Warriors title reaction w/ Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala & Gary Payton II | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show Championship Edition. That's my daughter, Cash. We are in the press room, still here at TD Garden, couple hours after the game. 4-time champions up here as you see. Got my man Killer Klay, Draymond Green, the vet, the OG, the guy who guided us through all of this. Honored to be here. Man, they said we could not do it again. Talk to me, Killer. How does this one feel as a— in comparison to the other 3, how does this one feel?

I can't sugarcoat it, bro. It's the sweetest one. Just, you know, from the '15-'50 season when Steph and I were on the bench, we had to watch you out there just—

Struggle.

Anchoring these young bucks and—

Struggle.

Then the next year having to watch again and to insert myself in this lineup and then just see the whole thing come together, bro, it's like the sweetest experience I've ever been a part of, man. And it makes the journey that much sweeter just knowing what we all had to go through. So I just, it's an honor to be up here for real.

This is such a special moment, not because we just won a championship, but because it took us a championship to get Klay Thompson on the podcast. Ha ha ha! That is true. So that is such an honor. But along this journey, and which has been 3 years now, was there ever any doubt for you, A, that you would be able to come back the player that you have come back and B, that we would be able to do this again once you came back?

Oh yeah, I doubted, man, every day. I remember guarding LB in September and I could not stay in front of this man. Even Will Sheehy, who never played in the league, I was getting busted by him, everybody. I was just the weak link out there. And I'm just like, man, I swear I used to be a great defender. I swear I used to be a great shooter. And then Rick Celebri would tell me every day, like, Clay, it's going to be up and down. But once you, we just need Clay for the playoffs and that's all it's going to take. And I was like, okay, Rick, whatever you say. So I had so many doubts, but once we got closer to the real thing though, and we actually didn't even get to play with each other until the first playoff game. Well, once I saw you two on the floor with Steph and the talent we had around us, I knew it was a wrap. Like no one can mess with us.

One more question before we get Klay outta here, because I promised him this would be 3 questions. Mm-hmm. And it is a miracle that we got him here. But for you moving forward, do we have Klay Thompson finishing his career with the Golden State Warriors? I need to know this for my own personal sake.

Man, I did tell Steve Kerr at the NBA TV little podium, I told him, you know, I'm going full Michael Jordan. I'm aligning myself with Steve. I ain't playing for anybody but Steve. So that's the plan. And I don't, it would be weird to be in another uni, you know? So I'm just grateful to be up here and to be mentioned with the Lakers, the Celtics, and the Bulls. Now we're there. This, this, I never, sure, when you got drafted here, Andre signed on, you never would envision this, maybe one, but four. And we ain't done. That's the beautiful thing about it. We got these young bucks behind us and we got Same squad coming back is scary for the NBA.

It is very scary, my brother. I appreciate you coming on.

Oh yeah, of course.

Thank you, my guy.

We'll get a full podcast.

Absolutely we will. Dray, come talk to us, brother. Come talk to us. And here we have a return guest, a guy who came on the podcast before, like, it was easy to get guests. And not that it's easy now, But once you build a reputable show, you know, then it's a lot easier to come on. I'm very thankful to this man for coming on when it was just trying to start a podcast. And a guy who's taught me so much, taught all of us so much. How does this one feel?

This one's, this one's, I'm at a loss for words because I think they let us get this one., and we gonna get off, we gonna get our, we gonna get our you know what off.

Absolutely.

They made a mistake letting us get this one off.

Absolutely.

No, but I was saying because there's only so many, you talk about any sport, there's only so many that put a stranglehold on that entire league for this long. Like you talk about Brady, talk about the 49ers, you know, you talk about, you know, the Bulls, The Spurs had it stretched out. And you talk about the Lakers and Celtics, obviously, but you know, this is 75th year of the NBA. 75 years. When we do like the 200th year, like it's etched in stone. Like we should really get our shit off now.

Absolutely.

Like fam, bro, I'm about to talk so much cash. Like, oh, you know you done fucked up, right?

You know you done fucked up, right? That's incredible, man. And honestly, I told y'all don't let us win a fucking championship and y'all done fucked up and let us win a championship. Hey, but check this though. We go on the run, 5 straight finals, and then Bob Myers come to you and he say, yo, Kevin leaves. And he said, yo, we gonna trade you. What was that like for you?

You know, it's funny because I saw it, you know how you and I are, like we see before like things happen. So I knew in my contract I had an extension date. So the last year of my contract, I can get cut and that salary be spread out over 3 years. So something had told me, call Bob and ask him when's my cut date. I was like, Bob, when my cut date? And we built such a great relationship with Bob. Bob was like, come talk to me.

Hey, JK, come in here, man.

Yeah, yeah. So Bob was like, come talk to me. So I went to Bob's office and he was like, we might trade you. And he kept it real just because we have a great rapport. And that's when I knew. So I wasn't surprised. And—

You killing our contact, young fella.

Man.

All right, bet.

But I knew, you know, there might be opportunity on the back end. So, you know, I was talking about it with the NBA media earlier that things happen for a reason. And me going to Miami and experiencing the Miami Heat culture, that really helped me come back and then accept the role I had. 'Cause like I had really good days this year, but the body just wouldn't hold up. But I knew that I can still be impactful. And I still knew that we could like, you know how it is, you can't let a year get by and you know that you let one slip away. Like, we've been here too many times. So I was just like, let me just do what I need to do. And it's just been incredible. It has been incredible.

Speaking of the body not holding up, because it's actually something I was gonna ask before you just said that, but I didn't think it would be possible as an NBA Finals MVP that we probably felt your impact this year. More than any year that you were competing and playing and dominating and clamping and settling our offense down and getting us into the position. I didn't think that would be possible. I am 100% certain we don't do this without you and your leadership and showing us the way. But for you as a competitor, that's still gotta be tough.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Knowing that Ultimately, I am a basketball player. I'm not a coach. Like I play basketball, I'm on this team. And yet your body not allowing you to give what you know you could give on the court. How was getting through that and just ultimately saying, I'm working hard to get back and be available for the finals, but ultimately knowing like I may not play much. How was that for you?

It was tough because I would have like good workouts. Like I had to work out with Draymond Green, before or right after game 3. And we had practice and I didn't miss a shot. Like I looked like Steph. I did the Steph thing where I started in the paint and went all the way back to like half court and made like 9 straight shots. I'm like, yo, I'm really ready. And Steve was just kind of like, I might have to go another direction. And it like, to be honest, it hurt you. We all human. It's like, bro, I can help. Like, let me help. But at the same time, it's like, Listen, man, I believe in these guys. Like, I know if Wiggs can do what he's able to do for us, we good. I know if GP does what he needs to do for us, we good. I know if Otto gets his toe white, we good. Belly was huge for us. You know what I mean?

Like, Belly went out there and helped us win a championship.

You know what I mean? We talked about like Nick Young came and helped us in the Houston series a couple years ago. And then just Jordan Poole and just being—

Yeah.

Trying to be that role model. And it's like Mike, Draymond Green said, I need to put you in for 1 minute in game 5 when Loon got 4 quick fouls. 'Cause I forgot what ref was calling all them fouls on him. And he was like going for 1 minute. I said, damn, y'all put me in for 1 minute, G. Like that joint, like, but at the same time it was like, yo, man up, bro. Like man up. 'Cause Kaminga's here, you know, he's very impressionable and, you know, he does whatever we say, but you gotta show him the way too because, and, in the 8 years it might come into effect. Like 8 years from now, Kaminga's like, man, Andre went in, he a Finals MVP. He went in for 77 seconds and played good minutes. You know what I mean? So like that, those things come into mind, you know, like that stuff comes back tenfold.

No, for sure. And I think what people don't understand is how fast something could swing. And although that 77 seconds, you know, wasn't a bunch of points or it wasn't a bunch of this, all it takes is 77 seconds to swing a game. So all it takes is for coach to put a guy in that he doesn't necessarily trust and they have one turnover and that changed the entire game. And I think that's what people don't understand about this entire process is like that 77 seconds, all of us were comfortable.

Yep. Yep.

Because regardless of what you were, what you didn't do, we knew what you were gonna do.

Right.

And that's not make a single mistake.

Yep, yep.

And it was such a beautiful thing, man. And I can go on and on with this interview as you know, but I really, I wanna say thank you. You came back here, you didn't have to come back here and to come back here and show us the way again, you know, no matter what next year holds for you, like, I mean, I'm pretty certain that you probably wanna be done because you, you know, for those that don't know, I'm not even sure if I can say this. Can I say this? What Andre's doing?

Yeah, I mean, it's public.

Starting a venture capitalist fund. Like that's our OG, you know, that's who has shown us the way, you know? And like, I know you have bigger and better things that waits for you, awaits you. And whether you decide to come back or not, the impact that you had on our lives and our careers and what we can continue to move on. Obviously this brotherhood doesn't end. This is forever, but I can't thank you enough, brother, for your leadership, for your guidance and being the true definition and showing me what it meant to be a vet to someone else. I thank you, brother. I love you. Four times, brother. They can't never take that from us.

I appreciate you, fam.

I love you, my dog.

They can't fuck with us. Absolutely not.

My dog, Finals MVP. What do you think?

Andre Iguodala.

New media, we on y'all ass. We on y'all ass. Yes sir, brother. Such, such, such an incredible journey. And within our little audience that we have here at the Draymond Green Show, we have a guy who, we have a guy who, played on 4 NBA teams, 5 G League teams, which is even more impressive than the 4 NBA teams, 5 G League teams. And you know, it's a very interesting thing. When I was, and we've had the pleasure and the honor of having his pops on. And I remember asking him just like, you know, I know in all these interviews they ask you about, defense and being in the club and all of these things, but tell me about being a father. And as someone who went back and forth with, do I name my son a Junior or not? Because then they have to live up to that and blah, blah, blah. And this guy is that way before DJ.— and to get it out the mud. People don't realize sometimes having the same name as an NBA legend, it works the opposite way. You know, I know most people think like, oh, it's nepotism. No, no, no. It actually works against you in a lot of cases. And to see him get it out the mud, to be the 15th guy to make the roster, This is a full circle moment for us because I remember his 10-day ending. And you know where that 10-day ended at? That 10-day ended here in Boston. And he's dapping all of us up like, "Yo man, it's been great. I appreciate y'all." I'm like, "What are you talking about?" He like, "Oh, my 10-day up." I'm like, "Dude, you'll be here. See you later." And then I called Bob, Steph called Bob, and we're like, "Yo, yo, you can't get rid of GP." You gotta bring him back. You see what he's doing for you? You gotta bring him back. And that was the start of all of this. And so I'm honored to welcome the next guest, the champ, Gary Payton II, GP2, my brother. Welcome to the Draymond Green Show.

What up?

Yes, sir. How does it feel?

First and foremost, just from me to you, just I appreciate you and, you know, everything you did, you know, just went for bat for me, you know, through the summer and, you know, my first 10 days, second 10 days, whatever. You 30, you know, having my back and giving me this opportunity and believing in me. That's just— that alone just, you know, means the world. That's why I went to bat for you this whole year, you know. I didn't do it for me or whatever. I did this for y'all and y'all legacy. Y'all legacy is bigger than, you know, my career or whatever, so forth. It's just I'm proud of you and, you know, everything you've been through and how you got it out, you know, you feel me?

Absolutely.

And, you know, I appreciate you.

I appreciate you, brother. And honestly, The beautiful thing about all of this is you're now a part of that legacy, you know? And the journey, the most beautiful thing about this is the journey, you know, like holding the trophy. Like I didn't hold the trophy on stage one time. Like didn't even want to get near it because it's the journey that you appreciate. It's the people that you go through it with. That's why you appreciate it. You know, that's the beauty in this. It's like, you go through people, you go through this with the people that you've been in the trenches with over and over and over again. And that is the beauty in this. That's why you do this. And so for me, the thing that I've enjoyed most about each championship outside of the first one was seeing the guys who's winning it for the first time. Because that reaction, that it's almost like— Like a kid. The innocence of a child, like that does not know what it feels like. And so for me, that's what I get the most joy out of, seeing you win a championship, seeing Draymond Green win a championship, seeing Otto, who a guy who signed $100 million contract when it was nearly impossible to get $100 million contract and then go through the injuries, see him get a championship. Belly. You know, who's, Belly's 33 years old, didn't come over to the NBA until I think he was 27 or something like that. To see Belly get a chance, that's the beauty in it. And so, you know, I wanna say congratulations. You've earned your keep. You belong here and you've shown that. To be the 15th man on the roster and become a vital part of that roster, it's unheard of. It doesn't happen. You play one preseason game due to injury. You're going through the preseason and you're unable to get out there and you know what's riding on this and you need to make this team. What's going through your mind through that preseason? And just trying to rehab from an injury?

Just trying to get ready as fast as, you know, the fastest way I can. Stay ready, keep my mental right, and, you know, just know that, you know, you working towards, you know, that moment, that one moment that might change, you know, your career, your life. And they said I would have that moment, but, you know, keep working, stay the course, and, you know, keep doing my rehab. So I just kept— stay ready, basically. Kept my rehab up and when that time was ready where they let me go, I had to leave it in no doubt for Bob and them to make that decision and keep me.

Such an amazing thing. Like I said, just only playing one game and you beat out Avery Bradley, who at that point it's like you need a defensive, a wing defender and you beat out Avery Bradley, who's been an incredible defender. In this league for a long time. And I thought that was absolutely amazing. I have a tell— and this is what I could be thinking and you may think otherwise and you can tell me if you think I'm wrong or what you think it is. But I was having a conversation with a young fella a couple weeks ago and he finished the season with an organization and he was—

Draymond Green.

Draymond Green back working out wherever he works out at in the summer. Do you see any significance in a guy who's in your position or in a position similar to yours sticking with that team throughout the summer that they ended with and training with that team and being around those coaches and being around those young guys? Do you see the benefit in that as opposed to— Yeah. All right, I ended with this team. I'm gonna go back to LA and train. I'm gonna go to Vegas and train. I'm gonna go to Miami and train now. What is the significance in sticking with that team and training with them and going through their offseason regimen?

Yeah, that was, that was probably the biggest decision I made because all the other times I got cut, I went back home. That's what I did. I went back to Vegas and I got back in the gym and whatnot. But with this team and what I felt on my first 10-day, you know, and going into the offseason, like, this is the group. This is the formula, you feel me? Like, I could be, you know, a big piece in helping, you know, everything go smoother than what it was. So I made that decision when I got cut. Why I asked to be in the video room is to be around y'all. Like, I was gonna still be in practice, still show, you know, Bob and everybody that, you know, I can still play. I can play in this league. Yeah. So that was my mindset on, you know, asking for that job. And when I decided to stay here this whole summer, regardless, I said, I told myself, I said, I'm not going nowhere. Like, I'm gonna show them that I can play basketball the right way and I can work in the system with y'all. So that was my mindset. And then I wasn't gonna let nobody or anything, you know, tell me otherwise.

It's amazing, brother. And before we get out of here, your pops is no longer the only one in the house with a ring. What you got to say to the OG, man?

I got it. I think I got it sooner. You feel me? Ooh. Yeah, and I'm one for one, 100%. You can't say nothing about 100%. That's 100%. So if you wanna talk to me, you know where I live.

OG GP the GOAT.

Hey, shout out Draymond Green. OG, I'm so happy for him. 4-time champ. Couldn't have done it without this man. He led us. Throughout the year, he's had so much on his back and he's did so much for us, done so much for us and for this organization. And I can't do nothing but thank you, brother, and congrats, 4-time champ. And you already know, you a legend.

I appreciate you, my brother. Thank you for coming on the show.

Yes, sir, thank you for having me.

We gonna have to do a full episode and just really get into your background and how you grew up and the things that I wanna talk about, the struggles of growing up with a father in the NBA. You know, I think, you know, the thing that people don't realize is like, as beautiful as that is and like as dope as that is, you're not home. You know, you're on the road and he's not home or I'm not home all the time. And your rock, your mom and how she held it down. And so we gonna get into all that, man. Have to bring you on the show, my brother.

Absolutely.

You already know, call me.

Thank you, dog.

Congrats, champ. Congrats, champ.

Appreciate you, brother.

Can't say nothing about it. Yes, sir. What now?

The Young Glove.

What now?

The Young Glove.

Yeah, talk your shit, Draymond.

My dog. Man, I am exhausted to say the least. Our audience in here is starting to dwindle down, but my beautiful wife Hazel is still sitting there and it's absolutely incredible to be on this journey with you, my love. My dog Stels is still sitting there. Director of sports marketing at Converse. And then my brother Torian, my man Harris, who showed me the way. We got Jackson behind the camera. We got Faze in here. Faze is the man behind the Draymond Green Show Instagram, giving you all the content.

Yeah.

And then we have me, yours truly, the new media, the champ, 4x. I tell you what.

4x.

I tell you what, man. I got a lot of respect for that group over there, led by Ime Udoka, incredible, incredible coach. And it's ironic to go up against him. I think back to one of my tweets, in their series, during their series against Milwaukee. And Ime, they had just went and won game 6 on the road. And I was watching SportsCenter and they showed this feature on Budenholzer. Budenholzer's a great coach, champion coach. Don't take nothing away from him. But they showed this feature on him after they just had lost. And then they showed like JB talking, Jason Tatum talking, like Budenholzer talking, and they didn't show Ime Udoka talking. And so I, and when I say talking, I mean like their press conference, giving quotes. And I tweeted, I said, does Ime do, does he do press conferences? Because some situations people don't like to talk and they, You know, they get old, they hand that over to the assistant, maybe the assistant coach does the talk. So I said, does Ime Udoka, does he do press conferences? Because it's baffling to me that there's a feature on the losing coach, then there's words from the losing coach, but nothing from the winning coach as if he didn't make any adjustments to go on the road and win game 6. And I thought that was strange and I didn't like it. And that's why I tweeted it. —because this is a much different team than they've had here. So what's the difference? The difference is that a coach came in and required something different, tapped into something different when everyone said Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum can't play together. And they were foolish for signing Marcus Smart to a max deal. And they were stupid for bringing Al Horford back and all of those things. And you gotta give Brad Stevens his credit in, in some of those moves that he made. But the thing that changed was Ime Udoka came in and he required something different from those guys. He required JT to play defense. He required JT to move the ball and he averaged 7 or 8 assists in this series. He required JB to take that next step. He required Robert Williams to take that next step. He required Smart to go back to his Oklahoma State days and be the point guard that this team needed. Aaron Miles, who's on that bench, who was with us last year. That's the difference. The difference is those guys that came in, Damon Stoudemire, Will Cherry. Yeah. They commanded a different respect. And you have to give them a lot of credit. That team ain't going nowhere. That team will be back. You better believe that team will be back. Give a lot of credit to Robert Williams. Most guys, especially this day and age, most guys sitting out on that knee, got a knee injury. Most guys, they not continuing to go. For what? We're in the finals. I'm banged up, I got my money. Nobody would've complained if Robert Williams decided to sit out. He didn't. He was a game changer in this entire series, caused fits. Gotta give a lot of credit to that young man with his whole entire future ahead of him. His whole entire future ahead of him. He left it all out there on the line. You respect guys like that. 'Cause there's so many guys in this league that would never do that. You respect guys like that. The utmost respect from me. That's a group. That's a young group over there. Grant Williams, who's all in my grill, in my face the entire series. We had our words back and forth. I got respect for that young man. Them guys gonna be together. And— They'd be crazy if they don't keep those guys together. But it wouldn't surprise me if we see this team sometime in the near future when we're done, win a championship. They got it. They're not weak, they're not soft. They got the scoring, they got the defense, they got the bigs. They— if there's one place that they can improve, it's probably their depth. You know, if you look at this series, I feel like they just ran outta gas. Like, and that was it for us. We were like, yo, they're only really playing 7 guys. Sometimes it's only 6. Let's just keep running these guys. Let's keep a body in front of these guys. Let's try to wear them down. But the thing about it is championship teams, they got their guys and then they fill out with great minimums. Yeah. And when you're a great team like that, you start to get the great minimums. And so you go into next year, your bench look totally different. You're able to rely on that bench. And so those are some of the things that I think we'll see from them. And I don't think this is our last time hearing from the Boston Celtics. That's a great group. They got a great young core and they're gonna continue to get better. Yeah. Before we get out of here, because I, I have to go join this party, let's talk about some of these naysayers. Before this series started, I saw ESPN power indexes. Some gave us a 20% chance to win. Why? Who makes those things? What is their job security like? Because you're lying to people. So is anyone held accountable these days? Anybody held accountable these days? I even saw it was like 2 to 2 and they're like 79% chance, 21. Are you crazy? You know who you dealing with? Sus. To count us out like that is just, is crazy to me. Where do y'all get these numbers from? Like, are they coming from the people that sit up there and don't know what they talking about? That's how it gotta be calculated because it just— those numbers just don't make sense to me. They didn't make sense and they for damn sure don't make sense now. Nick Wright comes out and say, uh, Steph Curry's— that's it. He'll never see the Finals again. And Andrew Wiggins, 3 years, $95 million left on his deal. Why would they go do that worst trade and blah, blah, blah. I hope you willing to stand on that word, brother. Stand on that and tell us why you thought that. Tell us why you thought that. Tell us why this whole series you've been yapping, yapping, and then all of a sudden you want to switch to the dubs. Tell us why. I don't know. 'Cause what's in question is your basketball knowledge. Some of these asinine-ass statements y'all be making, that's why I speak of the new media. For those of you that don't know what the new media is, let me explain to you what the new media is. The new media is not athletes doing media, been doing that. A lot of them turn into coons and start acting like the old media once they become media. But let me explain to you what the new media is. The new media is A, stand on your word. We don't apologize for our word. We don't flip and go. You stand on your word, good, bad, or indifferent. We stand on that. B, we are not trying to create controversy. I'm not trying to align myself with a guy or two so I can fill some TV slots on a daily. And create controversy. Basketball is a beautiful game. If you know the game of basketball, basketball will give you enough to talk about. The problem is all of these people talking about basketball that don't know basketball. And so what do you do? You chase controversy. The new media, we don't do that. That's why you see JJ Redick flourishing. That's why you see CJ McCollum flourishing. Mm-hmm. That's why you see me flourishing. So we don't do that. We simply talk the game that we know and embrace it. Teach. That's what these spots are about. How do you teach the game? How do you teach the fans the game? These people that think they know the game of basketball but don't really know. How does JJ Redick go up there and teach the game? I don't know. That's the new media. We give flowers when flowers are due. We don't have to try to build a guy up for a week to tear him down next week so I got something to talk about. That's the new media. Respect, integrity, respect and integrity on the job, about the job. I remember days when you didn't go on a TV show and cheer for another team. Yeah. You go on and give analysis. Nobody give a damn who you cheering for. You got fools like Kendrick Perkins come dressing like a clown. Come up here in a jail suit and then you leave the game early tonight. Stand on your word, brother. You gotta stand on that. It's one thing's for certain, I'm gonna stand on mine. Full-time champ, I'm out.

Peace.