Draymond’s son DJ: “Why would they trade you?”

[PHI-GSW video/interview/transcript]

My favorite Draymond Green quote, as I write this, will go against what is going viral right now, which are all the quotes about him possibly getting traded.

It’s the one where he confirmed my sentiments from the last article, where I disagreed with something Steve Kerr said on the podium:

I think we all knew that it would be tough without Jimmy (Butler). You get a lot smaller, a lot less athletic. Aside from all the obvious things that we know Jimmy bring, those two things that I just mentioned are as big as anything else that Jimmy brings to the table. His athleticism, he’s still one of the elite athletes in the league. The size that he brings at the wing position, that is still valued in the NBA and so we knew it would be tough. And then without Steph (Curry), it gets a lot harder, but it’s the hand we was dealt and we’re the Golden State Warriors. No one feels bad for us. There’s not a soul that feels sorry for us, so unfortunately for the young guys here, they get that it’s not quite their fault, but it is what it is and it’s our situation.

Now as I write this, my favorite quote right now is what DJ, Draymond’s son, said to him in the car — see full transcript below. Getting Giannis Antetokounmpo was never gonna be painless.

Here, enjoy perhaps the last pregame workout clip of Dray in Warriors gear, with DJ, courtesy Janie McCauley of the Associated Press:

Stay tuned for a follow-up opinion piece on the whole trade stuff and why people are over-reacting — although that’s just what trade deadlines cause — and why it’s still impossible to predict which offer Milwaukee will choose, if they even choose one by the deadline at 12:00PM PST Thursday.

Below is the 14-minute video and transcript from the Draymond interview:

00:00 Draymond, you mentioned a couple days ago when we asked you that you’re not gonna lose any sleep over trade talk, your name in it, but has it gotten a little wearing to you? Has it gotten something that maybe people bring up to you when you have to answer about or anything that’s kind of been maybe distracting to you?

00:30 DRAYMOND GREEN, POSTGAME PHI-GSW: Ah, no. It’s not a distraction. Everybody do wanna talk about it, but it — no, it doesn’t wear on me. It kind of, it just is what it is, you know? I’d say over the last couple days, it’s gotten more real to me, but it’s not — it doesn’t wear on me. I can’t control it, so I don’t worry about things I can’t control.

00:59 What is it like knowing that it is a possibility?

01:05 It’s a possibility that I might get traded. That’s kind of just what it’s like. I don’t —

01:16 But as somebody who’s, I mean, you built this with Steph and Klay, what —

01:20 Oh yeah, but at some point it’s gonna come to an end, whether that’s a day or two, or a year or two, it’s gonna come to an end at some point. You gotta be okay with that. It’s not something that I can hold onto forever because I can’t play basketball forever, so it’s gotta come to an end at some point, anyway.

01:47 How eager are you just for Thursday, though, just for some type of resolution, in a sense?

01:54 Not at all. I mean, I’m not —

01:57 Post-deadline Thursday.

02:01 That would be me worrying about the deadline. I’m not worried about the deadline, so yeah, I think if anything by Thursday, one way or another, people would stop asking me, but —

02:18 Steve said he’s had a chat with you about it.

02:20 That’s when it got real for me. Like, oh, maybe I should be a little more worried about this than I am. I didn’t get worried about it, but I was like, okay, yeah, it’s interesting. He was like, how you doing? Like, I’m good, coach. I know all these trade rooms and stuff. It’s, like, it’s weird. It’s, like, yeah, it’s crazy. And then he’s like, how’s Hazel handling it? And that’s when it got real to me. I was like, I haven’t spoke to her about it. It’s not something we spoke about. That’s when it got real to me. So today on the way to the game, I spoke to my son about it. I was like, yo, what if I get traded? It’s like, well, why would they trade you? It’s like, it’s just a business. I have never been traded, but it couldn’t happen to anybody. And he was like, oh, I just don’t understand why they would do that. So, but yeah, prior to that it--

03:24 So, I mean, you talked to Steve. I know the other night we talked to you, you still hadn’t really talked to the front office. Have you, at this point?

03:31 Yeah. Probably not quite the conversation y’all think it was, though, but--

03:36 Anything you wanna share?

03:37 No, but I will tell you, it’s probably not quite the conversation you think. But yeah, I talk to him pretty often, though, so it’s good. We’ll see.

03:53 What is it like being in an emotionally heavy and uncertain place of wondering? Do you have to say goodbye to teammates? Is it business as usual on Thursday, but just like the wonder of how the next couple hours, 48 hours will unfold?

04:08 Um. You know, this is something I’ve never dealt with before, so I’m not — I don’t really have, like, some guidebook or manual to how it should be. So yeah, if there’s a point where I need to say goodbye, I’ll say goodbye, but I’m not — yeah, I don’t — I don’t know. I think, yeah it is business as usual. Come out, play, go home, come back tomorrow, fly, maybe. Play Thursday, maybe, maybe not. We’ll see. So it’s business as usual for me, though, but I think a lot of people wanna know how I feel about it. Am I upset about it or, like, I’m not at all. I don’t — if that’s what’s best for this organization, that’s what’s best for the organization. I’m not like, ah, man, they fucked me over or something like that. I don’t really feel that way. If would’ve told me 13-and-a-half years ago, like, yo, I’m gonna hand you this sheet of paper and you can sign it to be in a place for 13-and-a-half years, would you sign it? And I would’ve signed it faster than you can blink, so what do I have to sit and worry about? What do I have to like be upset about? I’ve been here for 13-and-a-half years. That’s longer than probably 98% of NBA players than been in one place and this guy from Saginaw has been in a place for 13-and-a-half years. I don’t know that it ends at 13-and-a-half, but if it does, what a fucking run it’s been. I’ll take the fine for it. What a fucking run it’s been. So that’s just how I feel, you know? And I’m not — I don’t sleep well after games, so if I lose sleep tonight, I promise y’all it’s not because I think I’m getting traded. I just don’t really sleep well after a game, but yeah, I’m blessed. I’m lucky. I’m grateful. I’ve, like I said, my family has not had to move anywhere since I started my family. That’s, like, that’s incredible. I don’t take that for granted. It’s guys that have been on the move every year, moving their family two, three times in a year, so I have so much gratitude for where I am in my career, the run that I’ve been on here and, like I said, I don’t know that it ends or whatnot. I don’t. We’ll all see, but. If it does, it does. All good things must come to an end at some point and so, yeah, that’s kind of my sentiment and how I feel.

07:22 Dray, there’s a lot going on around this team, obviously, and Jimmy goes down, you don’t know when Steph will be back. You look around the locker room and obviously the trade chatterers out there, too. That affect the psyche of a team, you think?

07:36 Oh, it can for sure. I think for most guys it would because it’s, you’re just so uncertain. Like, you don’t know, is this your last time taking the floor? Is this your last time being with this group of guys. Where you could be tomorrow, it definitely does, but we’re not the only team dealing with that. It’s the trade deadline for 30 teams and so that’s just the nature of the NBA. Every year the trade deadline comes around. There’s a little more movement then than any other time in the league and so, yeah, I think it definitely can affect the psyche of a team, for sure. And I would understand why I would affect these guys differently than me. I’ve made my career. If I stop playing tomorrow, you’ve had a career. I’ve had a pretty good career. There’s a lot of guys in our locker room still trying to build a career, so I understand why they will look at it differently than I do, but I’m not trying to build a career anymore. I’m just trying to keep getting better, keep producing, keep playing at a high level, but if I stop tomorrow, what I’ve done is what I’ve done and it’s a pretty decent resume. And so I sympathize with them because I was once in Year Six and Five, and Four and Three and I’m sure then my sentiment was different than it is now. But in my 14th year, who I am is who I am. Maybe I can make another All-Defensive Team or something here and there, to keep adding to the rest, but it is what it is. And I’m not in career build mode no more. I’m trying to sustain, get better, play well and land the plane and smoothly land the plane, smoothly. And that’s my goal, so yeah, it affects the psyche, for sure. And I understand why it would, but it’s just a little different for me because I’m just at a little different place in my journey.

09:52 When you look at the fact that you’ve got the chatter going around and also, again, you’re without Steph. You don’t know when he’ll be back. Jimmy’s down. Is it one of the challenges to, I guess what I’m saying is, is to lock in, knowing all this stuff is happening?

10:07 Yeah, well, we all get paid to do the job and unfortunately that doesn’t quite do it. You gotta have a will and a want to compete and, if I’m honest, I don’t think we quite had that tonight. And it could be deadline talk, but I think for me, it make me want to play harder, but everybody’s different. The same thing that make me tick may not make the next guy tick. And so each guy’s on their own journey and each guy handle things differently than the next guy. And so, regardless of what happened, we have to collectively compete at a high level. If we wanna win games, whether Steph is in or Steph is out, Jimmy will be out, you have to have a certain level of competition that you have to bring to the game, to an NBA game in order to have a possibility to win. And that don’t change whether you’re here, there, tomorrow or the next place. That’s just what it is in the NBA, so regardless of who gets traded, who stays, that must remain and we didn’t have that tonight.

11:24 Draymond, to that point, you guys knew it would be difficult, obviously, when Jimmy went down, but now you’ve lost five out of seven. Beyond the numbers, how does it feel like you can go forward without him? I mean, tonight you guys obviously got pounded on the boards, only had two free throw attempts, which is something Jimmy provided. How do you feel about the short-term future here?

11:45 Well, I think we all knew that it would be tough without Jimmy. You get a lot smaller, a lot less athletic. Aside from all the obvious things that we know Jimmy bring, those two things that I just mentioned are as big as anything else that Jimmy brings to the table. His athleticism, he’s still one of the elite athletes in the league. The size that he brings at the wing position, that is still valued in the NBA and so we knew it would be tough. And then without Steph, it gets a lot harder, but it’s the hand we was dealt and we’re the Golden State Warriors. No one feels bad for us. There’s not a soul that feels sorry for us, so unfortunately for the young guys here, they get that it’s not quite their fault, but it is what it is and it’s our situation. So guys gotta understand that. Gotta find a way to get to the free throw line and the ball moves, makes that a little easier. You playing against close out and different things, but yeah, I don’t know how long Steph will be out, if we know Jimmy will be out for a while, but regardless of when those guys play, we have to compete at a high level. And right now we’re not really competing at a high level.

13:16 Draymond, in your 13-and-a-half, 14 years, you’ve seen a lot of guys come and go. You’ve never been a part of trade, but you’ve seen a lot of guys come and go, so I guess what I want to know is, I know you’re not worried, you’re not gonna lose any sleep over this, but just based off that conversation that you had with Coach, do you feel like you played your last game as a Warrior in that jersey?

13:38 Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t foresee it that way, but if I have, like I said, it’s been an amazing run. But yeah, I don’t know. We’ll see. I, like I said, I don’t sit and think about the possibilities or what may happen. It’s gonna be what it’s gonna be, regardless. And so that’s just is what it is.

14:11 Did you take some extra time with DJ on the floor afterwards, take this picture.

14:16 Oh, no. I was trying to get my wife attention. No, I was trying to get her attention, but my 5-year-old was over there acting a nut. I could see. She was crying about something, so she, I couldn’t get her attention, but no, I didn’t.

🫶💙💛