The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Draymond Green Show - Tristan Thompson

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Tristan Thompson joins 'The Draymond Green Show' to discuss how he got into basketball as a kid in Canada, the importance of his family, what it was like dating Khloe Kardashian, how Klutch helped his career during his holdout, what LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were thinking after going down 3-1, his thoughts when Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors, Mario Chalmers's comments on LeBron, working out for the Los Angeles Lakers, working with ESPN, and more. Produced by: Jackson Safon #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. This next guest, I am excited to have, number one. He's a guy who has a voice, who's not afraid to use their voice. But as you know, come on the Draymond Green Show. You've got to have a guy. a resume. That's just how it goes. That's just what it is. You got to have a resume. It's exclusive. You got to have been to accomplish something. And this guy right here, not only did he accomplish something, actually beat me

in the NBA Finals, provided the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, coming back from down 3-1, as you know, the Cleveland Cavaliers that came back. This guy was the start and center, leading rebounder,

setting the best screens, defensive anchor, voice. If you're actually out there on the floor, like you hear how much communicating he does. So important to the championship team, I'm honored to have this next guest. My brother, double T, Tristan Thompson. What up, my brother? What up, bro.

I appreciate that. I got's a little rundown right there. I like that. I like that. That's a lot. Damn, I like it. I appreciate it. No, no doubt.

appreciate you coming on. I've been looking forward to this. You know, like I said, you're, you're someone who I have a tremendous amount of respect for the way that you came into the NBA, number one, coming from Canada. Basketball started to become big in Canada just as you were growing up. And to take hold of that, come to America on your path, go to Texas, get to the NBA, forfeit. Absolutely amazing. And I just really want to start off. talking to you about that. Like, growing up in Canada, I saw the, I saw the, the Carter effect,

the documentary, the Carter effect, and how much impact Vince Carter had on basketball. But growing up young in Canada, before all of that started happening, did you even have a thought of, like, I want to play basketball, I want to play out of high level when I want to go to the NBA?

No, to be honest, you know, being the Jamaican background, my first love was soccer. So growing up as a kid, you know, six, seven, eight, eight-year-old, you know, it was all about soccer. It was soccer, soccer, soccer. And to be honest, I didn't even think about basketball or even NBA.

And to be honest, it wasn't really until Vince Carter when I was like, you know, I started hitting a gross spur and I said, you know what, you know, keep getting these handballs on the soccer field. I said, you know, let's try basketball. It looks fun. Guys are jumping high in Duncan. So I said, why not try this sport out? And then, you know, how popular Vince Carter was and the Nike commercial with the Nike shocks and

see how electrifying, you know, always windmilling or. Duncan out, Tim Duncan. I was like, I want to play basketball, and I want to make the NBA. So that's how it was for me. And at what age did you actually start playing? Sixth grade. So that was that?

That's like 12 years old, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So kind of compared to all the kids in America, you know, right now you have AU at 8 and under, nine and under. So for me, it was kind of a later start. But I fell in love with the game. And then ever since the sixth grade,

I've been in love of the game and been playing. You know what's crazy is I see guys who start later. Like I started playing basketball when I was four years old. I played on my first structured team at six. And I was playing with like third and fourth graders. So first grader playing with third and fourth graders, it's a totally different field.

And I didn't play much, but to get that experience for me was huge. And, you know, so you start playing at 12 and one thing and you tell me if you agree with that. one thing I feel like I've noticed is guys who start playing at a later age like yourself don't really build bad habits you know you start young you start at six years old you can't really shoot the ball you fling it like this you know like pushing the ball but guys who start at like later ages yourself joel and b don't really have bad habits do you agree with that can you

speak to that a little bit no i agree i think it's because you know when we start playing basketball like you said, myself, Joel, and other guys, you feel like you're behind eight ball. You feel like you have to catch up to the other kids that I've been playing, you know, since like you're like a guy like yourself, like, you know, since you're six years old. So for us, it's almost like, we treat every practice or every drill. Like, we have to get better every day and we have to build the right fundamentals because, you know, we feel like we're, we're 10 steps behind. And then, like you said, you know, you watch kids now, the first thing to do is go to three point out, they're just, they're just chucking the ball. They're developing so many bad,

habits and just even my son, Prince, you know, well, like, you know, I'm teaching him like, you know, left hand dribble. Don't use two hands, no double dribbling. Because like you said, like the kids that start super early, you develop bad habits. But, you know, for a guy like myself and people from international, we know that, listen, we're not American. So we're already behind the eight ball. We're already looked at as not as good. Why, why pick a kid from Canada where I can go grab a kid from somewhere in the States? So for us, we knew that every, every day in the gym had to count. Man, speaking of Prince, like you just mentioned,

just son, who I have the honor of knowing and having a relationship with, he's such an incredible kid, bro. Like, and I know I've said this to you before, like such an incredible kid speaks so highly of his father. He said they're like, my daddy playing the NBA too. My daddy on TV too, he tells me all that. He'd be so happy, man. I think it's so dope.

And, you know, for you to mention him, here, this wasn't where the interview was going, but I actually was telling Farrah. Fair was like, provide me with some questions. And I sent through some of the questions that I have, but I said, fair, I just want to let you know this isn't going to be the typical interview. I like to go where the interviewee takes me. And you're speaking of your son, like, speak to me about fatherhood. We've had discussions and speak to me about fatherhood, bro, and like what that's done for you as a man and your life and how it's forced you to grow. Yeah, well, I think it's important for everyone to know is that, you know,

Prince and DJ, they love each other. They're best friends and they, you know, go on vacation and you're an amazing father and an amazing role model to your kids. And what you've done for when I'm not around for Prince being there for him, especially, you know, being on the West Coast and being able to come back and forth to L.A. So I appreciate

that. I think it's important as as men to show their appreciation for other fathers because, you know, it's tough. It's not easy. Especially with our schedule, it's not really in favor of her family. So the fact that, you know, you're able to be there for DJ and even there for Prince, you know, it means a lot. So now I appreciate you for that.

And I think fatherhood, I think it's part of the journey. I think, you know, me growing up not having a father figure, having my dad around, you know, being him being in and out of jail incarcerated. So for me, having kids, there's always important for me to, especially with boys, you know, we got to make sure we, you know, teach him the right things. and kind of be a leader, and I think that's how you shape, you know, try to create these young men and kind of break the cycle, you know what I'm saying? And I think that's important. No, absolutely. And 100%, bro, I appreciate you. And also the openness to that, you know what I'm saying?

Like, Prince is my nephew, as you know, and like, you know, do beach days. We're done all the type of stuff. And I have an appreciation for that, too, because I understand the grind. Like, you're in Cleveland, you're in Boston, whereas. on the West Coast, you can get back and forth. And I think that's important. You know, for us, like you said, your father was in and out of prison. My mom and my dad divorced at 12, you know.

And I always talk about the things that I did not learn. Like, so I would never say I didn't, like, grow up with a man in my life. Like, I grew up with some great men in my life. But I had this conversation with my mom before. I said, Mom, you were incredible. Like the things that you taught me were great. But there are just some things that I didn't learn just because I did not grow up in the house

with a man in the household. You know, it's like certain traits that you pick up that are those that a woman would teach that a man wouldn't necessarily teach or some things that you would pick up from a man in the house that you didn't necessarily pick up. And I now growing up in my life, I've realized like, man,

there's some things that I just didn't get due to that. And so in a situation like yours where you're halfway across, you're all the way on the other side of the country, like not that, for instance, growing up with a man in the househouse. But just to have a man around sometimes when your father can't be there, I think that's important. You know what I'm saying? And I try to do that when I can because it's a tribe, man.

Like we all were raised by tribes. We weren't just raised by our mom. raised by tribes, you know what I'm saying? So I can appreciate that. And then speaking of mother, you recently lost your mom. Number one, I want to say I'm sorry about your loss. I couldn't imagine. Like, you know, my mom is everything.

And so I couldn't imagine. So I want to say number one, sorry about your loss. But just like, how are you coping with that? Like, what do you lean into? Because you have to lean into something to kill you. the time like what do you find comforting and lean into? Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's definitely tough. Like, like you said, like, you know, our moms, especially what I know, it's like a lot of

us Hoopers, like, our moms are rock, you know, because they're the ones that they come to the AU games, they come to the high school games, come to the college games, they're rooting for us, they're in the stands, they might cuss a fan out, they might, they'll go to war for us. So, you know, my mom was like that for me and, you know, losing her, it's been tough, you know, I think it's, you know, there's always just good days. there's bad days. Some days are easier than others. What I try to do is keep myself busy, but try to give a lot of my love and my time to my kids just because, you know, they give me

peace of mind and they give me a purpose. Of course, we all have a purpose in life, but I think, you know, when times are tough and things are dark when you look at your kids and see them, that's where you get that light, like, all right, I can do this, you know what I'm saying? I got to do it for them and I got to be strong for them. You know, like my mom was a type of woman's says, you know, you know, there's no time for sitting around. You've got to get up and be active, you know. Men have to have ambition. Men have to get up every day and keep it pushing.

You know, you can't be lazy. You know what I'm saying? So that's what I took from her, her work ethic. And I just try to do that with being in this state. It's not easy. It's tough. You know, I get so used to wake up in the morning with her living in Toronto, the three-hour difference, you know, wake up the text message from her.

And, you know, not getting that no more. There's times where I have pictures like, and when Prince had his school recital, like school recital, you know, I, I text my mom and I'm like, you know, like, so it's still, it's still tough, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, obviously she's very big in the church and very big in faith, and she was a, she preached. So, you know, I just pray a lot and, you know, just get just the closer I feel like I get in with the spiritual side and with God and everyone has their own beliefs and whatnot, but, you know, I just try to get tap into that so I can, you know, help me through these

these times. Absolutely, real. Man, I couldn't imagine. And your mom took care of your brother. I grew up having seizures, epilepsy. I had seizures. Yeah, I had seizures. I was actually born having a seizure. So I was told this story. I was born. And my grandfather said, why is that baby shaking like that? Like, the baby shouldn't be shaking like that. They never figured it out. I think when I was like six or seven years old, I had like a real seizure and I went on medicine. And I was on medicine until I was 28 years old. I had my last seizure when I was 14, 15. And I was on medicine for it until I was 28 years old. I started talking about, like he was talking about, hey, man, I think you can stop taking the medicine now. Like, we should start waning you off. I'm like, actually,

I already weaned myself off. And like, I happen to, like, I'm blessed. And I don't, I don't take that for granted at all. You have a younger brother who has a much more serious case, epilepsy, and now you're taking on that responsibility. I want to shed light on that, not to share your business, but more so to show what type of person you are. Because I think a lot of times in the media, people get so caught up in someone's personal life and what they do with their life, that they forget to see the good in people. just speaking of the type of guy, you've taken that on. Like, speak to me about that because that's challenging.

Yeah, no, it's, you know, I'm the oldest of four, oldest of four, you know, my brother that's 27, so he's on his own in Toronto. And then I have a, the middle child, he's 18. So he's living with my brother right now. And then I have Amari, who's 16, who has epilepsy, and he's with me full time and under my care full time. The type of epilepsy he has is called LSG. it's basically, if you want to put a nutshell,

basically what one in 100 people have epilepsy, but he's one out of two million that have this type of epilepsy. And I guess, in the gift to rank, it's one of the worst case epilepsies out there. So for him, you know, he's disabled, and we have to have 24-hour care for him. So I have to have caregivers, you know,

and nurses that have actually dealt with cases like this just because, you know, was his seizures are very severe. And if they're not treated right, it could be, it could be very bad. So for me, you know, I take that responsibility at the end of the day, like, you know, that's family. And my mom always told me when you're blessed, you bless others, and you always take care of your family regardless of the situation, you know. And then to me, you know, the reason why, you know, I'm so close to Mark, to me, it's like that one piece of my mom that I have left, you know? And because she, she basically, once I got to the NBA, she retired.

I told her, you know, no more working. She was a school bus driver. I said, just take care of Amari, focus on Amari, and I'll take care of everything else. So, you know, I'm taking on that with myself right now. And he's done much better being out here. And it's always better when you have fun. But it was the snow, the snow and great clubs. It's too depressing.

So Marry's out here. He loves California. He's starting to gain weight and he's smiling more and more happy. and it's just, you can just see his energy and spirit, you know, of course, even though he doesn't talk, you know, of course, people always feel. He might not be able to talk or be able to articulate how he's feeling, but you could tell when his first happened with my mom, you could tell he was more depressed, didn't really want to eat,

was more bundled up in a ball in the bed, but now that he's, you know, as time has passed, he's, you know, and there's a big shout-out to the caregivers that I have, the nurses that are taking care of him that are giving him, that are giving him the love, in addition to the love I'm giving him, my family's giving them because, you know, they're, even though they're getting paid to do a job, they're going above and beyond. And we have them going to, you know, birthday parties with the nurses to like, so it's great. So it's challenging, but it's, you know, it's part of my journey.

And, you know, I'm starting to make my mom proud. That's special, man. That's special. That's special. You know, like you, I think your mom said it best, we get put in these positions. And the reality is you're placing these positions to bless and, help others. And for you to do that, like, you don't have to do that. You could easily have someone else do that. You know, you can have someone else take care of, you can pay for

someone. Like you, that's honorable, man. And I feel like those are the stories. Like, that was, when I started this podcast, it was for stuff like that. It was for to let, like, let's talk about Tristan Thompson playing basketball and not like, oh, well, he had 13 rebounds today, but he only had seven like yeah my son can see he had 13 rebounds on the stat sheet today that's another reason i started but also like the good in us you know no one ever really want to talk about the good because they say it doesn't sell you know that's the controversy sales they say yeah no that's lazy that's lazy they don't want to do the homework they don't want to do the work exactly no no talking about tristan thompson and mark sales as well you know and and and it's refreshing and people need to

hear it. And so I thank you for sharing that story with us because you didn't have to, but I can take something away from that. And I think everyone else can take something away from that. So I think that's absolutely incredible. I agree. I think that's the one thing that I think with your platform and what you're doing is like changing the narrative. And you know, you're, and one thing I love about you is that you'll get on that mic and you'll, and the good thing is that there's between you and other people that we wouldn't mention their name is that, listen, you can you can stir it apart and you can light a fire under someone's ass

but you actually have the knowledge. You have both, which makes you a fucking problem. You know what I'm saying? I appreciate it. And that's why the media is afraid of you because it's like, you know, even with myself doing ESPN, like they just think we're just like, you know,

black basketball players that just go play basketball, don't know nothing about the game, but they don't realize that like we study the game, we have knowledge, and we study what goes on the road and we see the trends. Like, we see that if a GM from, let's just, we'll make a name it, if a GM from Cleveland, if a rumor comes out and people be like, oh, well, if a certain reporters are cool, certain GMs.

So you know if a report comes from this guy, you know who's talking. And I think you called that out, you called that out. And it's just like, you know, the fact that we know that stuff and we're changing the narrative all people perceive us, they can't stand it. Because the guys that have these positions that we're in are usually the guy that never played basketball. Yeah. Probably were maybe the G-air to ballboy, but the fact that we actually hoop and we have the knowledge and we have the field, like it just, it scares them. That's what they're, that's what they're furious.

So, you know, I also keep, keep doing your thing, bro. Like, we got to, we got to change that narrative. You know what I'm saying? We have to. And we are, the new media, baby. You know, I'm going to tell you want, I'm going to tell you want that I hate basketball players that start acting like they didn't play basketball. to start acting like they're not one of us. Like, bro, like, I get it.

Like, being a part of the media, I am a part of the media now, you're a part of the media now. But one thing I'll never forget is I play basketball and how that feels. You know what I'm saying? Like, what that's like. And, like, it irks me when I see guys

get up there and forget. Like, you know, you're sitting in that same locker room. Like, you dealt with these same issues. You dealt with these same thing. that irks me more than the guys that didn't play and talk stupid. Yeah, I know, because it's like they had brand new. You're like, bro, I literally played against you two, three years ago, and you were never like this.

And like don't act like you've never been in these positions before, or don't act like you've never had a bad month, a bad shooting month, you know, or not being able to show up because who knows what was going on. But I agree with you when guys, it's funny because it's like, you know, doing media, everyone thinks that you have to figure out which villain or character you're going to be. And it's like, no, just be yourself. And if you just have knowledge and you just know what,

if you stand on what you believe in and you just know what you're talking about, people are going to fall in love with you because people want organic people. People don't want to deal with the faith. Listen, you want to, if certain guys are on TV, they want to just stir it apart. And that might last for a couple years,

but to have longevity, you're going to have more than just, you know? Absolutely. you're actually going to have to analyze something. Not tell us what to stash you. Oh, man, this guy shot awful. He was five for 21. Well, I can see that. All right.

What else you got for me? Why was he five for 21? What did that defense do to make him five for 21? Did he just miss shots that he normally makes and he was five? What actually happened to get him to five for 21? break the film down, break the film down. Show us what's going on. You know what I'm saying?

A lot of guys can't get like stash in his top note. Show us what's going on. Maybe it's a matchup that this guy has struggled the last five games again. When he plays against this guy, he struggles. Like, give us more, man. Give us more. You know what I'm saying?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And then speaking of these things and family, and I want to move into your career because I think, like I started this thing off, when your career was amazing. But before we actually get into the meat of their career, I want to ask you something that,

I will watch, and I know all the pressure that we're under. Like, we are under an immense amount of pressure all the time. Schedule is absolutely insane. Two things that you did that I thought was absolutely amazing. One, you dating your second child's mother, second through Chloe. and her fame and attention that she draws. I don't think people understand the draw that that then has on you, right?

Like, because you have to take on that schedule. You have to take on like that fame. You have to take on if it's this event, I may be in the middle of, I may be in the midst of a stretch of five games and seven nights. And on one of those two nights we have off, there's an event that she has to go, when I have to attend that event, right?

So now I'm six and seven nights. Like, taking on that, how did you adjust to that? Like, you know, everyone wants to talk about your relationship. Like, I don't know what fuck about that. Like, that got nothing to do. But how did you adjust to, like, having to take on another person's schedule that's so busy and so much and so out there? Because that's a huge thing.

And to stay locked in and focus like you did, like, how did you take on it and, like, channel that? Yeah, I think It's definitely, yeah, you know, like you said, you know, dating someone that's a high profile and dating someone that's in the public eye and whose career is very public, you know, you take on that. It's no different than, you know, with your wife, you know, like now she had to take on to your MBA schedule. And, you know, like, Chloe, you should take out to my MBA schedule. I think the great thing about, you know, about your wife and then about, you know, when I was with Chloe is that they understood how much. much we love the game of basketball and how much we are invested in it. And they, you know,

during the season, she put a lot of her stuff on hold because she wanted to be there for me and support me. And that's, and that shows a lot about her character and it shows how much she's invested in the relationship. So during the season, it wasn't, it wasn't tough at all because it was more so like the way we viewed it was during NBA season. It's about the NBA. And then the summertime is more focused on her because, you know, for us, our summer, it's more kind of We freelance, we work out. You know, I can get up at sticks and be done with all my stuff. You know, get two workouts in and treatment.

I can be done by noon. So during the season, it wasn't so tough just because she sacrificed a lot to be in Cleveland with me. She was in Cleveland with me the majority of the season, and she'd go back and forth. And that was a sacrifice that she made that I give a lot of respect to. But during the summertime, like you said, there's definitely an event you want to go to because you want to be supportive. You know, at the end of the day, when you're dating someone, the way they support you, you want to support them. and that's what a relationship is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a union.

It's supposed to be a team. You know what I'm saying? It's no different than hooping, having your brothers back. So during the season, when we're tough, during the off season, it was much easier just because we didn't have a crazy schedule. Yeah, would there be times if we were playing the Lakers and we were on a four-day trip like we played the Lakers and Clippers when I was with Cleveland, the West Coast trip, there'd be times when we have an event.

But, yeah, it's tough, but you make those sacrifices because, you know, you love someone and they do, we do the same thing for you. But in terms of just being a public eye, it's a bigger microscope. But you got to be prepared for that. You've got to, you know, listen, I've made more mistakes than for enough men's lifetime. And so I've learned the power, but I take accountability. It was on me. You know, at the end of the day, as a man, you got to look at the mirror and say, I made these wrong decisions.

And I hurt someone I love and I hurt loved ones around, you know, because, you know, if you make a a mistake and you hurt the initial person, you're not just hurting them, you're hurting yourself, you're hurting my mom, my brothers, her family. You're hurting everyone that has any bit of love for you because at the end of the day, everyone just wants to see you happy. And when something, you know, negative happens that you put yourself in, everyone feels bad

and they wish it never happened because they know you have a good heart. It's part of the growing period. You know, I think growing up as a kid, you know, you always have your OGs and your older guys that'll tell you, hey, like, I remember Richard telling me, like, hey, like, you know, you got to grow up. If you're going to date someone, you got to be fully locked in and two feet in. And I'd be like, okay, yeah, yeah, you listen.

But as kids, you know, you put yourself in positions and you make mistakes. And sometimes we got to find out the hard way. And it's just part of journey. And, you know, I, of course, I wish it never happened, of course now. But you got to be accountable at the end of the day. And, you know, there's a lot of times where, you know, a lot of the mistakes I was making. It was because, you know, I never had, I never, I never, I was searching for something that it was just always in here.

You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. I realized that, I realize, and that's almost the part of our game, the part of sports with athletes is the side part. Even though I'm going off topic, talking more like just, you're never off topic here, brother.

You're never off topic here. Yeah, I think the sad part about being an athlete or the tough part is that we're always taught to like, you know, killer be killed mode, my way or the highway, you know, my shit don't stink. I can do whatever I want. I don't care who we're taught that because we're always

in competition to get to that next. You know, it's like the pre-drive. You want to move up the spot. So you've got to take this guy down. He might be the nicest guy. It might be Gerber for that. Who's a heavy Christian, but you got to go and destroy this guy because you want his spot, you know?

Absolutely. And developing that mindset as an athlete, it sometimes hurt your relationships because you don't understand how to view someone else's side or feel what someone's feeling, you almost say, hey, I'm just going to do this and I'll live with the results. But then shit happens where, you know, you fuck up. And my bad for cursing, you fuck up. Curse as much as you want on here, chap. Yeah. So you start, you know, you fuck up and you're like,

fuck, like, why do I keep making these mistakes? And I know right from wrong. I'm not a dumbass. I know right from wrong. But then you got to like, you know, for me, I did a lot of therapy and like self-help and self-growth. And I realized that a lot of shit that I was doing was from what I've seen what my dad was doing or, you know, like I said, breaking the cycle because I don't want the mistakes I made, the mistakes my dad made to my mom is the mistakes that I made to women that I've been within my past. I don't want Prince.

I don't want Prince to do that. I don't want to break the wheel. And the only way to break that cycle was I had to stop that. I had to fix that being controlled because I don't want him to do what I've done. When I'm 60, I see him 25 or being with someone or married, seeing him make same mistakes I make. that means I didn't do my job as a father. So until I understood that and put myself in a vulnerable position to kind of let myself open up and figure out what was triggering me to make these kind of stupid actions, you know, doing stupid immature shit.

Once I figured that out, then I was able to grow and kind of like blossom and mature and that's what's helped me so much. And I think with this time not playing on the NBA schedule, I've done more time to help myself be just a better human being because majority of my life is going to be non-BAT NBA than NBA. You know what I'm saying? Being a professional athlete. So I got to start at some point starting to grow, you know, and with having more time I have I wanted to do that.

That's special. I think that's great. You know, it takes so many people, most people, so long to find that. You know, like to find that from within, and to find, like, I want to go get some help. If I want to go talk to somebody, I'm cool. I'm going to go talk to somebody. I'm going to go get some help, you know what I'm saying?

So I applaud you on that. But, you know, and switching gears and moving forward to your career because that's the whole book in itself and everything that's going on. I want to start. Pre-draft, there's this common misconception that LeBron James is the first clutch client. it's actually not true. You are actually a Clutch client before LeBron Jane. When you decided to go with Clutch,

I mean, pretty much at the inception of Clutch, yeah, at the inception of Clutch, what made you trust in a rich and trust in fair, you know, they're at the beginning of their journey and you were projected top five pick right away? What made you trust in them so early on before anybody? Because, see, before, at the time when it was just, that's LeBron's boy,

and he started an agency because of LeBron. What made you have the comfort of trust in Rich and Farrow and Clutch Sports? When I met Rich, he was under CIA with Leon Rose, and that was LeBron's agent during that time. And I never, for me, I committed at Texas early. I committed at 10th grade because I don't care to talk to these older men and just have them lie to you. Like, I commit early because I don't want to, first of all I don't want you

college coaches calling me, okay? I'm in high school. I want to be on aim. I want a ticket with my friends. So I commit to... Aim! You aim to yourself, Jim. I know, right?

The side ticket, the dollar day plan. But it was the same thing. Yeah, it was the same thing for, like, picking an agent. Like, it was for me, it was like, you know, I trust Rich. I'm comfortable with him. He wants the best for me. I don't have time. I don't care to talk to the...

I don't want to sit down and eat with you guys. No disrespect. But I'd rather just hang on my friends because I had that relationship and connection with Rich, I said it's a no-brainer. I remember telling my mom, you know, I want to sign a Rich and this is how much my mom

trusted me where she let me decide what's what I wanted to go to. She was not involved at all, and it was the same thing with picking an agent. We sat down and Leon was there and, you know, Leon was talking, we were really like, we weren't paying, we're like, oh, Rich, what are we doing? Like, that's just fine. Like, we already know, we know we're doing. We're family already. We're at second base

already. So, Let's just get it going. And everyone has them. Like when clutch first start, everyone's like, oh, it's just LeBron's boy and and da-da-da-da. And all these other agents who are not African-American would use, would tell other African-American potential clients, hey, you don't want to do, you don't want to sign with clutch because it's all about LeBron or he's not going to be investing in you. He's, he's up LeBron's ass. He's not going to care about you. And that's totally false.

That's fake news. That's 100% a lie. People just say that because they were afraid of it. The same way the media is afraid of you. And it's just because nobody likes to change or a new wave. No one likes the new media. Nobody likes anything like that. It's like everything in life.

Like they get mad at LeBron for leaving Cleveland, Michael Jordan State of Chicago all these years. Everyone, there's not a blueprint and nothing in life. None of these categories in life, there's a blueprint. everyone writes their own script and for Rich what he was able to do

I believe them from day one and as Clutch continued to grow and then you know you came and joined the family

other guys came and join because it's only so long that these older 60 year old ages can just hate and there's only so many times you can use that

he cares about LeBron or do it like it's only so much you can use that and you're like you know what bro you don't even come to my games

you just wait for me to come to LA and you come to my game against the Lakers and Clippers you're not even you're not even coming to the games

and okay it's like all these ages they just want their 4%. They just want their cut. And Richel's different. Like, Hughes invested, text me after games.

Let's watch the film. You got to get the floaters up earlier. You got to do this. And when you're picking people to have in your team and building all your professional tribe, you want people that are going to always be real with you, hold you accountable, and love you for who you are,

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Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia. 1-800 next step or text next step to 533342, Arizona. 1-88-78-9-7-77- or visit CCPpG.org slash chat, Connecticut, 1-8009 with it, Indiana. 1-800-522-4,700 to visit KSgambling, help.com, Kansas, 18777-7-70, stop, Louisiana. Call 1-800-3-27-50-50 or visit W-W-W-Hourpline.org slash problem gambling.

Visit www.md-Gamblinghelp.org, Maryland. 1877-8-8-Hope New York or text Hope, New York, 467-369, New York, 1-800-2-2-4700, Wyoming or visit www.1-800-gambler.net, West Virginia. Facts. Facts. That's a fact, man. I've gotten an opportunity. I've known Rich for much. longer than I've been signed with Clutch, but I've gotten an opportunity to see that as well.

Like, you know what's crazy, and you just mentioned it, one of the things that actually, like, was the step on me switching the Clutch. Like, I knew it was something I want to do. I'm like, yo, I think this is something I want to do. And then I just started, like, floating the idea around a little bit. I'm like floating to a few different people, a few different agent. And when I saw how agents was speaking about him to me, I'm talking about I had agents like

Some agents curse me out Like Like that's fucking ridiculous How dare you sign with him How could you even mention me and him In the same sentence Like now mind you this is 2016 17

Like this ain't You say too long ago It's like right there It's like right you know It's like five six years ago This ain't long time I don't mention my name In the same sentence

And when I start hearing things like that, I said, oh, that's the guy I'm supposed to be with for sure. Like, if you feel that you need to speak about this man like that and y'all doing the same job and you need to speak about him like that, that's the guy I need to be with because you're afraid of him. And if you're afraid, you actually know more about this agency business than me. You're not afraid of him? That's the guy I need to be with. And I figured that out, like, and it's continued to grow. And now the world knows, right?

Like, now it's on Front Street, you can't deny it. But for so long, that was denied. Like, I mean, it was constantly thrown. And that brings me to a question that I actually wanted to ask you. In 2015, you held up. You didn't go to training camp. You were up for a contract extension, and you held up. you eventually end up getting

the contract you wanted. We actually signed the same exact deal five years. Good thing you signed 82. Good thing you signed 82. Because I was like, yo, I'm on done too. Sign the same exact contract. Yeah, yeah.

In doing that, I know that you had to trust Rich. And going through that process, you had to trust him. But what I wanted to ask you was, in 2015, when you were going through them, contract extension.

Do you think being a part of clutch in the stigma that it had, did it hurt you or did it help you? And the reason that I'll explain why I'm asking this question is because everyone would try to say, man, you were Cleveland. LeBron's in Cleveland. So Rich can get any deal he wants in Cleveland, right? I happen to believe that's false. I actually think it works against you, but that's just my opinion.

But I want to know from your, from your vantage point, you're going through it. Do you think being with Clutch at that point helped you in your negotiations or were they actually trying to use it against you? They were using it against me. And I think, listen, if I didn't, if I wasn't with Clutch, I would have probably ended up signing maybe a deal similar like Marquif signed.

I think it was like a four year, but it was like 80 year, maybe the middle level. Because even I remember at the deadline, because you know, I think it was like October 30th at the deadline. Yeah. You want to get the extension, right? And I remember they came back to us

that four years 52, the Rubio deal, what Rubio got. And I remember we just played the Bulls, and I had 16, I had 16 rebounds, and 14 of them were offensive rebounds. That's crazy. Yeah. And that's what the Bulls had, Paul Gasol, Joe Kim and them. So the game's over. It's a ESPN game, which calls me, and he says it's four years 52.

And really, to be honest, most agents would have said, son, take the deal. And you know how they talk to us? Like, we're kids. Son, take the deal. deal. I represented Mr. Rand. I represented Al Harrington and he only had a four years 32 or I represented Germain O'Neill, his second deal and it was only a 52 million. Like they try to son us because they think we don't know better and they think we're just idiots. So I'm on the phone with Rich and he says, man, four year 52, what do you want to do? And I said, what do you think? He said, well,

do you think you're going to get better this season? I said, yeah. He said, well, then why would we take the deal? I said, all right, but then I'm not taking the deal then. So, but most of the, people, the fact when I was holding out, people were using that against me, almost saying, like, Rich is uneducated or Rich is over his head or Rich don't know what he's talking about. But those people that were that were talking, talking shayers because they had their insecurities because they know they couldn't do better. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. Yeah. And listen, they got to a point when they called, when they called, when Rich calls you with the five year 82, at first I said no because prior to that when we have our meeting at. the end of the year when you guys won the first championship,

when Kari broke his kneecap, at the end of that, we did almost like an exit meeting, and Rich said, you know, we want the max. But if anybody asked you, say you want the max. So the max back then was five years 90, what Kauai got with the Spurs. So in my head, I was so,

and if you talked to Rich, I was so into that mold, or whenever I saw somebody, they'd be like, what were you holding up for? Chris Milton just got five years sending. I said, no, I'm going for the max. Like, I remember even coaches would call me like,

coaches that we know and you'd be like, man, he really called you trying to get a field for her. I remember a coach called me and he's like, you're not going to take this deal that Cleveland offering you at 70 or 75? I said, no, I want the max. Max only or leave it alone or don't call me. And I was so locked into that Maxmo or Rich call me.

He's like, five and each other. I said, no, no, double D. That was just part of it. We get the number up. Forget the number up. We out. We hit the penthouse now. We have the pearly gates now.

Just got to take the deal. So to have the guy like Rich, you know, the media would almost say he's over his head, but really it's because he knew, he knew the market, he knew the game. And at the end of the day, could Cleveland find a replacement for Tristan Thompson?

And the answer was no. So what Rich always said to Dan Gilbert is, what's the cost of winning a championship? Is winning a championship worth $82 million? And Dan sat down and he said, yeah, we got to pay. We got to pay. Raise tickets.

We said, figure it out. Raise ticket prices. Raise parking. Figure it out. But you'll make it up somehow. It's no different than which you would go out and stay. And I always tell people this. And people will say, well, Draymond, listen, there is no Draymond green walking through that golden state door.

That's why they had to pay the $82. And guess what? They paid $82. And then when they gave you the extension of the four years, $100, they had to do that because guess what? You guys are in a position at that moment. You guys are in a position where you guys are just in the finals. Everyone is still in their prime. Steph is still playing at a high level.

You have to keep competing. You can't go from being in the finals to now just being in the lottery. And you just built a new arena and you spend billions of dollars. You have to stay competitive. So you have to bring your glue guy back. It's no different at Markers Smart. People say, why did Markets Mark at the extension? You have to.

When the guys are at their peak and playing at a high level and competing for a championship, and when the city has that expectation and the media's created that, you have to keep paying the players. You got to pay to play, baby. You got to pay to play. And that's why you got your deals. And listen, if you're not on the Golden State Warriors, there's no, none of those four chips, there's none of those rings,

those four rings don't exist if you're not on that team. And I tell everyone that every single day because that's the God on is true. And listen, even game seven, you had 32 points. You let the game, I think you let the team of scoring that game. I did. And I said, yeah, you like the game of scoring. So I'm saying like people got to understand that it's building a team and these contracts, it's all about fit.

Just because we got, just because I got 82 doesn't mean, I'm going to be, doesn't mean that if I was on the Raptors, I would have got that or a different team because at that right moment, I fit that puzzle piece and that's what it costs. Absolutely. And I think another thing, and another thing that people don't understand is this. the Cleveland Cavaliers, because they had your bird rights, could actually pay you that 82.

Whereas opposed to if you wanted to go to another team, they would have to use salary cap space to pay you that 82. Cleveland can pay you whatever they want to pay you because they have your bird rights. They can go into the luxury tax and pay you. However, what people don't understand about this situation is because they are in a luxury tax, if they let you walk, they can't just go sign someone

else with that money because they then don't have that person bird rights. So what they could then sign because they're in the tax is a taxpayer mid-level, which is like six and a half, seven million a year. Well, who are you getting for six and a half million dollars a year that's giving you the production Tristan Thompson is giving you? The answer is no one. And that's how you negotiate. And that's, and hey, man, you did exactly what you're supposed to do.

You got what you were supposed to get. And quite frankly, let's face it, y'all won the championship the next year. And it's worth it. It's worth it. When you look at it and you realize that we broke the 52-year curse, you look at all these deals,

all the contracts, you're like, man, it's worth it because business is business and we got to take care of our business the same way they take care of their business. They don't mind a seven-game series because they're going to make more money and we're going to fight for all our cheese

and all our coins because guess what? When it's all sitting done, when it's over, when basketball's over, you're going to wish you had that extra coin. Absolutely. 100%. And that takes us from 2015 to the worst year of my life, other than DJ being born at the very end. As you know, Prince was born a week and a half before. At the very end of 2016. And I also kind of, that's a story for another day. We can't give them everything all at once. We got a story going on there.

But at the very end of 2016, our son. But 2016 was treacherous for me. And so let's talk about it. 2016, we're in the NBA finals. We're on 3 to 1. I get suspended from game 5. But like, talk to me about your mindset. Like, you go down 3 to 1,

you're coming back to Golden State. What's the conversation like? to even get y'all back to a mental space. So, like, we're down 3-1. We're going here for game 5. We need to win. Talk to me about the conversations in that locker room. I think what was key was, like, leading up to that game 4 loss,

because game three was in Cleveland. We won that game. And game 4, we lost to you guys in Cleveland, making us down 3-1. But the way we lost that game was something very simple, where you guys were running a 1-2 pick-and-roll with Clay and Steph, and Clay would keep slipping.

And it was, Kyrie and JR was the matchup on, on Clay and Steph. And they kept slipping, and Kyrie and Jared, I guess something, the miscommunication was off. So it wasn't where,

so like, we felt like we beat ourselves that game, just because we weren't, the lack of communication with those slipouts. And you guys basically started a whole trend with these slipout screens, right? So we,

so I remember after that game, bronze to the tech selling, like, know, like we're right there. Like, listen, don't come on the plane if you don't think we can come back and win this series. Because we felt like, even though we lost game four, we felt like we could, it was a winnable game. It was something that we, it was self-inflicted wounds where we felt like, okay, we can we can do this. So going to game five now, our mentality was like, listen, we know how long that flight is.

We know these boys do not want to come back to Cleveland. They do not want to come back to Cleveland. Nobody wants to take a six-hour flight from San Fran, all it. back to Cleveland, Ohio to play a basketball game. So we said, listen, if we win game five, this is going seven games. And the reason why we believed in that was because during that time, I believe Iggy's back was hurt, his back was hurt. I remember we actually had practice, we did a little snooping too. We had, we had practice at your guys' court. We walked in, and whoever your trainer was at the time had all your guys' names down with all your guys' injuries.

And I remember you, you were on like, you were on a bunch of medicine. Like, you were on like, I, You were on a bunch of shit. I was like, I'm like, man, you're like on four medication. Then you see Iggy's back. You see Clay's. Remember Clay had the sleeve on his cap. Yeah. His cap was acting up. So we said, oh, you guys are breaking down. These guys are breaking down. So if we can get game

five, we don't, we know mentally because, you know, bass was a, it becomes in the playoffs. It's all a mental thing. Absolutely. Mentally, these boys do not want to come back to Cleveland for a game six. Absolutely not. So we can get game five. We can push this to seven. And we know we can win at home. We're at home. We know we win at home.

So that was our mindset. And Braun, who's the leader he is, he said, don't come on this plane unless you could believe we could come back. And showing up, everyone showed up. We believed that. And, you know, obviously, Tulu talks about a story about putting a $100 bill up in the vents, and we'll come back and get it.

And so once we win game five, you know, Kyrie, Brown, both have 40s, right? So that's crazy. And the finishes that Kyrie had. I think he had the AN1 with the lefty layup, and one. I think it was like a rule of verticali or something. Yeah, I was like,

He's still that car you can do with his wrist game. It was like crazy. So now we're at game seven and we just believed in each other. We just believed in each other. And obviously we knew that you guys had injuries. And, you know, obviously without you in the game, which helped us a lot, you know, you getting suspended. That was huge.

And obviously we started noticing Steph getting frustrated, you know, with the throwing of the mouthpiece. So we noticed those little mental, because, you know, like, those are mental errors. Like, you know that you can't do that stuff. But we saw, okay, you know a little, least a little chest pieces like mentally they're they're getting frustrated you know what I'm saying and I'll be frustrated too if I'm up 3-1 and and it's like the game layer grinds right there so those little

chest pieces of your guys frustration let us know we had a chance still which helped us believe them more so that's kind of like it was like a mental game at that point for us because the basketball we could figure out you know what I'm saying we knew mentally you guys are getting frustrated and you guys are actually banged up or hurt so we say okay like let's let's just keep applying the pressure and and and extend the series you know Absolutely. It's crazy, too. Remember, Bogot was out with the rib. Brog out of a broken rib, and he missed the game. We were beat up, and then obviously the suspension was what it was.

But, you know, you guys come back and you come back, you win the 2016 championship, which was huge for y'all, for yourself, but also in NBA history, like, was huge. I'm actually not mad about that at all because then we come back in 2017 and we got Kevin Durant. What's the thinking then? Like, what's the thinking we come back next year with Kevin Durant?

Man, I... When you guys came back with Karen Doreen, I said, I said, these guys are out of control? I said, I was joking around. I'm like, man, these guys sold themselves to the devil. How did all you guys pull this off? I said, how do these guys pull this off? You got there's 73 and 9.

You lose in the finals, and you get Kevin the rent, that's the gift you get? That's not a bad trade. Two champion, you give up one championship to get two. That's kind of, we call that a deal. We call that a steal. We call that a steel. So that was actually a good trade-up that you guys did.

So I appreciate that. I wanted my one ring. At least I got one, right? No, absolutely. And by the way, most people don't have depth. Yeah. And no one's talking about, oh, man, you're a one-time champion, four-time. When you get into meet-over, you talk about that.

You're a champion. Exactly. We talk about resumes coming on, you're a champion. Yeah, exactly. We ain't buying none of that. But speaking of, you just spoke about LeBron

and his leadership. Mario Chalmers recently said nobody feared LeBron. That shit pisses me off, bro. That shit pissing me off. Man, like, you know what I don't like? it's like people

will like if I if I play like the fact that Mario Charmer's at one point you were probably texting LeBronford to get on a team to get a job so because you couldn't get you a job or get you on a team

and I'm just assuming I'm not saying that's what it is I'm just saying listen when you play with certain players and you get to pouring your career where things are tough you're going to make a call you'll look off from here

or see what you could do just because you might not got your way like how can you say that about a guy that you went to war with who believed in you there was times where D. Wade was on your ass chewing you up Chris Bonsor chewing your ass but Brown would always push Mario to be better

pushing to be you know talk great about him to the media said all these great things about you and then you're to come and say no one fears LeBron like this is the best player you've ever been on the court with how are you going to say that no one first of all Miami LeBron is the most scary thing. for brown we've ever seen in our life. That part.

You know what I'm saying? Like that, that, that was, that was, that was, he was like 290 running a 4-4 and, and jumping over John Lucas and stuff. Like, that was, that was athleticism at a whole nother level. Like how you can, how can you say that? And that just shows you that like, man, like, guys be on some suck of shit. And I don't, I don't like that kind of stuff because it's just like,

bro, like, why you start switching up? Like you said about earlier, how guys get in media and they act like they never sat in the locker room. Okay, now guys are retired and not, playing basketball. Now you want to talk shit about a guy that you won a championship. But I would never talk about about any of my teammates that I've won a championship

with. I would never even fix my mouth because me and you went to war and we accomplished something that after family and kids and God, winning a championship is probably the next best thing in life. You know what I'm saying? Like winning NBA championship. So the fact that you do that

and you come out and talk about that man after he just, you know, got the school going record and he's in year, you know, 20 and like, like, come on, bro. Like, really? And, and it's just like, if your own people talk shit about you, then now you know why the people talk bad about you. You know what I'm saying? Like, we, we are the people like myself, any of Braun's teammates, we can't be the ones that talk bad about Braun. Because then it further fuels the fire for all these other people that don't, that have hate for our brother and have hate for our family member that, that will talk shit about them. So we can't, from within can't talk shit because we talk shit,

then all them, you know, they're going to know there's a weakness in the tribe. So like, the fact that he did that, like, it's like, bro, like, that's not cool. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't respect guys that do that kind of stuff. That's not the way I operate. I've never talked about about none of my teammates, especially when I win a championship with, you know what I'm saying? And it's not like you guys had, it's not like you guys had beef or issue. Mm-hmm. So. No, I respect it.

And one thing I respect is how you ride for Brown. Because I catch a lot of flat for the way I ride for Brown. And, you know, people say like, oh, man, you said this about LeBron. That's disrespect for the Steph. And it's like, actually, the love that I got for Steph and how I ride for Steph, Steph knows how I ride for Steph and Steph know I got to love. Like, me, me, give me. giving credit to LeBron or supporting LeBron or fucking being happy for LeBron,

that doesn't dim stuff light. Like, you know, I always tell, like, think about it and tell people like, that's your losing-ass mentality that you think, if I go say something about this, if I go say something about LeBron James that's positive, that it's dimming Steph's light, I don't dimmed Steph's light at all. Just like if I go say something about Steph, that's not dim of LeBron's light. No, but that's, but that's, And I agree with you and what you're saying is,

but that's the mindset they want us to have. I always like compare it to slavery where they try to turn us against each other. You know, where it's like, no, it has to be one or the other. It can't be step. Steph can't be great and LeBron can't be great or stuff like that. Like I hate that. And so I agree with you 100%. Like we have to ride for each other because at the end of the day, it's all we got.

Like, you know, everybody always talk about like, oh, it's this, it's this basketball fraternity, NBA fraternity, like, man, that shit is fake. Like, guys do not support how they say they're going to support. They do not look out how they say they're going to look out. None of that. But the ones that you do have in your corner,

and that's one thing that I can really appreciate about clutch as a whole, the guys that you do have in your corner, man, you got to ride for it. You got to ride with. And I disagree with Mario statement from the standpoint of obviously, like you just said,

she's your teammate. You know what I'm saying? That's a guy you went to war with. That's the guy you want championships with. And like, don't get me wrong. You had to carry your own. Like, Mario was a damn good player, so I ain't taking nothing from him.

But on the flip side, like, bro, I personally know people that were scared to LeBron James, so I just, I all out just disagree. I know a bunch of people that were and still

are in fact terrified of LeBron James. Like, I've seen it. At times, I've had teammates that was terrified of LeBron James. And so I just didn't really understand I just really didn't understand the statement. I got a lot of love for Mario.

You know, he's super tight with B Rush. B Rush was one of my OGs. Yeah, one of your vets, yeah. Yeah. I just didn't, I didn't understand. I was very shocked. I was taken back. And listen, you know, People might be having bad days. So you never know what someone's going through.

But I was very, I was disappointed because, you know, like you said, it's a former teammate of yours. There's no personal issues between you guys. There's no hate. It's not like you guys had a back and forth on Twitter. It's just like it came out of the left field. It's disappointed. Disappointed. No, for sure.

I agree. And also, in speaking of that, you recently were on ESPN, which I wouldn't get into. but you were recently on ESPN and you spoke about LeBron and Kyrie getting back together. Do you see that happening? Do you think, like, do you think that there's a chance or not a chance?

We know there's a chance, but do you think that happens that they get back together? Man, brother. On top of that, what do you think ultimately made it go south? Yeah, brother, I've been, I've been pushing that reuniting,

you know, coming together for so long. because I saw the with Kyrie and LeBron it was almost like a matchman have like they brought the best out of each other it was like it was like the things that Kyrie does great is different than what the Bronon did great like it was just such a beautiful like

it was beautiful to watch their two-man game side pick and roll because they're so dynamic and great at so many different things but together it's like they're like it was almost like almost unstoppable like it was like amazing two on two you know what I say so I think I think in terms of you know could it happen, yes, will I continue pushing it when I'm on TV?

Most definitely because I think, you know, Kyrie brings the best out of LeBron and LeBron does the same thing, but brings the best out of Kyrie. And I feel like it's almost like a story that it's, I almost feel like it wasn't finished,

you know? Like it wasn't finished the way it was supposed to. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, a lot of duels have had that maybe, you know, Shaq and Penny or Kobe and Shaq, like, you know, there's so many, like, stories that I just feel like it's,

it's not over yet. You know, like there's still, there's still a couple more chapters between them, too, that they can make some magic happen. So, you know, I hope it can happen. To answer your second question, you know, what went south? I think, like in sports, you know,

everyone goes through different things. And I think during that time and period, I think, you know, maybe something with the front office and Kyrie, maybe didn't see I-D, you know, maybe we could have did a better job of a drive, whatever he may have wanted because at the end of the day,

he deserves a right to have a sane organization. Like, you know, like, you, it's nothing wrong asking for something. You know, he deserved, he earned the respect and the right, and he put that banner up there. He can come into the office and ask for something. Whether it happens or not,

that's to be determined because I don't own the team. I don't make those calls. But I think we could have, as a franchise, might have figured out a way to make it work or dedicated more time to try to make it work. I feel like we might have rushed the trade a little bit, especially with the fact with IT, with IT, I love IT. He's a great human being.

I love IT. That's my dog. You know, with him coming, going to being injured, I was, I was told that, you know, if a player is injured, you can kind of void the trade. Yeah, you can. Yeah. So for me, it was more sort of a sense where like,

if he's technically not cleared or that hip is, not all the way right, why are we in such a rush to make this trade? Because we still have Kyrie under contract and Kyrie loves the game of basketball. I mean, look, with the Nets, there was times where he probably hated being there, but he still went on the court and he proved himself. And to be honest, he's probably been frustrated with that Nets organization for the last two years, but guess what? Those last 20 games with Nets, he looked like a MVP caliber player. They were going, I think they were like 12 and 4 or something, and they had great road wins against top. teams like so one thing about kairi he's a hooper he's in a buy-in and play if he's happy or not we

don't know the answer but he's like hooper he's going to go and play and with the business of basketball if you're a signature line player you get royalties you're not going to get the royalty check if you sit on the sideline so he's going to play he wants to be an all-star like like i just felt like the franchise might have not handled it maybe rushed it a little bit yeah we could have took a better time um but you know that that happens you know i hope you know i love I love Kyrie. I love LeBron. I would love to see them together in purple and gold. I'm sure you wouldn't have seen that. It would be some good

TNT games, ESPN games you guys would have. Be some good ESPN games. Absolutely. Go state versus versus LA. It would be a good one. No, I'm definitely not against that. We had, as you know, you being a part of it, we had some of the best battles

in NBA history. Not just in our, of our time. We have some of the best battles in NBA history. Obviously, that game seven being probably one of the most classic games the NBA has ever seen. Yeah. And so to have those battles, as you know, to play in those games, like, that's, that, those are the games that bring the best out of you.

It's the Tuesdays against the terrible teams that I'm like, man, that y'all can have this shit. Oh, man. I tell you, well, a soft Tuesday is where you catch a slip in a soft Tuesday in Detroit. I'm like, man, I know you're from Michigan. I know when you come home, you like to have a big game. I know every time you play gets a pistons. They always talk about you on the pistons

and they try to get you in a trade and try to trade for you to bring you home. I get it. But like Cleveland County versus Detroit Pistons on a soft Tuesday, man. Detroit, y'all can have that shit. Like, I don't know. I'm ready to get home.

So I get it. But yes, those game sevens that we get up for like, like, and then you would agree. There's certain players in our league that are regular season players and there are certain players that are playoff players. And I believe myself and you, we're playoff players. We are in a game when it counts

and when it matters, because you've seen a lot of guys that have great regular seasons, and they're going to get to the playoffs, man, they tuck their tail, and they go from sugar to shit. That far. Yo, so speaking of the purple and goal, I got a couple more questions.

I'm going to get you out of here. You recently just had a workout with the Lakers. Everything that I've heard from reports to talking to people that have a bunch of relationships around this. league, everyone came back, like, talking about the shape that you're in. Like, how great of shape at your age, at having not playing basketball, having not play all this year, but how great a shape you in.

Like, speak to us about the workout and, like, just what you went in there and showed, and are you expecting that to come to fruition? Yeah, you know, I'm praying every day that, you know, that it comes to fruition. you know, I've been doing two days all season, you know, it's very easy for guys that are that are not playing to sit back and relax. But for me, it's, I'm so used to, I'm a routine type of person. I'm a routine guy. So for me, it was like, you know, I'm always going to stay ready and stay right because when that phone call rings, I need to be ready because I want to prove to the world and prove to these teams that, listen, I can still play at a high level. like I'm watching these bigs and these backup bigs and I'm like, I will kick his ass.

I will, I'll play this guy. But, you know, for whatever reasons that, you know, my phone never rang, it is what it is. And I can't control that, right? I'm not in position of that. All I could do is stay ready, be a pro. And when I came to the Lakers workout, you know, I wanted to make sure I was in better shape than I've ever been. And I made sure I had my shirt off on purpose.

I had my shirt off the whole workout. I got there an hour early like I was going to practice because in practice during season, I got there an hour early. I did my warm-ups. I got a little, little activation in. I was on the court, got my touch beforehand, because I wanted to make sure with this workout, I left it all on the floor because, listen,

there's only opportunity so much in life. I'm not going to let an opportunity like that slip because of something because of lack of preparation from me. You know what I'm saying? And that's part of being a pro. I'm going to prepare myself like this is all or nothing. You know what I'm saying? So when I came to that Lakers workout,

I made sure I was in great shape, dunking the ball, milling, but I was doing stuff where I was like, Brown to sell and like, man, the TIA, I see this since Cleveland.

I'm like, yeah, because I'm ready. Like, fucking ready, bro. Like, I'm ready to make this happen.

I'm ready to help you guys make this push. And I feel like I'm, what I can bring to the table to help that team is a, as an area that I think they, they don't have right now. And I think with a team that, like the Lakers that are trying to make a run, I think you always,

especially at the center position, you need a guy that's going to be great at what he does, be a star in his role. And for me, one thing you know you're going to get is some good-ass screens. A motherfucker who's an offensive rebound, play hard, switch one through five and compete. And then in the playoffs, those little things like a good screen

can get a guy open, get a guy like DiAngelo open, get him going, get him hot. Offensive rebound, having scored in four minutes. You get offense rebound, keep the possession alive, deflating to the defense, worried on the defense. You know what I'm saying? Or a loose ball foul.

A guy in foul trouble. A big that can switch one through five where if a team's going small like you guys, I can switch on the step. I can switch on to Wiggins. I can switch on to Clay. You need a big that could do those things because all those little things matter

in a playoff setting because every possession counts. And I know what I can, I know what I'm great. I'm not saying I'm coming to Lakers to come shoot corner three. No, you guys know what you're going to get. And in the locker room, I'm going to be a guy that's going to hold everyone accountable.

And because you have new guys that are younger and you kind of have the veterans with AED and Brown, I can be like that middle guy that could kind of unite everyone together because I know Dilo. I know those young guys on a person. I know Vanderbill, I know those guys on personal spend time with them. But I also, you know, AED and Brown are my brothers. So I can be that guy to continue to gel and bring that unity. And that's what I can bring to the table to that team. I know what you bring to a team.

I personally think this Lakers team is very good. I've actually, for two years, everybody would talk about the Lakers, and I say, well, they got LeBron James and Anthony Davis. They already got a chance, and now they've traded for these other guys. Like, they're a real team now. So no disrespect, my brother, but I personally hope they leave you at home because I know what you bring to the table. I know how you help a team.

Like all of those things you just mentioned is what win you championships. And so the impact that that will have on that team, like people can say what they want, talking heads can talk. They are a serious threat in the West right now. Talk about the record all you want. They just got to get in. They get in.

They are serious threat in the West. So I'm going to just tell you straight right here on Draymond Green Show. There is a hope that you do not sign with the Lakers, my friend. But I would tell you this, though. So the other day, we play Houston. And you're talking about a team that doesn't have a single vet on a team. And so, like, I look at a guy like yourself where you like, my phone didn't ring. And then I asked the question, Houston didn't even, like, Houston didn't call?

Because what you can bring to even that locker room, see, we always look at it and we like, and that's the competitiveness in us. But that's also this business, which is like, if I'm going to bring a. vetted and it has to be a championship team. Now, at this point in the career, probably only want to go to a championship team. But in saying that, like, a team like Houston, they got young

talent, man, Jalen Green, Javier Javier, the list goes on. Tarisa, I'm a big fan of Tarasen. Yeah, he plays out of. He plays out of that's off. I like him a lot. KJ. They don't have any vets. And you look at a guy like yourself who's been through the ringer,

true professional champion understands it all and it's like what are they doing? You know what I'm saying? Like you ask yourself to question and not what are they doing

drafts because I think they're drafting well but who's teaching these guys happens. Yes and that brings back to what you said the beginning. If you start playing basketball at young age, you draft these young kids and listen I think they're drafting well and they're drafting good players

but it's like anything. How are these kids going to learn how to be pros and how to win meaningful basketball games if you just throw them out there? They need bets where they can best at first. so they respect that actually have a resume and that can actually go out there and lead by example. We're not saying bringing bets and start them,

but you've got to put some bets in where they can play 10 to 15 minutes so the young guys can see like if the young guys are bullshitting, you pull them out, put some bets in, they see and they're like, oh, wow, this is how you do it. And that's the problem with our league. and I started notice that about, like maybe about four years ago is when they stopped bringing vets. Like these teams that are like at the bottom,

they stop bringing vets in and they just rather, I think a lot of teams are hoping to find that hidden gem, which I get because there's a lot of guys that like the Mono Ginoblees of the world or Isaiah Tom was the last pick of the draft, a lot of teams want to take chances with these young guys to hopefully find the next gem. But in order for these young hits to blossom to be the pro that you envision to be when you draft them,

they got to have some guidance. That's why a team like Sacramento for a long time struggled because they didn't have the right bets. But it was, you know what? They brought Mike Brown, who you know how Mike Brown. I played with him for one year in Cleveland as my coach. He was with you for some time and going to stay where, you know,

he's a film guy. He's going to drill it. He's going to drill it. He's going to drill it until you understand. You know what I'm saying? And that's what that franchise needed. And now you see them playing at a higher level. they didn't do nothing.

Like they brought Sabonos and like, okay, but look at the record when they made a trade for Sabonas last year. The record wasn't good. They were probably even worse. You know, but they brought a leader in and Mike Brown

who instilled his his fundamentals and his philosophy. And even though his film session might be two hours, you're going to understand this. You know, you're going to understand this. You are going to do all these picket rolls

and you're going to hedge or you're going to be a deep drop. You're going to do these drills for so long and be pissed out. But guess what? it can lead to wins. And that's why that team is playing at a high level. So these young teams, you think they got to bring bets.

You've got to have a little mixture of both. It's the only way that you're going to accelerate the process of hopefully having that team go from a lottery to being competitive. Absolutely. Man, last question. I appreciate you. This has been incredible. You're insightful. You're smartest shit.

And you're not afraid to hear your own voice or not afraid to say anything. I love it. I know everybody going to love this interview. It's incredible. It's an incredible. You've been on ESPN lately. Is that what you plan to do? Like when you're done,

is it coaching, is there something you're just testing out? Or is it coaching? Is it GM? Because I know you're going to want to stay around the game. You love basketball too much. Yeah, no, I love basketball, you know, talking to Rich. It's a good problem to have in terms of you can almost,

because of, you know, you know, the resume and me being our, and knowing the game basketball and having relationships, I can almost pick either three where I could be like going to coaching or you want to do front office or you want to do TV. And for me, you know, doing the ESPN stuff, I love it. I love, I love media. I love talking about sports because it makes me feel so attached to the game where it's authentic.

You know, like when it comes to front office stuff, it's a tough, it's a slippery slope because you got to, I mean, we mean you're like, where in terms of. of like, if I'm in the front office, I'm assisting GM or I'm a scout, and the guy that's ahead of me is a dumbass. And I have to sit there and just look at him and just like, I can't fake it.

I'm not going to fake this. Front office is a tough thing where it's like for me, if I was going to go front office and have to get a situation where I even know the GM or the president and we like CIDI, you know what I'm saying? Like we understand like, I respect you and I, and you know what's going on, but I can't fake the funk to be under a guy that was,

was a, was, was, was a media guy or doesn't have no basketball experience. So for me, like, that's one reason for I was like, I don't know, not too sure about front office. Coaching, you know, coaching is great, but it takes a lot of time away from family. You know, it takes a lot. And it's a thing about this,

when we have, if you have shoot under 10, we'll show up at 9, but the coaches be there at 8 for coaches meeting. This is a little tough. This is a little tough. Go get me wrong. It's not about the money, but I said, you know, like, just because I've had so much time with my kids right now, and my kids are of age where they're growing up,

like I kind of want to be around that. like media is almost like that perfect balance because it's the hours are not as hectic as the NBA and and I still staying involved with the game and media is growing. The new media is growing. It's growing at a high level and it's like, you know, they're going to need more guys like us. You know, obviously you're still playing at a high level. You're still playing. So, and you're doing your podcast, which is basically you keep you, you, you keep your toe in there.

So I love that you're doing that. But for me right now, it's like, yeah, I love the ESPN. I love doing it. It's fun. It's good to get after it. And it's something that I really want to continue to explore if I'm not playing no more. You know, of course, playing is number one. That's why I stay in shape.

If I didn't care about playing, I might look like some other retired guys that are looking like... Like, big like this. I'm like, holy shit. You haven't played for two years. It's how big you got? Like, geez. So, of course, you know, if I'm not on the court, I would love to continue doing media. you know, ESPN, I have to give a shout out to them for thanking them for giving them

me the opportunity. I loved it. I had a great time. And, you know, hopefully I can continue doing the media stuff while I'm, you know, while I'm not playing. No, it's great, bro. I've watched you. Like I said, you're very insightful.

You're very smart. Like, and you're candid. And I love it. Not that I'm some guru. I just see what I see on TV and you like what you like. You like what you don't. You know what you don't like. And I think you have a very bright future in it because, like I said,

and most importantly, you care. You can tell when you're speaking, you care about what's going on. So I thank you, bro. Coming on the podcast, this has been one of the best shows we've had. And last but not least, before we get out of here, let's talk to these people about you punching me. Oh, my God. I thought we were going to go.

Listen. Listen, all that did the phone, but listen, that was in the past. Listen, you know what? You know, it's so funny because, like, you know, like, when we're in the finals, bro, it got after because, listen, I'm, me and you are both, we're both the glue guys. We're the muscle for our team. So, you know, obviously, you know, shit happened in the past, but it's stupid. Like, you know, I'm like, man, we still passed out. It was just, it was, it was a crazy night, Delilah.

Fucking Delilah. Delilah and tequila Delilah and tequila I go up to dough with tea I tell Rich this is how this happened I tell Rich I'm like Rich

I should just go over there and fucking punch them right now Rich and Mav like no chance you're doing that we've worked way too hard to get here that story is going to tear us all down no chance you're doing that what you're going to do is

you're going to go over there You're going to talk to them. Y'all going to talk it out, and we're going to move forward. I'm like, that's bullshit. I'm going to go over here, and I'm going to punch him. They're like, okay, you do that shit if you want to. We're going to have a problem. So after about 30 minutes, I'm like, all right, Rich.

And he just keep telling me, like, you ready yet? You're going to go talk yet? Like, I'm like, no. So finally I'm like, all right, Rich, I'll go talk. I go up to Double T. Like, hey, bro, what's up, bro? I'm just coming to hollet. dog charge me charge right at me now mind you it's delilah tequila drinks floor slippery as hell

dude charge that me i'm sliding by yeah the tables are getting pushed people are people are grabbing me i'm like man what that we just so late i was like man uh but guess like the good things that we made we made up that night and we had some more shots we had a great night and even though I lost my two-carred diamond earrings. Good thing I had him insured. Insurance dropped me after, but it's all good. So there y'all have it. There you go, people.

My brother, double T, I appreciate you. My brother, thank you for having me. I'm super proud of you. Best of luck the rest of the season. Keep doing your thing. Don't let nobody ever change you. Even though I know that's not going to happen because you are stubborn as a fucking nail.

So I know that's not going to change. So keep doing your thing. Thank you for having me on your show. everyone's going to enjoy it, love it, and we keep the good times going. I appreciate you, my brother. Thank you for coming on the show.