplemented that is you're just getting a much heavier dose of De'Aaron Fox. De'Aaron Fox has the ball in his hands a lot more with Monk being out. And then obviously they're running their offense through Sabonis. You know, when you look at the game, you kind of go into the games with like, oh man, who do you take away? Do you take Sabonis away? Do you try to take Fox away? And the reality is, I don't think the mindset will be to take either one of them away because they're great players, they're all-star players. You're never gonna take an all-star player away. What you're trying to do is you're trying to limit in these situations what a player loves to do. So if you know Fox loves to do this, if you know Sabonis loves to do that, you're trying to limit those things. You're trying to make them play left-handed. Bad term because both of those guys are left-handed. But in theory, if you think about it, most people aren't left-handed. Most people are right-handed. And so there's this term in basketball that you want to, that Tex Winter used to say, Tex Winter, because Steve Kerr always shares this with us. It's like, you wanna make them play left-handed. Meaning you wanna make them uncomfortable. You wanna make them do what they, don't want to do. And that's kind of the goal when you're going into these situations. We had great film sessions today on them. It's a game I'm extremely excited about. And a game that, you know, I think we're more than capable of winning. You know, every time we play these guys, it goes down to the wire. So we're expecting a very physical game, intense game. And we just gotta come out and get it done. I think for us to win, Very young, fast team. One of the most important things for us to win this game would be we really need to take care of the ball. We take care of the ball, we get good shots up, we're then able to play great defense, not be in transition all game. You play, you know, play a great, you know, get your defense set. So it'll be really important for us to take care of the basketball. That will be the number one key. In the game for us. Take care of the ball, get looks at the rim. Think if we're getting looks at the rim, I like the odds that we'll make them. We have great shooters, we have great scorers. I think that'll be big for us. And if there's one player that I would say is very important for us to win this game, obviously Andrew Wiggins is important on both sides of the ball. But I think our X factor is extremely important in this game, and Jonathan Kuminga.
Mm-hmm.
Jonathan Kuminga brings a different flair to our team. He brings something that not many people in the NBA bring to a team. Great getting downhill, great finisher at the rim. So I think Kuminga is gonna be very important to our success tomorrow with his athleticism. This being a young athletic group, you know, he makes us more athletic. And so I think Kuminga, Kuminga plays well, we win. And I have no doubt in my mind that Kaminga's gonna be ready for the moment and play well. He's taking that next step. And this is the moments where when you're taking those next steps, you gotta go. And I expect nothing less from the young fella, Kaminga.
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