Suns/Warriors breakdown, Klay's comeback, and an Andre Iguodala Interview

people are following my college football bets. I'm sort of red hot. I've won eleven and twelve. Hey, if you're new, just download the FanDuel Sports Book app. I did it in fifteen seconds. Get started now sign up. Please use the promo code Colin so they know we sent you. Please use the promo code Collins CEO l I n FanDuel Sports Book App sign up. Welcome back to The Draymond Green Show. This is our third episode and I

think it's this will be another good one. I will be joined a little later by a long time teammate, champion NBA Finals MVP All Star and what you'll find even more interesting on this episode, Venture Capitalist my teammate Andre Gudala. But first we are going to talk about last night's game, the Warriors versus the Suns, which I guess people may have enjoyed it. I didn't quite enjoy it that that much, but nonetheless I did enjoy the atmosphere.

It was an incredible atmosphere. Um, it was playoff like atmosphere. And you know it's the ones that you you you love of playing and you get up for. Obviously, Tuesday night in the Association, number one versus number two in the West, uh in the NBA actually, um, you know a matchup that we could definitely see um sometime down the line in May. So it was a very important

game and obviously finished at the game. M My assessments on the game, UM, I think number one, you gotta get Phoenix a lot of credit at their defense was very stellar last night. I think they did an incredible job on everybody, making it tough. They made the place

they needed to make down to stretch offensively. And then saying all of that, we were on the road with twenty three turnovers turnovers, and yet with two and a half minutes to go, I had a left hand lay up streaking down the middle of the floor with a chance to cut it the one and so and saying that I love where we are still as a team. I think I'm not sure you you will find a game where myself Stephan Wiggs will play worse than we

played last night. And like I said, we still had a chance to win that game right down the stretch three minutes ago. I gotta give a lot of credit to Chris Paul. He did what he What Chris Paul does, He carries his teams. Uh Deep book went out towards the end of the first half, and Chris Paul just did what he does. He carries teams, he makes timely plays, he gets everybody involved, he picks and chooses when he needs to get his shot going, and he did that

last night. And one thing about Chris Paul that's interesting, UH and other guys in this league is um when you talk about winners, we all tend to turn to the guys who's won championships. And don't get me wrong, winning championships is extremely important. Like you want to win champion you play sports, you want to win championships. It's the Holy Gril, It's that's what we're all playing. For you want to be the last team standing. But Chris Paul is one of those guys that's interesting where he

has not won a championship. Last year was his first year with Year sixteen, I think, playing in the NBA Finals. But I personally think Chris Paul is a winner like he wins and year in a year out. I mean, they sent him to okay See to pretty much lie on his death bed. Not only did he not lie on his death bed, he took that team to the playoffs because he did so well. Sam Presty worked with him to get him to a situation that he wanted to be in, and now we see what he's doing

with the Phinish squad. And so that's just an interesting thought that I have. And when I when I'm just sitting and dissecting basketball, dissecting careers, um, dissecting resumes, that's one that's always interesting for me. And like I said, that's Chris Paul. But that's not only Chris Paul. There are other guys in this league who Jimmy Butler, who's one everywhere he's gone, never won a championship, but he's

a winner like he's one. He's made teams win everywhere he's gone, and so you know, that's that's just an interesting thing to me, especially when you get into the debate of Hall of Fame and all time grades and NBA seventy lists, all of these things that that's an interesting one for me. But like I said, back back to the game, I thought our defense was pretty good in the first half. I thought we could have definitely cleaned up some things, and then obviously in the second

half as well. But again, uh, it all goes back to you have twenty three turnovers, you can can you get your defense set? Like how many times do we get a chance to actually set our defense? You couple that with the shooting nights that we had, you're kind of in transition on night and and and so I like where our defense is. Um, I think we'll continue

to get better. And I think for the most part, like I said, with all with all of that that went on last night, we still gave up a hundred and four points and granted they didn't have deep book in the second half, but that's a good basketball team, you know, and they just keep it rolling. And that's what they did last night. Um DeAndre Aiden played really well. I thought, Uh, he was extremely aggressive from the very beginning of the game. Uh he continued that on throughout

the entire game. He had a really good game. Jay Crowder had a good game struggle with hit a couple of threes in the first quarter and then it was in foul trouble for pretty much the rest of the half. But hit some big threes in that second half last night that kind of cataputed them to the win. So they you know, they had a mixture guys playing well. Um, Mchael Bridges defensively was an animal. I mean he was incredible defensively. All the guys were really good defensively. Every

really good defensively as a team. But Michael Bridges, who was the head of the snake for them, I thought he did an incredible job defensively of just chasing stuff around, um, being in passing lanes, calgging up the lane when he had the opportunity. I thought he did a really good job. That takes us to Friday's matchup, which I am obviously excited about. Home and home. They were home. Now we got the opportunity to them coming into our house. Uh, you know, want to lose two in a row. So

you want to write the ship. Our guys also know what they expect now, although I thought guys really stepped up to the challenge. But you've seen this team now you know what they expect. And and coming back Friday, we expect a better outcome. And also and and this weekend NBA news, but Warriors news, we got a chance to see Clay Thompson. You know, I know everyone's seeing the highlights uh flying around from him scrimmaging with Santa

Cruz Warriors. And man was it beautiful and exciting to see him moving the way he's moving, shooting the ball the way he was shooting it, but more importantly seeing him happy, seeing him with a smile on his face because he's getting an opportunity to again to do what he loves to do, which is played basketball. If you know Clay Thompson, he loves playing basketball. He loves Rocko

and and now he loves his boat um. And you know, we all saw him last week sitting on the bench with the towel on this over his head after the game and just having a moment and we all sympathize with him and saying that, and like I said, and seeing him back on the court this week and in

action and actually playing and competing. Such a beautiful thing. Uh. It definitely gets us even more excited to get him back into the fold, one step closer to having our full team and really making a run at this thing. And if, like I said, it feels good, the vibe on the team feels right from from the front office to the ownership group, the front office, the coaching style, players, training style, video style, it just feels great. And obviously winning helps winning here as all as we like to

say in this business. But it's it's it's a beautiful thing. So looking forward to the to the problem of incorporating Clay back into the line up, you know, we obviously have started off great, and that's a great problem to havel incorporating a Hall of Famer in NBA champion, one of the best snipers we've ever seen in NBA history, one of the better two way players we've seen in a long time. I can't wait to add him back to the phone. And obviously, you know, as a facilitator,

Pastor's paradise just get better. So I am thrilled and was extremely thrilled and happy, uh to see those highlights as we all got a chance to see uh this weekend, and just him really doing his thing and looking like

Clay Thompson. Obviously, I'm not expecting him to come back and hit his first shots when he when he returns, I am not expecting him to come back and even look as great as he did the other day, although that's what we witnessed, because I just don't think it's fair to put those expectations on him, uh and in the road that he's had, you let him gracefully return and and come into his own as his body allows.

And so that's what I'm looking forward to. Like I said, it was beautiful and exciting to see on social media, and they had obviously showed us the clips before they hit social media, but it was beautiful to see. I'm extremely happy for him and happy for everyone who's affected

by that. You know. You always hear people say come up to us and say, man, I've been through some tough times, but the one constant in my life is the Warriors has brought happiness to my household, you know, and so all the people that's been affected by that, you know, and you you have great success and and you do things in the community and people really draw

an attachment to you. And when you draw that attachment and you have that attachment, Clay Thompson has done done a lot for this community and love for this organization. When he goes down, you feel that, you know, and so I I'm happy for everyone involved, but most importantly to Clay. For Clay Um who's been the one who had who's had to endure the rehab sessions, Um, the pain, the surgeries, the doubt. You know, I'm extremely happy for him.

Couldn't be more through I'm curious about what you said, how it's an interesting problem to have incorporating Clay back to this roster, because assuming Clay is coming back as a starter, which I feel like it's a fair assumption, that means either Jordan's pool or if you guys go small Cavan Looney or going to the bench, which is an interesting situation to have, especially considering how well Jordan's

been playing. So what how does how do you anticipate that working for Jordan, assuming he's the guy that's going to be moved to the bench, do you participate him having any trouble with that? I feel like it works as him in a six man role, but it's still a pretty big change. It's definitely a big change I think, no matter what. And I say this with my analysts on my podcast host how On, not from my actual being as the basketball players that does play for this team.

I say this strictly from just a basketball standpoint and not having any knowledge on the situation, because it's not something that we've we've spoke about myself as a leader of this team with coach Kerr or with Coach Kurg, just amongst the rest of the team like that. It hasn't been mentioned once, and so I don't have any more knowledge other than what I think could possibly happen, which is what you just said. Um, does Jordan's moved to the sixth man? What I do know is and

I don't. I don't notice because someone has told me. I noticed, because I'm not an idiot. Whether George's coming off the bench or or started, He's gonna play thirty minutes at night, and so that's gonna remain constant regardless. Does he continue to start? Um, do we go small and move me to the five? And Covine moves to the bench. I'm not sure what that looks like. Because obviously Loon isn't scoring thirty on a given night or twenty on a given night like Jordan Iss, but he

is extremely important to our lineup. What he does on the defensive end is incredible, and what he does as a screener on the offensive end is incredible. And so you know, one of those guys that just always in the right place, know what to do, cover for other guys, just really has a thorough understanding of the game. If Con was to move to the bench and then I moved to the fire, that also changes our defensive line ups as well, you know, And so I think there's

um a lot that needs to happen. I think coach Kerr will definitely tinker with the lineup some because you have to figure it out, right, you have to figure out like what's best, like what's our best line up? And by the way, you may then figure out that our best lineup, we don't want to start the game with that lineup, like they're so so many things as a coach and directions that you can go. But as I said, that's a good problem to have. And and when I say good problem to have, it and as

far as incorporating Clay back into the lineup. That's because the one thing that we do have his depth, and we've shown that throughout the course of this year. So that changes the rotations. You know, with Clay coming back, it's just naturally going to change rotations. And so when I say the problem of incorporating him back into the lineup by all means, don't ever think it's a it's a bad problem. It is a problem that we have

to face because now you have to change rotations. You have to then figure out which lineups works with with the way that you want the rotations to flow. And so it's not just like, oh, you plug him back in and things are just what they were like. You have to do some figuring out. And so when I say good problem, that's what I mean. It's it's like, we have some things to figure out once he gets back,

and uh, that's the good issue. And and other news around around the association, we have a brother of mine, close friend, a guy who I want to go medalist with, DeMarcus Boogie cousins Um signing with the Milwaukee Bucks. I am extremely thrilled for him to sign with the Bucks because because it's had a tough goal since the injuries, and obviously that's something that none of us can forecast. Obviously, that's something that we all face the risk of and playing,

UH and and doing what we do. And you never want to see a guy go down to injuries which has changed the course of his career. And but to see him get another opportunity to continue to show that he's still an NBA player, as I think he's shown and and he stopped that he's had over the last couple of years, is that he's still an NBA player. And no, he's not de Marcuts Cousins, that's still getting thirty and twenty, but he's still de Marcuts Cousins that can be more productive than a lot of big men

that are in the league. So to see him get the opportunity to go to the defending champs and just be the markets play his game obviously, I mean even with the Clippers, you can see the growth uh and him as a player, UH not getting technical files like he was, not getting hung up on things that he can't really change, just playing this game. And so UH to see him with the opportunity with the Bucks, I'm thrilled.

I'm always happy for him. And Morgan and just having an opportunity to continue with his career and and do what he loved. We have we all have to find a very finite window of time to do what we love to do and playing basketball, because as we know, father time is undefeated. And so to see him with the opportunity to continue, you to play the game that he loved, that I love, that we all love dearly, it's incredible and I am as always I'm root for him.

I am honored today to be sharing in the pocket in this podcast, in this episode with one of my favorite teammates of all time, a guy who, um, you know, you always hear about myself, Stephen Clay and us three being together for all of those years, and often, um, when I am asked about that, I often say, yeah, that's three we which is true. We've all grown together, We've come into ourselves together, you know, and just started from the bottom and all worked our way to the

top together. But the one guy that I always mentioned in that is the guy who who kind of showed us the way, who came on and was the veteran too, adding the veteran to us young guys who kind of had a good thing blossom and and then we add

Andre and everything takes off. So I am honored to have to share today with you guys, just a conversation between myself, big brother of mine, Uh, the guy who you know you've always heard of Draymond as the leader, the guy who I turned to, um when I don't know where to turn throughout this whole Andre, my brother, Thank you for coming on. Man. No, I appreciate you having me man, and Uh, I'm just really proud of

you what you feel for yourself. And uh, it's very rare that, you know, players actually build something with a real foundation to it off the court. So it's a beautiful thing. Even going back to our conversation about Myers having to you last night, Like you know, I won't say what he said, but you know that I means and meant a lot to me that he was tumbable

with having a conversation with you. But it just shows how he feels about you in terms of like your your your ability to do things, your potential outside the game of basketball, which Minnesota is a BEATIFU things. I appreciate that. Um, you know I am. I am excited to have you on the show. Uh, for reasons that I don't think most people are going to expect. Um. And we'll get to that, but obviously, first, uh, we'll kick it off. You know, your your first year back

with the Warriors after being gone for two years. Um, two year two worst years of my career might not add uh, you know, but you you left, you were traded and then you signed. You didn't go to Grizzlies, but then you got traded to Miami, signed the extension. I went to the NBA Finals the first year. Had was having a good year last year, and obviously it ended short for y'all. But now you're back. Um, what

brought you back to the Warriors? Man? I think it was just, um, it was a really good experience, you know, seeing something on the other end of the spectrum, you know, and seeing how you can have success on both sides. You know how our environment is a little bit more relaxed, you know, a little bit you know more. You know, it's got some hippie vibes to it, you know, go as you please at your own pace. And then Miami

is kind of like, you know, straight and narrow. You know, everybody in formation, and um, you know, I saw I could see weaknesses weaknesses and both because both have both had a lot of success. You know, pat Riley is probably one of the most successful you know player coaches, gems and NBA history. He's done it at every level. And um, you know, we had success here and I saw some balls here, and just being at those two places, I try to take a step back and see, you know, uh,

appreciate the value and their approach on both sides. And when I was there, I saw some things we did with the Warriors that I can you know, bring to the some of the players to the team. You know, some guys may not be as mentally strong at the young age, and you know, nudge them and get them to you know, smile, open up a little bit. But then you know, coming back, you know, I didn't know my body was gonna feel as good as it did at the end of last year. You know, I thought

maybe that might might be it. You know, you never know when the end is coming. But I thought, you know, the body reacted better than I thought, and it would be a beautiful thing to you know, go back and play with my brothers and seeing what I saw in Miami and how I could kind of bring that out of value, and it's it's kind of like who you are, you know. It's funny. It's like, you know, you're so brash and you're like so competitive and you have that

fire and you know that's the heat culture. And I was able to appreciate that even more going there, and I'm like, damn, you know, they during minds and even more valuable than I thought. And I saw a little close every day. So you know now you see me now when when you go off from people. And I was like, he got a point, Like I can't really argue with that, you know what I mean, because I've seen like there's a lot of value in that, especially

in our environment with coaching powers. All the guys just played with you know and think freely and think more than themselves and sometimes I can bite you in the butt, so you gotta have to kind of have to reel it back in, but still have to give them the confidence to go out there and ask you at the

high level. So I just thought it was, you know, perfect time, and you know, still got some time left to come back, and why not ended, you know, with my brothers, and you know what better way it started than the way we have so far, I think I definitely see obviously we all know your experience and what you bring to the table from previous years, but I also see growth in your leadership and handling young guys, because you know, for us, at first, like when we

were first going through our run, we were the young guys right like, and it was totally different than the young guys of today. But you know, I think you know, there's no secret that you know, the Warriors are kind of in this space of mixing experience and younger talent and blending the two together and trying to make both both men's meet. It is going incredible, as we know, um sitting here at eighteen and three after last nice loss,

which we'll talk about, but it's going great. And I've been watching you a lot, just because I'm always trying to learn and and always observing and just trying to keep a post and understand what's going on. And just the way that you handle these young guys, it's even different than I saw you handle the Jacob Evans, you know, even different than I saw you handle the manyan ed It.

You know, like it's the way you are with the guys are different, and I think it can probably be contributed to some of your dealings with Tyler Hero and having to handle him Duncan. Uh. You know, so here

it is. You got Jimmy, Um, you got Bam. Who's a BAM is like deep booked to me, like they're kind of young o gs like young, but you know, experienced and understands a little more and so not quite Bam, but like Tyler and Duncan, it's more so in the in the Jordan pool uh category, you know, and and guys of that nature, and you had to lend them

a little differently. Truth, I think I've learned and I've tried to learn through every experience that I had, you know, like I made some mistakes in the past, and I think that's the biggest part of it. And then I got people around me that will you know, like you know, Rudy's my man, but he'll fight out tell me, like you know, before the ship, like you're not being a leader right now, you know, supposed to this and that, and I'll accept it and then go back and say,

what could I have done differently? And I think it's just helping me, you know, even with you know, our runs from you know, fourteen and nineteen fifteen and nineteen uh some things I got wrong and I would retrace my steps and say, Okay, next time that comes up, I know how to handle it. So like Jordan Poole was like one of my favorite guys, and you know he's he's an emotional player, and I was an emotional player.

So sometimes I gotta place myself in his shoes. And it was like he wants to win and he trying to get his trying to get his stuff off, and you're like, sometimes you tell him something and he may not react the right way, but I have to look at myself. At two, I was reacting kind of the

same way. So I took I was like, okay, put yourself in his shoes, and I think I'll try to do that more more so than any other time to seeing it from my perception and just trying to see it in his view and say, Okay, how would I want Kevin Ali, How would I want uh Aaron McKee to help me? In no situations? So patients is a big part of it. But I think over time they start understanding that you really rock with them, like no, bro, like I really love you, like you're really my man.

Like for life now and then once you get past that barrier and then they're open to any type of constructive criticism. Now, yeah, it's a it's incredible. Like I said, I've been I've been watching that and just trying to pick up on it. You know. I think one one big thing for me is and Jonathan cominga who's obviously one of our young guys a seventh pit. Yes, I'm trying to take it upon myself to do all that I can to make sure he has the success that

he should have. You know, you have a kid who, if I'm not mistaken, come over from the Congo at thirteen years old, you know, and his journey as well documented. So I'm not gonna sit here and go through his journey. But now at nineteen, he's in the NBA. You know, he has h probably making three and a half million dollars a year and no man, he had like five a right, making a lot of money. And I'm but I'm trying to take it up on myself too, figure out how is it that I have to lead him right?

And I think one of the things for me and and that I'm figuring out with that is like Jonathan coming is not really a peer of mine. Right He's twelve years younger than me, and I'm thirty one years old.

He's nineteen years old. He's not really my peer. And and one of the things that I've been trying to do is when dealing with j k Um, view him more as my child than my brother, you know, like, view him more as or a younger brother than a brother that I'm gonna hang with that I grew up with it, right, View him more in that light as opposed to the light that I would view you in. You know, So the way I may say something to you, I probably can't say that to him because I wouldn't

say that after DJ, right like. And so that's something and and it's in it's a jestment for me because how I am thirty one years old now. The last two years we sucked bad and as opposed to leading guys to where they need to go in their career, you're you're just trying to teach them how to win games, like losing this miserable and you're just trying to and so there are certain things that gets lost within that.

And and I'm starting to figure that out with with j k and really trying to to teach him everything that I can to see him how to success their shop. And then you have a young guy like Moses, who it's one of those old souls, right like just temperaments different, Like temperament is just like he's been in the league forever, just kind of moves around a little differently. And so the contrast is there. Um, But speaking of the young guys and our team. You you obviously sat out last night.

I think you've missed the last five or six games. Um, what was your assessments. I know what my assessment was in last night's game and how much better we could have been and how much better we will be, But what was your assessment and what went wrong? And in that game? So I said it to Juan, and like the second quarter, because the second half I was getting treatment, So I was in the back watching from the team.

First half, I was up there up close. I was seeing every place we were writing down, seeing the coaches. So what we were doing, you know, like the first thing I noticed was the atmosphere. And now we're getting back to the old ways of everywhere we go, the atmosphere is gonna be just like that, which was incredible. So now you get to see like every team is gonna play their best and as you know, we get everybody's best, well we are we will be the best

prepared team come playoffs because we have experience. So I always at the people out of time, like yo, I like playing like we might lose more games than we should have, like maybe we have why losses and I'm like, oh, we only have fifteen left five games, so I'm like, no, we got the best to everybody every night. We are most prepared going into the playoffs. So I enjoyed that. But you also get to see what type of guys step up to the challenge, or you get to see

their energy when it's a big game. And I saw Otto Porter, well he looked like he was ready, Like he got in the game first shot, pain missed the shot. He was like, I can't wait the next shot come, I ain't missing, and he just kept hitting timely shots and kept the game right within you know, a basket possession or two for us a whole night first half. I thought, you know, it was kind of like a

filling out process. I like the Phoenix. I like their energy coming into the game, Like it was like a game to them, and I don't think not to say that we didn't match their energy. I felt like we did a good job of rising to that quicker than we normally have. But you know how we are, We get free flowing, and you know, we messed around to be down fifteen. We've been down twelve or more like six times this year, seven times a year and came

back and one of them all. And we didn't let that happen because it's like, oh, they just like a playoff game, like the third possession, Like let's right, I said, occasion, So everybody kind of stepped it up. I think second half as we kind of let go to we kind of let it go a little bit. We start letting him get comfortable, We start letting a few guys get

to their dominant hand. As I was talking about the text change morning, you we let him get to his dominant hand, and he started controlling the game the way he does everywhere he's gone, and he's, you know, the ultimate competitor and he knows how to win. And then you know, offensive rebounds skilled us in the first half. Obviously our Achilles Hills turnovers, you know, we had some we had like live ball turnovers. Like like I always say when the young guys going into the games, look, man,

we have fifteen twenty. We can't lose if you just let the shot clock go to zero every possession, we still went by ten. We don't take quick, dumb shots and don't turn it over. And last night, you know, we never really got to a great look, you know what I'm saying. We did have a few, Like you had a few layups that you've been making all year, and you pushed the pace and you've been finishing them amazing, and I'm watching you practice, I'm like, damn, that's just

gonna be big time. They just didn't happen for us last night. Stef just, you know, step just didn't have his normal legs. Because even he said, I saw one shot, I'm like, that's good, and it was the air ball. And then he shot another shot. He was like that's good. He was like, damn, I was the air But I thought I was making it. Have those nights in the NBA, I think we could have did it more of a split cuts. That was the key. We could have made them move a little bit different than what we've been

showing them. Because as you know we had Katie, we had a cheat code. We needed to just get out of his way, you know, and that the next level for us is we get a little stagnant, we take some quick shots, were relying on jump shots. We can get to our split cuts, you know what I'm saying, Especially when Big Feller gets back, which is we're talking about the young Fellers. I can't wait to simplify his game. I think major stepping stone for for for wise Man

is simplifying the game of basketball. And once you simplify it, and that's when everything else opens up instead of trying to do everything at one time. It's like a startup. You gotta focus on one little thing and grew out from there. So I told him, Juan, and the second quarter, I'm like, bro, we have so far to go, and we're still like we're still one of the best team's top two three teams in the league. Like it's scary, but it's not given, Like we gotta go get it.

So I'm not I think, you know, like you said in that game, I probably I'm not sure who was worse Stuff Stuff or myself. We were both pretty bad. Wiggins probably being a little better than than us two were and yet with two minutes and forty seconds left, I got a left hand lay up to cut the league to one. Ye um, so I like where we are. Also, like, like you said, I love the way that guys rose to the occasion because I'm not gonna play that bad. Stuff is not gonna play that bad. Wiggs is not

gonna play that bad. When Jordan Poole came out hitting shots like he was hitting shots, I kept saying, literally, every shot here, show up yond fella. Yep ye You're like, yeah, show up yond fella yea yeah, and he just at the game come to him like he didn't take any He might have had one shot where we're like they're going at George pool shot, but he was like one point, he got to the fine line. That's what I've been on him about this whole years, like, yo, when you're

making shots, you should get the lines. You should have six free through attempts because you making shots there on you. And he was just very patient. One time was three seconds on the clocky punk fake that it got passed him, took a breath shot it right before the buzz, and I'm like, normally he would have rushed and I'm like, yo, I'm just seeing growth and more growth came in and hit it big three. We got like, that's one issue we have that's not an issue, is just our depth.

And then that's something that Being says as well. So it'll be interesting to see how you know, we match up coming. Yeah, that was that's great. And as I said before, are you coming on this show? That was? That was part of me that wants to hear even or wants to hear more of this than basketball, and that is Andre. Uh. Basketball is like his halfday job, but he's a frenually capitalist and probably spends more time on that today than basketball, just for the simple fact um.

When you look at managing your body right like not you're not on the court all day every day like you were when you were twenty four years old. Uh, you're You're more precise than and what you do. Okay, I'm getting on the court. I'm going hard for one hour. That's it. You know, I'm making my lift, I'm doing my body work. But when you're a venture capitalist, when you when and as the way that you are moving in that space, like that's a twenty four hour thing.

You know, like you're seeing an emails if you're awake at one am, like and that doesn't stop. But I have learned, but had the opportunity to learn a ton from you and watch all the moves that you're making um in that space, and I think it's incredible. But one of the things that I really wanted you to come on and and educate me on, and not only myself, but our audience as well's you've gotten really deep into the n f T s uh space. Tell us more about that, Explain n f T S for our audience

that don't know what an n f T is. And then also just tell me more about you in that space and what it is that you see going forward and why you're so interested into the space and how long have you been at it? So I mean to try to break it down, you know, as quickly as possible, because it's a rabbit hole and I'm in Discords. I was on Discord the day forty five minutes. People like, yo,

you're really in here. I'm like, yeah, I'm studying. So n f T is, you know, non funcible token, so essentially think of as a digital collectible, you know, like we collect so many things, you know, I tell people the time, like Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest people on earth because he started collecting stamps and coins at like age four or five. Like he had a passion for collecting coins, which is currency. So just like we enjoyed immersing ourselves in the game of basketball and

studying basketball, he's studying money. And then he had a who traded on the on the stockroom floor, and then his popsters in politics and you know, with policy and how money moves, taxes, all those things like that was his world. So it was no surprise that he just he just accumulated a lot of wealth. So we accumulate different things in different worlds. You know, how did ebase start? eBay started with collecting beanie babies, you know what I mean?

And Amazon started with people who were just lovers of books. They were able to scale those uh platforms out until you know, some of the the e commerce we talked about today is you know, everybody's going into the e commerce space and from from different away. So n f T s a similar in terms of you know, you're collecting things digitally. So it started our NBA top shot. I got a call from I forgot who it was, uh,

you know, it's interesting company. That's just great founder who has a great track record of starting up companies in this manner and obviously like JaVale McGee, gotta give him a lot of credit. You know, people know him as JaVale McGee, but as you know, like this dude is one of the high Q guys on the planet, not just in the NBA, but just smart. So he was talking about super smart. Big Cooin was like nine eight, nine thousand, and he was like, Yo, it's gonna get

to fifteen. Get some bitcoin, and I'm like, I ain't really ready to get you know, the things just got to six six five. You know this past summer, we all know what's happening. But you know, when you talk about cryptocurrencies and the blockchain and how that whole space works with the ledger, which is your receipts, everything's works

more efficiently, everything is more accountable. You know. Uh, they figured out that they were starting the financial sector in terms of introducing the blockchain because they knew if they can get the finance side right, everything else will follow behind it. It's just like the based out with beanie

babies and everything came behind it. So that's just this entreated market and uh NBA top Shot obviously was big for that, not just NBA before in a T space because people were very excited to start, you know, collecting moments. This is like a trading car. So people was like, well, I can just go uh screenshot of image on my phone. What's the difference And I'm like, yeah, you can print

a picture off your printer. That don't mean you own the actual trading card, you know, and it shows who owns it on the ledger, so there's actually a rece say I own this. So there's many different things you can do with owning a digital asset. You know, one thing that artists, um, they make more money in the n f T space than painting a picture. You know, Picasso paints a picture, sells it one time, and you know,

most artists don't make money while they're alive. They sell that picture one time and that's the only time they make money off of it. Or actually n f T s uh there's a six percent uh fee every time it's being moved the soul, so the artist gets paid even though they don't own that picture throughout its course of its life. And then you know Obviously you've got trust which goes into dolls, which is a whole another Rabbi hole on the block on the on the ledger

and the block chain space. Uh be'st key too. You know you've got a few like Spencer Denwoody is just amazing when he speaks on it. He's heavily into the h He wanted to get paid in Uh. He wanted his whole NBA contract in a crypto, which technically can't you can't do, but there's a way to do it. You know, I'm working on something right now where I could be compensated uh through bitcoin. So um, you see how far I digress because it's so immersive. But the n f T space right now, Uh, there's a lot

of digital images. It's a lot of Uh. It's almost like a secret society. You look at board of yacht clubs, It's like, why would I buy a picture of a gorilla for five dollars? And it's almost like its own secret society where you get access to a certain club in Miami, l a New York Like you gotta have this. Your phone is your is your wallet, and it shows you own it and it shows up on leiguer like I get access to this party, or I get access to all the merch first. You know, it's like a

pair of Jordan's. You know, they make ten thousand pairs of Jordan's, and you know it's sponds of fifty million people in America and fifty million sneaker heads. It's only ten thousand shoes. So people buy them up and then they resell them because it's it's just the hot commodity to have. It's the same thing. It's just a pair of shoes, you know what I mean. It's gonna wear out what you're gonna do just leaving there. You can't wear them. They lose the value of same thing with it.

You know, people like collecting uh, digital photos that other people don't have the kind of shows or socio economic status with with with with within the economy or within our our worlds we live in. And that's what it's efasically gonna go to. Where you're talking about the metaverse, we're just talking about way at three point, where we're all going to exist in this virtual world and we're

gonna express ourselves through our avatar. So your avatar is going to be like you know, the person that people see. You know, we're gonna can surely start pacing each other and then just coming back in small groups. But we're all going to Like Microsoft is big on the workspace metaverse, where you can work from home but you put the headset on, but you see your co workers working in

real time and your surroundings look a little different. It's not home because you know there's that layer that thinks you're at work. And then um, Facebook, which is called meta now they just put up They spent like ten billion this year already in the space, which tells you

everything you need to know. You know, when when these large companies start pumping out billions of dollars into a space, you know, it's it's like the innovatives dilemma, but it's not because they know what was coming and they disrupted

so manyfferent things. They know something's going to come after them, so they got to be ready for hit some and you know, uh, Square just changed this name Jack Dorsey, you know, he was CEO of Twitter and Square he just changed the name of Square, which is larger spent one of the largest fintech companies in the world to block, which is you know, so it's just moving so crazy and we're just trying to stay ahead of it, and uh it's exciting, you know, Uh it's a laughing I'll say.

You know started with web point oh, which was you know, platforms creating and publishing and uh monetizing and owning everything, and then web two point over where in right now you see creators creating everything, you know, but we create

content and where does it go? It goes to Facebook, it goes to Instagram, it goes to TikTok, and we don't participate in that and that value at the same way you know the Warriors of work for a fifty million when when steps there and when you get there when clays they're not worth five billion, but if there's a sale, do we participate in the accumulation of value?

In sl zero? Right, So there's no ownership. So what free points about creators creating and creators uh having you know they actually own you know, everything that exists that they're creating, which is we've never seen before. So we're

in exciting times. And uh it's just for us to try to continue to spread the knowledge because obviously African Americans we always the last one to get access to anything, and then we're always you know, the system is set up for us to you know, be at the bottom of the totem pole because you know, you have to have cheap labor, and we've always been the ones to

have cheap labor. So part of me being excited is to take all this information, put it together, package it the right way, and give it back to our community so we can own it and we can learn it and we can start having leadership. You know, we can be the you know, the coach, the GM, the owner.

And when you're when you're in those positions of power, I guess you can call it, but you start hiring and identifying who is good that you know because you hire who you know when you're hiring what you're comfortable with. And that's why we've never been a position to being those job titles that can bring more people that look like, you know, the manager. So I I so I know nothing, I don't own any n where do I start? Uh? Okay, it's like the easiest way you need to do. It's

really three things. You know, get a coin based account. Um, what's the word I'm looking for? Uh? I have to let everyone know that I am investor in coin base, right, So but you get a coin based account. There's other places I think f t X which just did it was still with step, but you know coin based account.

Then you get a metal mask account, so coin bases where you buy your crypto, which you know, all n f t s not all majority runoff ethereum, right, and then there's a lot of base there's test those based, but for the most part it's ethereum. So you go to coin base and then you link your bank account and then you put every much money you want to

get a theory um. Then you get a metal mask which is a wallet, so it's like a digital wallet that basically you can buy n f T s. So you need the meta masks or there's other digital waters as well, but I use meta masks, not investor metal masks. But once you have met a mask, you're gonna open See. Coin Base has an n f T platform and it's

a test pilot right now. But for the most part open Sea that is where people go where all the n f T s are listed and uh, you use meta masks to buy from open See, and you also need discord as well. Discord is when you see a project that you like. You go to Discord, you go to that project chat room and you talk to the community and you can kind of get a good field for projects gonna do well or not because you have authentic people having conversations about all right, what makes this

n f T valuable? Is it a money grab They're just trying to sell something real quick and get out. It's a bunch of those. Or is there a role map? Is there a utility here saying when I have this digital asset, what comes with it? You know? Do I get access to this, do I get access to that? Am I able to meet this person? To meet able to meet that person? And then you see a lot of celebrities that are in and out, so you just gotta be careful. So you still gotta be your homework.

Is just like investing in you know, a company that they may not be as well known, and you just got to track it and see what they're doing every quarter. So you just you just those four things help you Coin based meta masks, Open Sea, and Discord. It's interesting, UM, I appreciate you sharing that knowledge because it's, like you said, I think it's very important. You know, when you speak

on Javl McGee and bitcoin. I appreciate you saying that about javel because he is probably one of the most misunderstood people in the NBA because of the javel McGee, um, you know, and all of those things. People think Javelle McGee is dumb, right, And like you said, he is probably one of the top five smartest guys in the NBA.

Uh and top five maybe selling them short, you know, it's just you know, I mean, Javelle McGee is like one of those people that he's so smart sometimes it can fly by you or it's hard to understand him because he's so smart and so uh. I have an appreciation for that. But speaking of bitcoin, I remember shamaf told me years ago that bitcoin probably had to be worth three four a bitcoin. He said, take one percent of your network. This had to be eight seven, eight

years ago. Take one percent of your network and put it into bitcoin. Yep, like bitcoin, what is that? Right? And he starts breaking down to me what bitcoin is. And at the time, I didn't really have any money, so I couldn't even process was putting one percent of the little money that I did have into anything, right, Like, No, I don't have any money to put into that. I

should have put it in there, but I didn't. But nonetheless, uh, you know, it is what it is, and you live and you learn, um and and that kind of where I am in the space is just continue to learn um, you know, trying to get more active in the space, but also I want to thoroughly understand it before I just get super active into it, you know. And so that's that's what I've been trying to do. I was, But the funny thing is the best thing that happened to me is my account guy had I got robbed.

Like it's funny that it happened like that. But so if you click, like, uh, warning for everybody, don't click on anything in discord, Like, don't click anything like in terms of like links. Right. So I'm just trying to learn, you know, how we are like we we know how to work hard. We're watching hours and hours of films, so it's nothing to us to study. Like it's easy

for us to pick up on stuff. That's why people say, like, you know, like athletes, we can transition to different places because like we just learned how to work hard and you know, uh obtain information. So I'm just learning clicking on stuff, and I clicked on the wrong thing. Somebody you know, got access to my account and then I accidentally screenshot my passwords to my wallet and then they go into my cloud. Got that to boom, take my stuff. Right But that right there, I didn't losing, but I

talked to somebody in the community. Community showed up for me and showed me how to get everything back. I would get everything back to square whatever I still lost. But he was like, thinking about it as you just went to school and you just got your degree and n F T S. And I was like, wow, because now I'm able to teach other people do this, do that, move like this, move like that, all right, watch out for this, watch out for that. Even with like some

of the projects that aren't that good. I got some projects that's like I wouldn't did that if I could have do it again. But now I just give it the same information to other people. So I say the best thing to do is just buy one thing and just like watch it. That experience alone will teach you so much. Then you know one person can tell you Yeah, I appreciate it, man, And and I think for me, um, when when you first came out here, uh, and you

came to go to State Warriors. I remember like everything that she was talking about, like a lot of text splace. I want to do this of space and to see where you've actually grown in that space. It's like incredible, Like you're well respected in that space, You're well known in that space, and you you've had some some investments that's performed, written several unicorns that's performed really well. Um as you now now you're you know, in the last

couple of years of your career. Uh, from just even listening to you saying maybe last year was it, you know, in the last couple of years of your career winding down obviously venture it's probably what's next for you, But what what does that look like for you moving forward? Yeah, it's really exciting, you know, I think, you know, without given too much that hasn't been announced at like everything's

you know, sort of coming to fruition. And I had a really good conversation with one of my favorite, uh private equity guys. He's not really a venture capitalist, but a private equity guy, and I don't want to put his name out there, like he enjoys being anonymous. You know, like we want to be like them, and most of them want to be like us. But he's the one who enjoys. No one knows his name. And he was like, listen, you gotta take and I think all basketball players should

do this. Like we we had so much success and like we were just like all right, where's the next where's the next mountain of client? And we free to give ourselves flowers, you know, that's the cultural thing to say,

like give the flowers while they're still here. And it's like we forget to basking our own success, Like we let so many voices outside the game not let us enjoy the success we had, like let's keep it a hunted, like you remember, like we remember really where we came from, Like that room I lived in when I was in like second grade, Like I can't even walk in there right now. I'm like I gotta crazy, Like how you

grow up like that? Right? Like mush, A whole lot of the African American men, like the odds are already stacked up against us, like we beat the life expectacy already, Like no one even says that. So he said that, like, yo, where you came from six years ago? In the text space to where you are now, Like no one would have predicted that. Like you came a long way already, and you're so focused on the goal and you think you got so far to go, and it's like, no,

you came along way. You got to start enjoying that, embracing it. So I tried to do that. But at the same time, like we're just wired to keep competing, and we're wired wired. It's just like what's next, what's next? Like trying to get somewhere where you know, nobody thought

we can go where they at. You know, they like we can get to the NBA, But how many of us are our owners or how many of us you know, I've accumulated this much amount of wealth because it's not about how much money I got in the bank, but it is because this much money, amount of money in the bank's real change to my community, because it's like a hundred thousand there. We call them band aids over

bullet wounds, like they really don't fix the problems. But when you start talking about mdowments, putting the right infrastructure in place to where you never have to touch the money and you can run organizations and foundations just off the interest alone. Uh, the endowment you put in place, Now that's real change. Now you got to school. You know, Jalen Rose has done it. Beautiful beautiful economy Academy, Lebron James has done it, you know, and and and we

don't even talk about those things enough. Those are generational changes and providing that right infrastructure. So the next group of folks behind us are in a much better position situation that we are. In turn, they do the same thing. And that's how you build that group economics, as David

West was always talking about. So you know, in the VC space, I got a few things that would be coming out in the next couple of months on the VC side, even on the private equity side, uh, even on you know, the athletes side that I'm really excited about. And just you know, got my eyes and crossing my teas and just you know, button everything up. No, it's beautiful. See.

And like I said, as someone who watches you, um right here, I just want to say thank you for the knowledge that you've shared with me, for the path that you've laid out for all of us. I I speak for myself, but I can also speak for guys, and that in the locker room because I know how we all look at you, Steph Curry. I know how, um how his business has ran so incredibly now and a part of that was watching you, you know, and the things that you were doing. So I definitely appreciate that.

And obviously we're on an off day, so I don't want to take up much more of your time. I appreciate you coming on. I do have two more basketball questions before I let you out of here, um and And the first one is I know, for me, I am looking at this team and as I said, we kind of got that mix of younger and experience, and it feels right like the team feel good. It's just it feels right like the oars right. The vibe is great.

The coaching staff has been incredible, I mean the training staff, like it just feel right, like do you feel or see anything? Because I know, I like this feel real two thousand and fifteen sixteen is for me, Like that's

how it feels for me. The funny thing is like coming in like I knew like that Miami he culture had me like locked in, so I'm already ready to go, like all right, I gotta bring that minami heat kind of vibe like make sure, yeah, we really locked in every day, but to say that I could predict this will be a lie, like and then you don't know, like most of the time you can, you know, like all the like when we had success the first year, we didn't quite know until but after that, we like,

we're about to about to run through through these dudes the next four years long as we together, we running through people. You're coming back. He was like, you're still

trying to figure it out. Then you start feeling the energy, like you said the coaching staff, you start seeing the young guys and then you see that video or quite the other day, but you see the cla I'm like, oh oh h now and now you locked it even more, like yo, let's not waste no time, let's not throw nothing away, like let's take advantage of all these moments, like we all know this ain't guaranteed and everyone, for

whatever they said, we had a really good team. Just because you got a good team on me even win it, like you still gotta win it. Yeah, understand how precious this this moments are and what we got ahead of us. So I'm like super like you just wake up and you can't wait to get to work, and people don't understand, like being a professional athlete, there's so many things that come with it that can like stray you away from the joy of your job, and it's just like becoming

drag sometimes. But when you're excited to go to work, like, it's an incredible feeling, man like, and it's just every day is just like even when you're working hard, it's not work hard, hard work. It's just like, yo, we're getting better. Yeah, no, it's it's great. It's funny. I said that the little yesterday, like, loo, I just enjoy coming to work again, man Like, it just feels good to come here. And you're speaking of Clay when I saw that video when they showed us that, like what

the hell like? And what people don't know is the video that they saw he hit his first six shots of the scrimmage. Like and as we we know h Q, who was who was up here with us for like a week, and so in training camp, like you guarding him, you're getting all them buckets. They come in bunches, like we we all saw the clips and we saw I broke up. But if he hits six straight, that was six of the first temp possessions because you know Clay he hit that first one. They're not gonna let you

just lose him. And he hidden shots. He going to get the ball. So you know, those six buckets absolutely came within the first six the first temp possessions of that scrimmage. And that had me so excited. Man, seeing him playing like that. Obviously we're playing well, but just on his journey. Man, it's beautiful to see. So I am extremely excited about Clay coming back. I know we

all are. And yes we are playing great, but you add Clay Thomson back to the foe and then Wiseman back to the phoe, like I like where we at. But lastly, what I want to ask you, and I think this one, this question is really near and dear to me because as someone who have the opportunity to play with share the court with you for seven years now, uh this is seven year seven, I think six or seven, um, I know, and then also sharing the court with them

how to buy you uh this summer? The one thing he said, the one thing we both obviously agree on this like playing with Andre just makes the game easier, right, Like it makes the game easier for you and understanding your impact and what you bring to the game. And now you start to talk about the All Star appearance, all Star appearances, the Championships, finals, m v P, defensive teams, all these things. It bothers me when people don't say you're a lock as for a Hall of Famer like that.

That bothers me. And I don't understand. I understand it because what I understand is that people don't understand the game of basketball, and so I understand it from that perspective of like, y'all don't really understand the game of basketball, so you technically don't know what you're watching. Um. But it, boy, there's me when people don't say andres an equal dollars a lot for the Hall of Fame, because you know, we see a lot of guys who can jump out

the gym. You being one of those guys, obviously not as jumping as high as you are. Who who's jumping out high at your age and all the miles that you have on your body, but you still get up hiring the most guys, and for most guys, that's a hinderance. Like you see guys that can jump and they're dumber than the back of rocks, like like they don't really understand the game of basketball because they've just ran somewhere

and jumped all their life. And whereas you happen to be one of the smartest guys in the league jumping like that, it's so rare. Does it bother you like it bother me when people not saying you're a lot

for the Hall of Fame? I don't think so, because like, like I think I said it a couple of times, like I really couldn't see how good, Like I couldn't see how good Step was when I was playing with him, Like I know how good you were, because we're kind of in the same lane as like we know how good we are what we do, and we know it's

very high level. Well what Step does. It's like it's loud and you see it, but he's so focused on trying to get to like what's next, Like we're like proactive players where we're gonna get there before you do. So it's like one thing with Whigs. I'm like Whigs, like he's been really good defensively this year, and he this is when I knew I was this, when I knew I was kind of good like I never like saying I'm good, like I'm nice, but this one I

knew like I was doing things the right way. Whigs is like, yo, what are some things you like to do when you go on Lebron? I was like, whoa, I'm like, bro, you've got way more ability than me. But then I had to like, okay, okay, this is a good thing. And then I give him some pointers. I'm like, yo, it's really not about stopping him, because you can't. It's just about beating him to the spot before he gets there. And that starts when step shoots

so and student steps shot the ball. I would be looking for Lebron like, all right, where is he at and what point of attack will he be taking the ball at the bounce? That's the first thing that went

off on my mind. So for me, it was just like I wasn't really able to see things like, you know, how good Steph was, you know, so I couldn't like really appreci So that goes back to like, you know, I'm upset at how people see the game, like as you know, we like we identified the journalists who know the game who don't, and not even journalists, just people in general and we realize most don't know the game that well. Because you know so then it doesn't bother me.

And then I always say, like I talked about the top s any Bible lest I always say, like, there's guys in the Hall of Fame that I feel like I think I'm better than him, and I'm not trying to be copy like I think I'm better than that guy. He's in the Hall of Fame. But there are guys who are not in the Hall of Fame that are better than me. But there's a lot and I'm just like, hey man, it just is what it is. You just

it becomes, it comes. If it doesn't, it doesn't. And like I said before, like the impact our generation of basketball players are going to have, it just gets bigger and bigger through each generation, which shows that there is you know, there's maturity, it shows evolution. We're becoming better as humans. Like the things we're doing off the court are going to have a much bigger impact, uh, for not just basketball players, but just you know, black kids

in general. And I think that's what we should be most proud about. And like that really goes back to like you having a conversation with Bob yesterday. I'm like, Bro, like the impact that we have outside of the game, it's just it's just crazy. Absolutely, no, Man, I definitely appreciate it. The vat Andre Godalla, hall of famer in

my book Chat. I appreciate everything you've done for me, including obviously coming on this podcast today, but goes way beyond this podcast, just in my career, in my life, the things you've taught me always be somebody I'll look to, I'll call upon when I need some advice, when I need somebody to talk to our sharped you brother, Thank you for coming on. Thank you, Man, appreciate you. Proud of you too. Man. We gotta say that more often. Man,

appreciate you. Bro. Likewise, likewise are our venture capitalist brother who who caused and have it over there and figuring it out. Man. Definitely appreciate it, Sir Man. What an incredible conversation just to have with with Andre. Obviously I am I have the opportunity to have those conversations often and and really just sit and soak up the knowledge and learn as he is one of the guys that I truly respect, the way he goes about his business, the way he has capitalized on being in such a

hotbed of technology in Silicon Valley. I think it's incredible and so always honored UM to just take in some of the knowledge and some of the um advice that he that he gives, which he does often, which he doesn't have to. So I'm very thankful and appreciative of that. So again, to my big brother Andre, thank you for coming on and Draymond Green show before we wrap, I'd be remissed if I didn't mention the late great Virgil I blow Uh. He's for what he's done for our culture.

Number one rest in peace, UM, and to his family, I sent my my thoughts, my prayers, well wishes and most importantly my love. Losing a loved one is never easy, and you know, losing a loved one at forty one years old, it's tough, and obviously none of us know the time, nor to day, nor the place. Uh, But

nonetheless it's it doesn't make it easier. And obviously now we all know for the last two better part of the last two two and a half years, he's battling cancer, and number one, to continue doing what he was doing while going through his journey and his fight with cancer, just speaks to the guy that that he is, that he was, and speaks to why he was able to do what he was able to do. I mean, you have a guy now who we just saw I just saw today. Uh, they have something display off some Mercedes

car that he that he designed. We know he designed Drake's playing Um, we know he's designed watches for Drake, obviously off white Pyrex, going all the way back and then on the Louis Vatton and what what he's able to do there as a black man, UM going to a brand like Louis Vatton and being the head of create of the creators designed for Louis Vatton owned by LVMH, a black man from Chicago. Uh, some heard of We

lost a great one. We lost a guy who has changed culture, who has changed the way we look at fashion, UM, who's changed the way art, fashion, um, music and are intertwined. You're talking about a guy who has shown us he's

an artist and the design things that he does. He's shown us he's an artist through the music aspect in his DJ and and things that he's does, and obviously through his creation of the brands that he's created and the collections that he's put out with that he's been in charge of at at Louis Vutton just an incredible creative.

I never had the opportunity of meeting Virgil, but I know from my fashion sense and the things that I like, he had a huge impact on that and just the things that he put out and and so, man, it's a tough one. Uh. You know, a guy who's broken down barriers for creators, especially African American black, just black creatives. He's broken down a lot of walls, broken down some barriers. And looking forward to the creatives of today carrying on

his legging legacy. Uh you know seleehy been Bery, uh Heron, Preston, uh Don c And the list goes on and on. Creators, creators that continue to shape our culture. So I'm looking forward to Jerry Lorenzo, you know, I'm looking forward to those guys continuing to carry out his legacy, carry on his legacy. Obviously, will continue to see the imprint that he left on on the fashion world. But man, gone

way too soon. Virtual I blow. I sent my love to his family, his loved ones, his friends, UM, anyone that's that he's impacted their life, who feels that loss. Uh send my love, my thoughts and my prayers. Man, it's a tough one, but the third episode of The Draymond Green Show. Thank everybody for tuning in. Uh see you guys next week. Peace and love.