Draymond GreenForward, Golden State Warriors

What the Olympics taught Draymond Green & Zach LaVine | Best of The Volume

17 Feb 2022 · 3 min

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In this interview segment, Draymond Green and Zach LaVine reflect on their experiences with Team USA at the Olympic Games. Green emphasizes the unique bond forged among the players, describing how external skepticism—both from American fans and the global audience—created a "us versus the world" mentality that strengthened their resolve. He contrasts the Olympic focus on winning a gold medal with the typical NBA emphasis on individual statistics, noting that after his 2016 gold, no one asked about his points, rebounds, or minutes—only about the medal itself. Green uses this perspective to encourage his teammates to prioritize collective success over personal numbers. Both players highlight the contributions of role players, especially Keldon Johnson’s daily energy, and discuss the importance of embracing one's role, whether starting or coming off the bench. Green recounts a conversation with Coach Gregg Popovich about starting Bam Adebayo, underscoring that personal ego should be set aside for the team's goal. Overall, the dialogue showcases how Olympic experiences shape mindset, teamwork, and leadership approaches that players bring back to the NBA.

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What we did over there was special. And it wasn't that we won the gold medal that was special. We built a bond amongst that team that I don't think most people truly understands. And the reality is, when we're over there, and you can speak to this too, when we were over there, it felt like, including America, that the whole world was against us and wanted us to lose. Yeah.
Yeah, it was crazy.
Like, I mean, you're looking on like, obviously on the phone because you don't get ESPN over there, but you're looking on the phone and you have Americans dogging us.
And doubting you.
Doubting us, dogging us. The world has caught up. These guys can't win, blah, blah, blah. And I felt like we had to come together the way we did in order to win.
First, it was really us versus the world. Especially with us being able because of the pandemic to not go anywhere and having to be so close-knit each and every day. Like you said, it definitely bonded us. And for me being my first experience over there, it was incredible.
No, it was. And I think for me personally, obviously that was my second one, but you know, and I appreciate what you just said about me on that team, by the way. One thing that I learned my first time around in 2016 where, Man, I'm not sure how many minutes per game I averaged at Olympics. It was probably somewhere around 6 to 8 minutes a game.
Yeah.
But the one thing that stood out to me was since winning that 2016 gold medal, not one person asked me how many points I averaged per game. Not one person asked me how many rebounds I averaged per game. Not one person asked me how many minutes I played per game. The only thing anyone ever says was, "You won a gold medal, didn't you?" Absolutely, I won a gold medal. And so for me to then bring that mindset to this team and trying to help guys understand, "Hey man, I don't—" And obviously on this time around, I had a bigger impact in playing.
Mm-hmm.
Now everyone has an impact. We can speak of Keldon Johnson. Everyone may, put up so much fuss about Keldon making the team. And I always tell people, Keldon was one of the reasons we won that. The energy that he brought every single day, practice, we don't wanna go to practice, Keldon in there loud, bringing energy.
Happy, yeah.
I don't think people truly understand that. And that was me. Like I was Keldon 4 years, or man, 6 years ago. 6 years ago, I was Keldon. And so I understood that. And like I said, I played a bigger role now, but for instance, it came down to like, who's gonna start, me or Bam? I'm telling Coach Pop, like, I don't care. Like, start Bam. Who cares? That don't matter to me. And I don't think people truly realize how important a guy settling into his role on that US team is in order to win that gold.
No, it was big time. And what you said earlier, winning trumps everything. Nobody asked you how many minutes you played. You won the gold medal. Winning trumps everything. And everybody was happy with the role that they had and that we got to celebrate with the gold medal. It was— I think that's what the main thing that I brought back, like you said, even to the NBA this year, me having my old role back with my team. Winning trumps everything. And that's what we have to go out there and do.