In this mailbag episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond answers fan‑submitted questions while showcasing his trademark humor and candidness. He tackles a "pick‑em" debate on who was the better scorer in their prime—Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant—ultimately siding with Melo due to personal memories of Melo’s scoring versatility and a specific on‑court encounter. He then shares his all‑time favorite moments for Steph Curry (Game 4 of the most recent NBA Finals, where Curry delivered a clutch performance) and Klay Thompson (a 60‑point game after missing practice, illustrating Klay’s resilience and attitude). When asked if he would have won Defensive Player of the Year in the 1980s, Draymond confidently asserts he would, placing himself alongside legends like Dennis Rodman. He describes the Warriors’ plane‑ride routine, noting he sits with Steph and Klay at a separate table, recounts past poker and domino games, and jokes that Klay still owes him $3,000, providing payment options. Finally, he reveals his all‑time NBA starting five: Stephen Curry at point guard, Shaquille O’Neal at center, LeBron James at small forward, Tim Duncan at power forward, and Michael Jordan at shooting guard, with a brief nod to Kobe Bryant as a close second. Throughout, Draymond’s tone is conversational, humorous, and unapologetically blunt, offering personal anecdotes that give insight into his perspective on scoring, defense, teammate dynamics, and basketball history.
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What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. Today we have a mailbag episode. I had promised you guys that we would have that. So to our loyal supporters and subscribers, as always, we thank you for tuning in and we thank you for submitting your questions. This should be a fun episode. By the way, I hope you sent in good questions And I hope it just wasn't like nice questions. Like if you got some tough questions, as you know, I'm not afraid of that shit. So bring the questions. I'm excited about this episode. I hope you are as excited about this one as I am. 'Cause you know, I like to have the opportunity to talk my shit.
Carmelo or Durant in their prime, who is the better scorer?
Scorer only.
Ooh.
That's tough. Carmelo or Durant in their prime. Man, I feel like that's a pick 'em. You know how you go into sports betting and they had a pick 'em? Like that's a pick 'em. I guess I gotta make the tough decision or it's unfair, huh?
That's kind of the game we're playing, yeah.
Wow. Wow. That's crazy. That's a great question. That's a pick 'em for sure. Wow. I've won with both of those guys. So I was going to say, I got to pick KD because we— But like, I won gold medal with Melo. Golly, that's crazy. I'm gonna go with Melo. And the reason I'm gonna go with Melo is because I grew up watching Melo score the basketball. Like, I grew up, like, Melo came to the league in '03, I was 13 years old. I grew up watching Melo get a bucket however you wanted it. You wanted mid post work? First step crazy. You wanted straight block work? Fadeaway tough. And Melo will bully the hell outta somebody. You want the tray ball? We all know he can do that. He's just a 3-point shooter for the USA team. And we know USA Olympic Melo is crazy. Get to the free throw line? The reason I'm gonna go with Melo is actually this in specific. It's something that he did when I was playing against him. We were playing against him at the Garden. It had to be my first or second year in the league. And Melo caught the ball in the post. He faced up on me, put his shoulder into my chest. I may have fouled him a little bit, maybe not. And he went through my chest and I got the stop. He missed. I maybe fouled him, maybe not. He turned around to the referee, "Call the fucking foul!" And we go back down the court. Come back down, he did the exact same move the next play and made the referee call a foul. And the reason why that's such a big deal to me is because as a scorer, you like, you go into slumps, you have bad shooting nights. And the one thing that breaks score slumps can be a free throw. And just knowing that Melo could get to the free throw line like that, that's why I'm gonna pick Melo. But man, that's a pick 'em for real. That's like, can you go wrong with either one? I don't think so.
Next up from Caleb Smith 12, what is your all-time favorite Steph and Klay moment?
My all-time favorite Steph and Klay moment? Oh man. Like Steph and Klay together or just Steph moment, Klay moment?
Let's go Steph moment and Klay moment separately.
Steph moment, my all-time favorite Steph moment was game 4 of this year's finals. It's just like you saw something different. You saw, that he wasn't gonna allow us to lose. Like you just, like, it was different. So I gotta pick that moment. I feel like that was the biggest moment in Steph's career. He lived up to the hype, delivered. So I gotta go that moment for Steph. And for Klay, my all-time favorite Klay moment was—
Mm-hmm.
Was when he hit that shot when he went for 60 through 3 quarters. Because it's, that game is a complete microcosm of who Klay Thompson is. He did not come to practice the day before. Missed practice. He didn't like, and Klay's like, he woke up late. And now the way our fine system work when you late for practice, is it's not that much more if you miss as opposed to if you late. If. Any at all. And so Klay's like, "Oh, I'm late, go back to bed. Don't come to practice." And then the next day it's like his way of making it right. He comes out, he has 60 and 3 quarters. That has to be my all-time favorite moment because that is actually Klay and his attitude. It's a big fuck you. Like, "Yep, was I wrong? Possibly. But this is how I'm going to make it fuck, just a big fuck you." And I've seen him do that numerous times. Like, up, Klay was late, up, Klay missed, he gonna make it right the next day. And that was major. So I gotta go with the 60.
From Marcus Rainsford, do you think if you played in the '80s, you'd still have won a Defensive Player of the Year?
If I played in the '80s, would I still have won Defensive Player of the Year? I think so. Defense is defense and I'm a DPOY. So whether I want it in the '80s or 2000s, baby, that list is the same. Whose was his name?
That was Marcus Rainsford.
Marcus. Me and Dennis Rodman on the same list. Whether I go in the '80s or the 2000s or the 2020s, Same list.
Let's go with an easy one from, I don't know how to pronounce this, but OJ Asrana, what do y'all do in the plane rides between games and who do you sit with?
I sit with Klay and Steph. We sit at this little table away from everybody else. Nah, I'm just playing. But we do sit at this table in kind of a different section, but it's just the way the plane break down. But, and we talk sometimes, we sleep sometimes. Klay is very childish. So Klay like throw stuff at people like Skittles and popcorn and then like do the whole close his eyes thing and act like one of us through it. Like that's Klay. So you get a little glimpse of sitting with Klay. But I think, you know, we have a ton of different conversations sometimes. We used to play poker, but once Zaza left, we, well actually Johnny West, but we don't have a fourth poker player. So we used to play poker. We don't do that anymore. Every now and then now, Klay and I play dominoes whenever Klay, Klay has the attention span of a 2-year-old though. So he can only really sit for one game of dominoes. In fact, if you guys watch this, If you got Klay's Twitter, you can hit him up and remind him that he owed me $3,000. And I accept Cash App. I don't have Venmo, but I do have Apple Pay. I also have Zelle. Y'all can remind him he owed me $3,000. I'd appreciate it.
Who is your all-time starting five? Now I'm not asking your best, the best five players, the starting five lineup.
My all-time starting five is Shaq at the five and Steph at the one. Um, LeBron James at— I got LeBron James at the 3. Now again, this is where the eras and stuff gets tricky because what era of basketball am I talking about? But I'm just gonna talk basketball in the sense of who I think would make a great 5. Steph at the 1, Shaq at the 5, LeBron at the 3, Timmy D at the 4, and— Did you think I was gonna go anyone other than MJ at the 2? You gotta be outta your mind. Although, I must say, Kobe was very close second. Very close second for me on my start 5. Draymond Green.
