In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, hosts Draymond Green, Baron Davis, and a third speaker discuss Steph Curry’s place in the NBA GOAT debate, emphasizing how uniquely he is schemed against—teams often deploy multiple defenders to limit his shooting. They argue that Curry’s style has reshaped basketball worldwide, making the three‑point shot a universal weapon and inspiring a new generation of players. The conversation then shifts to the socioeconomic evolution of the sport: Curry’s success, alongside Klay Thompson, has accelerated a trend where the children of former NBA players and affluent families dominate the pipeline, leading to a perception of basketball as a “rich kid sport.” They lament reduced access for under‑privileged talent, noting how expensive training, elite AAU exposure, and brand affiliations now gatekeep opportunities. The hosts also touch on the modern NIL era, which offers early earning potential for young athletes, and they conclude with a brief promotional segment for Degree Cool Rush deodorant and the show’s merchandise. Throughout, the tone is conversational and passionate, with a mix of admiration for Curry’s impact and concern over growing inequities in player development.
Chapters
Shaq was saying, I demand fans to start putting Steph in the GOAT conversation. You've been talking about this. I agree. I believe that he's, he was the next evolution of a game changer and the evolution of the game. He should be in that conversation.
He 100% is in that conversation and he 1,000% belongs in that conversation. When you talk about what he's done, what he does on the basketball court, there's no one in the history of the NBA, and with all due respect to LeBron James, with all due respect to Michael Jordan, with all due respect to my favorite player of all times, the great Shaquille O'Neal, there's no one in the history of the NBA that has been schemed against and guarded the way Steph Curry is guarded. I mean, you like, teams throw their whole defense at him. I've played in the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers and got wide open layups, dunks in transition because he's running on the wing and they'd rather go run and take the 3 away from him on the wing and give me a dunk.
Yeah.
Kevin Durant, one of the greatest scorers we've ever seen. Got wide open dunk straight down the lane because Steph Curry's on one wing, Klay Thompson on the other wing, and they just run. But Steph Curry, who I'm speaking about right now, the defense, the defenses that he's faced still to this day, he's in year 16 and teams still throw 3 and 4 defenders at him on the given possession. Mm-hmm. You know, when you talk about how much he gets blitzed, like, everything is designed to try to take this guy away. Because you know, against some teams you say, yo, let's let this guy do this and let's take everything else away. The game plan is never to let Steph just get his because you know how demoralizing it is. Right. And then obviously impact on the game. The way the game of basketball is played, Not NBA, I said the game of basketball is played worldwide, it's because of Steph Curry.
For sure.
You tell me the game of basketball is modeled after how you play the game and what you were so special at that everybody thought that, yo, that's what we need to do. And you telling me that guy don't go in the GOAT conversation? Also tell me that Steve Jobs ain't one of the greatest CEOs that's ever walked this planet Earth either. Then tell me that How you got to there?
I always say GOATs travel in herds. So, you know, you can look at multiple different players and consider them, you know, a part of the greatest of all time, the greatest to ever do it. Like, people get into the debate about individual people, but I look at, like, the canvas, right? The NBA is the Louvre. Michael Jordan may be the Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Steph Curry comes along and becomes a Mona Lisa, right?
Right.
Or, you know, so it is, you know, he definitely deserves, you know, his name in that conversation. And I think, you know, when you're talking about GOAT and GOAT conversation, once again, you gotta talk about it's multiple people because it's multiple different positions, multiple eras. It's most like every 5 years the league change. Things. Like, we was talking about the face of the league the other day, right? And, you know, the face of the league is, is consumed by he who wins, right? Or he who has the illest style. I think that Steph has transcended a whole new era. Like, if you think about, you know, just the NBA and the NBA from an image perspective, the suburban kid has a chance. To be great. You know, it never was there, you know, a time where, you know, the story reflect— the story of struggle was always prevalent to someone's success in the NBA. And never really was there like a middle-class, you know, well, really upper-class kid, right?
Yes.
Who broke through the barriers. Not only that, not only an upper-class kid, but the son of an NBA player breaking through that threshold. So, I mean, you can say there was once, you know, players before, which there were, who made it to the league, but like not with this threshold, this impact. And so it created a whole new, you know, surge of NBA players, former NBA players, great college players, great streetball players. Now their kids, is looking at, oh, look at this kid. He look like a dude that's at the jungle gym. I grew up at the jungle gym. He look like somebody that's in an art class. And there he is, one of the best players in the NBA. And so that is more recognizable, more relatable. And now every kid from every suburb, from every hood, is changing their style of game and changing even from their persona, right, to reflect more Steph Curry. And I think that's why you got a lot of great kids in this league, a lot of good, good people, right? Um, and, you know, you have that, you have that now, uh, broader family support. And, you know, people don't look at all the elements. So when it comes to, you know, being a game changer, what that does—
Due to Steph Curry's success, and you just hit on it, I'm gonna take it a step further. Due to his success and Klay, mm-hmm. Due to the level of success that Steph has had being a former or being the son of a former NBA retired NBA player in Draymond Green. It's not that there weren't guys before that were the son of NBA players, but you haven't seen them with this frequency. Yes. The amount of NBA players, sons that's in the NBA now.
—Crazy.
And with this frequency, and due to Steph's greatness, the NBA and basketball in general has become a rich kid sport. Basketball was, for myself, for a lot of other guys—
We had a chance.
It was our way out.
Yeah, we had a chance.
As a poor kid, there's a hoop at the park up the street. And you just need a basketball and we can go play. You know, we can play outside. And so as a poor kid, it was a means and a way out. For a lot of us, LeBron James, the poor kid.
Yeah, man.
Basketball was a way out.
Yeah.
And the Steph Currys were rare. Now it's more likely that Gilbert Arenas' son is going to make it to the NBA. Trevor Ariza's son is going to make it to the NBA. And they are better suited now to make it to the NBA than the kid from the neighborhood. It's flipped.
Big time, bro. Big time.
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Head to your local Walmart or Target to try the OG Degree Cool Rush for yourself. Because of the level of skill that Steph Curry possesses, skill training has become so big. So training kids now, and the training that these kids get now—
It's expensive.
That we can guide them through, and we know— trainers. We know, like, Bronny worked out with Chris Johnson when he was in high school, you know, like, we know the trainers.
Yeah.
So it's Trap's son probably going to go to the NBA because it's set up that way now.
It is.
So much training, and the kid in the neighborhood now, he can't get that level of training.
You get to the train station, but you two days late. Everybody done took their trains and their routes. So the kid in the neighborhood, he Our route used to be play at the park, play at the school or whatnot, then get discovered at the YMCA or the park league. Then somebody would say, "Yo, you wanna play on the all-star team?" You play on the all-star team. It was like you worked your way up and you had to really like battle and fight to earn your seat on an AAU squad. Now those kids in the hood, they don't even have, like the kids is so rich, that you can't even afford to access the tournaments to show, like, man, I gotta— it used to be a team we used to play against called the Warriors. If I didn't play on my AAU team, I had to play for them. They was outta Watts and they would raise money and they would be in the same tournaments. And James Lee wound up becoming, you know, going to San Francisco. But like, it was dudes I grew up from my neighborhood like, oh, like, damn, they got a squad too. And they can show up. Now you can't. 'Cause if you ain't Nike, if you ain't Adidas, if you ain't Puma, like, where do you go to get seen? And it's really like an access game now. So, you know, and I hate this. Basketball is becoming a one-trick pony as far as stories, the type of talent you looking for, the type of player you looking for. And like, everybody, it's like becoming a factory. Yeah.— and it's not an art collective.
Mm-hmm.
Right? Like, we not appreciate— like, nobody's— everybody's the same. So, you know, and then that goes back to Steph Curry. Like, you know, look at that effect. Like, every kid and every point guard, even every big man now is shooting threes. You know, there's always a gift and a curse, but I think the game being too expensive disallows access to— you know, the next Draymond, right? Yep, that's a fact. 'Cause they ain't gonna go looking for no Draymond.
That's a fact.
Right? And so we gotta, you know, we gotta keep that same juxtaposition or that energy because the league is not about just rich kids playing the sport, you know?
That's a fact. Every rich kid could be skilled, you know, and do all the skill training, But every rich kid ain't gonna have the dog that Steph Curry got.
For sure. No, Steph Curry different. He programmed. Absolutely.
Right? We had a conversation about this.
What's the difference between, like, if somebody's a dog and somebody got skill, you can't dog a person who's highly skilled. And the person who's highly skilled probably has way more levels to, be a beast and a monster than just you being a dog.
And having that dog in you, if you got a guy that's highly skilled and he ain't got no dog, your mind is automatically gonna be like, "I'mma just bully him." Yep. Right? Like, "I'mma bully him and I'm not even gonna allow you to access that skill. 'Cause I'mma just rough you up, I'mma get, like, you gonna back down. Then once I get you to back down," —now you don't even really want the ball because you don't wanna deal with that. It always reverts back to that. And winning always reverts back to that. Mm-hmm. Because if you don't have the doll, everything else you're trying to accomplish, it gets thrown off track. But I would say, you know, for the kids, you know, I just said it's a rich kid sport. For the kids that are like myself and like you, that's still coming from the neighborhood, you may not have the access to, the type of training that say my son would have access to or your son would have access to. But being a musician, being an artist, like BD just said, being an artist and figuring out the artistry of the game.
Yep.
You can just do that. And guess what? They still make basketball courts, they still make basketballs. If you get your handle right, your game tight, Work on that. Yeah, you may not be as strong when you get to the level you trying to go to. Not being strong enough don't mean you can't be tough enough, right?
Right.
So you may not be as strong, you may not test off the charts like somebody else will because of the training they had. That's fine.
Right.
Master the game.
That's it.
Master the game. For the kid that don't have the access to all the stuff, if you just master the game,. And all that simply requires is going to the gym, going outside and dribbling the basketball. Those still, those things that those who do that, that'll never go away. Any rim you can find outside, don't matter. If you put that work in as that young kid that ain't got nothing, there's still a path. It's just—
Oh man. If you and I were growing up in today's era, right? The path would be a little easier because you have help along the way. So like, we not discouraging, we saying like, you will— they will find— talent will be found once you put the work in, right? And the way the landscape is for basketball, right, with NIL, right, it give people like us growing up an opportunity to start taking care of our family even at an earlier age. So take care of that business. Take care of that. And the knowledge too. Know people. Know, you know, know players. Know their style. Know what they play like. Know what they shoot like. How they run. All this is the beauty and the magic. Like, I think about you a lot. And what makes you a great defender is you know how people move. Yeah. So you know when to get in front of them, you know how to defend them, you know when you need to get leverage, you know when you need to stand up, you know when he ain't gonna do nothing, right? Rudy, go bear. You know when to just jump. And you like it when you study people and you study their movements. That's how you really become a student of the game.
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I think these should be the shirts on the seats at the game.
Come on, let's do it. We need that.
Game 4, we need that Monday.
Come on, man.
Let's do it.
I'll be at the game. We can get that cracking.
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