The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Draymond Green Show w/Baron Davis: Steph & Warriors EPIC showdown with Kawhi & Clippers + Nuggets fire Michael Malone

Episode Date: April 13, 2025

Draymond Green and Baron Davis look forward to Sunday's do-or-die matchup between Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors and Kawhi Leonard's Los Angeles Clippers, the final game of the NBA regular season with enormous playoff implications. Also, Dray and Baron react to the duel between Ja Morant and Anthony Edwards in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 141-125 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday, Ja's celebrations that have been the talk of NBA media, and the Denver Nuggets' shocking firing of Mike Malone. They round out the show by giving out their picks for NBA Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and the rest of the NBA end-of-season awards. 2:30 - Importance of avoiding Play-In Tournament 12:15 - Ja Morant & Anthony Edwards duel 24:10 - Nuggets fire Mike Malone 35:15 - EPIC Game 82 vs. Kawhi & Clippers 44:30 - NBA MVP & season awards (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) #Volume #Herd Follow The Draymond Green Show on social media:  https://www.instagram.com/draymondshow https://x.com/DraymondShow https://www.facebook.com/people/Draymond-Green-Show https://www.tiktok.com/@draymondgreenshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green show with my brother, B.D. How you feeling, my dog? Yeah, I'm good, man. It's the end of the year. It's the end of the season. The birthday is always the last day of the year.

So, you know, it's serendipitous because you did tired. But if you can get over the hump, it's party time. How are you feeling, big dog? I'm feeling great, bro. you know, we got this last game. We obviously need to win this game. And like you said, then once you get to the playoffs, you kind of find a new boost of energy.

It's kind of like a reset. And nowadays, you get a week off. That's crazy. If you clinch top six. So you kind of get that new boost. You got a couple of elements, let them heal a bit. Yeah. And kind of get back to it.

But I feel great, man. We got an opportunity to control, our own destiny, uh, win on Sunday and get into the playoffs. And so I feel great about it. Still pissed off. We smoked that game against San Antonio. Yeah. But nonetheless, we got a chance.

It's always one of them games. You're like, damn, dude. You just know that's going to hurt. And it get down to the end of the season, be like, man, we could, we could have this, this thing wrapped up. Wrapped up all right. It would have been chilling tomorrow. It's crazy, man.

I look at some games in the last few weeks, like that one, the Miami game, the Atlanta game. You start nitpicking it. Go back to this game. I mean, that's the beauty of the game. It's almost like it's all set up that way. Right. At the end of the day, you got to earn your worth it.

and you got to earn your ticket in and all of them little losses or, you know, it's like, oh, we'd be all right. It's like, damn, dude, if we would have one of the fight. Just one of them back. Just one. They're on team.

Just one. Another thing I like is the week off. Yeah. For the top six seats, being able to rest, get your body right, watch your, you know, watch your opponents. But you think about four and five. they get it all week to prepare for it for what they know is going to crack in three and six, right?

Absolutely. Three and six and four and five. I always felt like one and two or you're kind of at a disadvantage because if you're the one C, you're literally at the biggest disadvantage because you don't know who you play until two days before you play them. If you're the 7 C, you've been sitting on your opponent for four days. Yep. If you're the 3 through 6 C, you've been on your opponent. opponent for six, seven days.

Man. And so I've always felt like number one was at a disadvantage anyway, like the biggest disadvantage, which is crazy. When you think about a playoff series, B, B, B, you figure games one and two is usually call it within three to five days. Yeah. Like, from the end of game one, the end of game two, somewhere in there, you start getting to the seven day.

mark, you're like on game four. And if you think about how much you know a team after game four, but that's after now seven days of studying this team. If you're three through six, you essentially are in game four in game one from a studying standpoint, from a scouting standpoint. I think that that's an extreme disadvantage for three through six and disadvantage for one and two since the playing tournament, although I think it's been great.

I think that's one of the downsides of it. And on top of that, you know, you're the one seat, you got home court advantage, you're sitting there, you're like, man, it's kind of like, it don't even matter. And if you catch the wrong team

at the wrong time, that got the right momentum, you know, I think that's how we got Dallas. You know, you're starting to see it more often now. Like Miami did it a couple times where it just, you catch a wave. You catch a wave. And so on a lower sea, you don't even care. You're fighting for your life. So you got, you got rhythm, you got playoff atmosphere under your belt. You're almost more prepared than a week of practice or the two days that they need

to prepare for you, right? That's a fact. They come in off of two, two games, or maybe it's three games. It could be big. Yeah, it's two games. Playoff intensity, right? It's not the one C, but they played y'all during the season anyway. So now they're ready. And in the West, that 8C this year can be real. Like that A C this year can be a team that's going to give O.KC some trouble because it's a really good team.

and, you know, LKC is really good, but I'm just saying, like it won't be your typical 1-8 where you're going in. And you're just kind of like, oh, yeah, we know, this one's a wash.

It'll be a tough, tough series. And so I think that can get interesting. People always talk about the, you know, the rest, you know, the work versus resting,

you know, do you play versus rest? Do you play? Do you rest? Which one is better? You always have that debate. going on and now you got to you get to see it up close you know where you got a great one seed you're going to have a really good a C that AC is going to have been had a couple playoff games under

their belt rolling into the one seed that been churning for a week you know okay C I'm sure they'll probably take this last game off so that week all of a sudden becomes 10 11 days man and that's a lot that's a lot and that's a lot of time off you know when you're when you're a customer playing every other day. So I think that could get interesting. You sharpening your tools, but you're not practicing. It ain't no real intensity, right? So you're just sitting around working out trying to stay in shape while everybody else is prepared for somebody and then everybody else is fighting to get to you. I mean, I'm excited for these playoffs, man. I'm telling you. I'm super excited. This is the feeling I had as a kid in the 80s, in the 90s, 2000s,

you know, the warrior-run era, I think basketball, people need to pay attention there. It's cracking. Every night, y'all out there, cracking. Oh, it's cracking. It's so much talent in the league and the intensity and the level of play is really, it's on the rise, the competitiveness. the, you know, the physicality, people really, really having rivalries talking shit to each other. All this is going to start percolating and people are going to see, oh, this error is real, too.

That's a fact. That's a fact. Speaking of rivalries, man, I loved the other day watching Jai and play against each other in a high-stakes game, guard each other, and a high-stakes game. I told you all a couple weeks ago, man, my favorite two young. guys to take the trash stalking throne as those two guys. And they went out there and guarded each other. Like, let's face it, Jai not fit to guard in.

Like, right. And when I say not fit, like, Jai. He's a little dude. Jai small, man. Yeah, he's a little bit. How you shake? He got the heart of a lion. Yeah.

If you ever see Jai, he's small. Like, which makes what he does even more impressive, which makes the weight that he carry. even more impressive because he, Jai ain't a big dude at all, man. Yeah. For him to even go out there and say, no, I'm going to take on the challenge and guard.

And that to me just says something about his heart, about why he is, who he is. Because that matchup ain't for him, man. On the flip side, and a big-ass dude. Like, 6-5-6-6-220, like, solid. And so just the size advantage in itself, like that made it all the more impressive, even Jock going to guard him now. I think when you ant-man, what he has to look at next and his game is, all right,

I got to get off the ball now and maybe go get some postwork. You know what I'm saying? He got Jow on him. He getting that post. You can make it hard on Jod. Now I'm saying that at a certain point in the game, Joss switched off and went to guard to somebody else because Scott, Pippin, Jr.

was doing a great job on it. You know what I'm saying? And so... And he can defend. He can. And he went to guard at aunt. But, man, just the respect that I... I've been had respect for both of them young fellas, but I gained even more respect, just watching them come out in that meaningful game. Talking about a rivalry.

You had everybody praising John. He next up. He the next face of the lead. And then, you know, he had this situation. And now it's like he, you know, everybody threw him by the wayside. You had, he ain't like the villain. Yeah, you got a young ant man who like, I don't even want that. Like, I don't even want the face of the league. But it's that type of, that level of talent.

And in a meaningful game for playoffs, they guarded each other. So I respected that. Is there a thing with this younger generation when not wanting to be the face, more so want to be the villain and take on a villain persona? I was thinking about that the other day, like when Aunt said that, like, Aunt don't want to be like a hero. Like, oh, I'm Superman, you know, I'm the great American cover boy. I think he wants to be the villain, right?

I think Jha, as he starts to embrace, I'm the villain. He starts to fill out his personality on the court and his brand on the court. But I think these young deals, they like being the villain. And I think they want to find who's the target. Like who's the number one target guy outside of, I mean, you think like a wendy. Like they don't want to be that. They want to be like this. They want to be the villains, like the upset guy, the shit talker, right?

I just think for them it's more like they'd rather be the people's champs. Right. But you look at where they both come from, it makes sense. You know what I'm saying? Like they rather. be the people's champs. And listen, I get it. I respect it to each his own. I hate the whole conversation of the face of the league as if like the leagues just say, okay, it's you now, here you go. Like I hate that whole thing. But now that I got that out, when you speak on

being the face of the NBA, there's just so much that comes with that. And in the day and age that we live in, there's even more that comes with that today than the than did 15 years ago. Like, by a long shot, you know, just your life in general, there's just so much more that comes with it. And so you got to think, man, most of these dudes, they're young. They love video games. And they love, they play basketball, they play video games.

And the generation that they come from, anything that takes you away from that, they don't really want it. Like, that's just the generation. we're living in, where it's streaming, it's video games. That is the generation that we keep speaking of on facing the NBA. Like, that's where we are as far as age goes. And, like, when I look at KD, I don't think KD ever wanted to be the face elite. But guess what?

KD is more that generation of talking about when it comes to video games and, like, can you want to play basketball and play video games? and not do much else. That is this generation, though, now, guys, to the extreme. And so I think, you know, no one talks about that side of it. It's like the life side of it, like how your life looks on the day-to-day basis. And why some of these guys don't want that. But you look at the guys who do want it, Wimby is more old school.

Like, if you listen to anybody talk about, I talk to C.P. After we played them in San Antonio about Wemby, like, if you talk to, anybody about he read a book every day like he's more old school jason tatum is more old school you know what i'm saying jason tatum isn't like he he's more of an older so those are the guys that want it though you know what what i'm saying but they don't their lives are different than say a job or at you know or most of these young guys like j t got a couple kids you know what i'm saying he his his life is a little different where he don't play a bunch of video games like i think there's a philis philosophical difference that everybody's not talking about.

Everybody's just looking at it through one lens, which is basketball. Yeah. And then you have Jalen Brown, right? Who's a little different? Who wants it? But is also, you know, not a media darling, right? So, you know, the media wants a great superhero, right? But the people always love a good villain.

Absolutely. That's the persona that. even the face of the NBA has to have. They have everybody thinks that they're a villain. Everybody wants to be the disruptor, the underdog, and you have to have that mentality. And I think, you know, that's what is required. It's the culture.

It's the culture. They're a part of the culture. They're part of hip-hop. They're part of what's true. They're part of social media. You know, when you look at somebody like John Morant, right? and the celebrations. He's not that person.

That is just what the culture is, right? Football players do it. You know, kids do it. But at the same time, there is a great responsibility to know what you're doing. But from that villain persona, I think the league, you meet that controversy, but it's not that these guys are like bad guys, right?

No, that's the fact. They're not bad guys at all. Number one, you don't reach the level of success that they've reached, just being bad guys. It's hard in this day and age between social media, all these different things, to be a bad guy and kind of reach this point. So they're not bad guys.

They're successful black men. Yes. People go at you so much that, like, you almost get a villain mindset anyway, just because, like, you're subject to people going at you 24-7 to where you kind of have to almost, like, take on that just to push through it. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're not going to keep just coming at me that way.

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But he probably played Call of Duty. You know, he'd probably be on Call of Duty. Like you said, they're gaming. They're on Call of Duty. They got all the answers. You know what I'm saying? That man said, but I'm taking my words. I'm taking my words.

I'm throwing them out there and then I'm blocking it. Listen, I respect your job. Do what you got to do, brother. If you just throwing your words out there and blocking out the noise, what they're going to say. They can't say nothing. They can't tell you. You can't throw your words out there and not listen to anybody, John.

That was a sickest bar ever. That was a bar. Gotta give you to him on that one. That's real player right there, playboy. What else is cracking around the league? The firing of coach Mike Malone. What was your reaction to it? I had a few different reactions.

Number one, Coach Mo is my guy. I love Coach Moe. I had text Josh Cronkey before many years ago. And I text Josh, and it was around the time where they were kind of like, you could tell they were starting to turn that corner, but not quite there yet looking to turn the corner. And around that time, it was like noise, like the Denver continued forward with Mike Malone.

And they had a quick playoff exit, I think. And I text Josh and I said, don't be fool by the noise. I think Mike Malone is your guy. I think y'all got y'all got you got. And sure enough, they end up. win a championship with their guy. And so my hunch was right. When I look at him being fired, though,

you hear the reports of like people tired of his voice. They're tired of his hard coaching, these types of things. I'm sorry to say, but unfortunately, that's why people don't win. Because you get tired of hearing the voice that led you to being a winner. I will say as someone who could be the voice that people get tired of at times that's helping lead you to winning,

I get why you can get tired of it. You're not used to it. I totally understand. It ain't even that you're not used to it is that one thing that I know as a leader is I know people probably get tired in my voice at times. I'm not surprised that you get tired of my voice.

Quite frankly, I don't give a shit whether you get tired of my voice or not, because I know what it takes to lead to winning. And so to hear people say it's coming out, like, oh, yeah, they were getting tired of Mike Malone's hard style. Like, it makes complete sense to me. Yeah. It makes complete sense to me.

Like people, but even aside from being a player, BD, people get tired of being pushed. That's what it is. People get tired of being pushed. which is why people don't win over and over and over again, which is why only a select few of people win, because people get tired of being pushed. And so I heard that, and it made complete sense to me.

You know, another thing I heard that bother me is people trying to put it on, Russell Westbrook, stop it. Oh, yeah, yeah, I need to stop the cap. That's crazy cap. Russell Westbrook make $3 million a share. You're going to tell me anything to do. with a coach. It's the man that make three.

If Russell Westbrook are probably, they $3 million they pay him. They can send him home, pay, go home. We don't even want you around here. Like to try to make this about Russell Westbrook, it's insane to me. Man, that's crazy. I think the whole thing with Denver is they just got fatigue.

Right? You won a championship. You start eating the food. You start tasting more food as you were cooking. So now you start removing some of your ingredients, meaning Bruce Brown, right? You start removing some of the KCP. You start removing and let go some key ingredients. And it's hard to replace that in the draft and groom that in young people and then try and get that in free agency.

So what is missing is always going to be the main subject. And you can see last year they got fatigue, right? They're just getting fatigue. Yeah. And so the run that they went on to win the championship was a crazy run. But when you played, what coach was pushing you every day, right? When the Warriors, when y'all was winning, you know how to motivate yourself. Your voice may be annoying or dudes may get pissed off at times.

But when you win and you know you need that. Now, for a coach, you got to understand. there's a time to push these dudes, how to push these dudes, where are we pushing to? Right? Because when you're talking about your voice as a coach and you keep pushing, you keep pushing, at some point, your player's going to be like, yo, I had enough. I know what I'm doing. But who's the player in their locker room BD that's doing that?

Joke, yoke don't talk much. Like, Jamar Murray don't talk much. So who's the player on that team that's doing that, though? or does the coach have to do it because they don't have a player? So you got Russell Westbrook, right? I think they fired the GM and they fired the coach because they weaken the batter, bro. What I'm saying, you got Russell Westbrook, who's that type of player, but I already know the type of vibe he's going to come in on because that team won a championship before.

Russ going to come in like, all right, maybe I'm going to take a backseat here. I'm not going to do that there. I'm not the main guy here. And so although you could get that demeanor from. Russell Rest, but you're only going to get doses of it because somewhere there's probably a little self-consciousism like they want a championship before I ain't going to come in and press too much, you know, and so you may have to be like depending on your roster. They're not the same team.

But that's what happens when you start plucking key pieces to championships away. Exactly. Like you just said and trying to do it in the drive. Like that's a very tough thing to do. To say the GM was mad that Russell Westbrook's playing over Jail and Pickett. That's crazy. That's what happens, right? That's ridiculous.

Yeah, but stuff like that start happening because everybody wants to experiment, right? Everybody got an opinion. You've weakened the foundation by letting your key ingredients go. The Warriors were smart about, man, we're going to hold the whole thing together and at maybe one or two guys in free agency, get a draft, and then you know who there for a year, you know who you need to build a foundation. You got a bad mix of veteran guys and young guys.

And you have nothing in the middle that those veteran free agents that you needed and needed to keep inside, you didn't have them as your glue. So you really missing the glue. So when you look at Rust, Russ is a glue person, but he's not a glue person, right? He's a complimentary piece, and he's added value, right, to a team. But where do you fit if you're not a glue guy?

Because with the young dudes, they play a different style than the way Joker want to play or how Aaron Gordon, Joker and Porter, how all those dudes, Jamal Murray, work together. They need KCP. Mm-hmm. in that position. Then you need Russ coming in working with the young dudes. So everybody is out of predicament.

And that's why you fired a gym. That's why I think the coach got fired because you can't be experimenting and trying to win the championship because you came off a championship two years ago. So, you know, it's like trying to find an identity with no identity. But I also think that's why Joker is having a hell of the year.

because the team isn't this strong? Because the team isn't as strong. And they have to do more? He has to do a lot more. Whereas before, Michael Porter can beat you. Aaron Gordon can beat you. Now those are nights.

They have a hot night, but even Jamal Murray, like, as talented as he is, it's almost like, I mean, and he has been getting injured, but he ain't, he has not taken it to that next echelon of where his talent was supposed to go what we saw in the finals. And that's because you lost your key ingredients.

It's hard to lose key ingredients on championship team and think you can just replace them. It don't work like that, that's for sure. But a lot of people also spoke about, like, Reggie Jackson being, like, they lost a lot. They lost pretty much their entire bench from a championship team. But don't you think that's your personality, too? Right? Because you played on all these championship teams. A lot of these dudes would you say, like, man, that's my guy. I need him.

Even though he don't play, the personality of it, right? Sometimes you keep a guy, you keep guys around and they may not play at all. Like, literally could be 14, 15th man, and you tell him Bob, like, or Mike now, like, you know, we need to keep that guy. Yeah. Like, we just need that guy on the team, like for the vibe, for something they bring. It ain't always about what this guy going to give us in those minutes. And by the way, it's the NBA. Everybody can play.

So it ain't like we say, keep somebody who should be playing somewhere else. Like, it's an NBA player. But we need you to keep this guy for this reason. Like that. Like, it ain't always just about basketball. The makeup of that team, the vibes, like, we go to dinners and, like, keep the vibe right amongst the team. It could be like, you know, in the locker room, this dude always make us laugh,

and we need that when you down it. Like, it could be anything. It ain't just always that those couple spots. It ain't just always about necessarily the production on the court. Right. It's the energy. It's that energy. 1,000%.

All right, man. Let's get into some Dubnation stuff. I know they want to hear about this last game, right? The intensity of the playoffs. Before we talk about the final game of the season, I want to talk about how would you describe the journey that has brought the team to this point, 23 and 6 since Jimmy joined the team.

Game 82 is coming up. Talk about the journey of this team this year, and then where are you guys at coming into game 82? with a lot on the line at home versus the clippers, you know, the two hottest teams to me and the West. Definitely both playing great basketball. I think for this team, when I look back on this year, as you know, it's crazy because somebody asked me yesterday or two days ago,

they're like, man, I'm like, hey, man, we got two more games. And he was like, man, do it. Do it go by fast? And I said, not when you in it. And when you're in it, it's like, them days stacking on top of your head fast, like, piling up. You're like, golly. Game 45 in Indianapolis and it's freezing cold of snow, and you're like, oh, my God. Like, I said, but then you get to the end of it and then you look back, like, hey, that flew by.

You know, but when you're going through it, it don't feel like it's flying by. It's slow. So then saying that, though, this year is. been crazy. Like, when I look at this year, it's been a little all over the place. Like, we started off great, having an incredible year, got up to a great start, and then we kind of just couldn't find it. Like, we lost it and couldn't find it, but it felt like we were right there. And then obviously we made the trade at the deadline for Jimmy. And kind of what we thought all alone was like, man, it just felt like we're missing one piece, like, but we're right there. And then getting Jimmy

like I said at All-Star when I said, yo, I think, when I said, we're going to win the championship, I said that because I was like, oh, yo, like,

this is the piece that I felt like we were missing and we already wanted to shoot for a championship anyway. Now we got the peace. And so that's kind of been a year. Like, started off great, awful,

and, you know, we picked it back up. But it's been an incredible, year and they're coming down in game 82. Like you said, I think you always look back on some of those ones you gave away like, man, if we had that one, but in saying that, you know, it's a tough challenge for us. It's a really good playoff team. They thriving at the right time. We thrive at the right time. Two great coaches, two incredible Hall of Fame coaches. Like, what can you ask for?

As an NBA fan, not as an NBA player, as an NBA fan, I'm excited. As a player, obviously, this is what you live for. I mean, Clipper warrior rivalry. You know, I've been a part of that. I think I was the reason why I started, to be honest. The warrior clipper rivalry, I was probably the reason why that whole little thing shook out. You know, I've been coming to the games, playoff games, and to me, you two are the teams, the most complete team. veteran oriented. This is going to be a great matchup. You played in game sevens, right?

I feel like this is going to be that type of vibe. 100%. Like, this is game seven. Like both teams trying to solidify that spot. This is definitely a game seven atmosphere. You got to make those adjustments fast. You got one shot at it, one crack at it. So I'm looking forward to it.

I'll tell you what, though. Somebody from the Warriors, man, We got to get BD on for the Warriors as an ambassador so he can stop talking this clipper stuff sometimes. You know what I'm saying? Raymond Ritter, whoever I need to talk to, Brandon Schneider. Come on. Come on, baby.

Come on now, Mike. Come on now. It's done, all right? We're going to just put that out there. I can't. It's a little, I feel this. Y'all ain't feeling this energy I'm feeling right now. But I'm feeling this energy on BD,

feeling like, you know, he's like, he'll know where he really want to go, where he's supposed to go, and I know where he's supposed to go. So I'm telling y'all now, let's fix it. Let's make this right. Let's make it right. All right now. I appreciate that, Jay, spoken about the truth, King himself. No, but you got Kauai playing well.

You're going to have to guard him. You got Zubat up for a defensive player of the year. came on strong. They're 3-0 against you this season. What would a win on Sunday mean going into those playoffs? It'd be huge, huge for the confidence, but huge just to solidify that spot, get that week off, rest up,

know who our opponent is, a showdown with the Lakers, Brian and Steph, we know how that whole thing has been for the last 10 years. Like, man, it'd be huge for everybody. But I think, you know, for myself, and our team, like, you know, the team beat you three times,

come out and take care of business, you know what I'm saying? Yep. You know, so I think this is a big opportunity for us. This is a new team for us. Yeah. One of those games you and Steph didn't play, though. I remember that. Yeah, no, Steph and I didn't play, but, you know,

then they made some additions. Bogdanovich was a big addition for them, Ben Simmons. He's playing minutes for them, you know, get him some versatility. So then the biggest addition is getting Kauai Lennar back. You know, he's, he looked. He almost looked better than before he got hurt. Man, that's crazy. It's bouncy, man.

The way he comes back, bro. The way he come back from an injury is like, like, he stay at a level. This dude is bionic man, something. Yeah, man, this dude's like bionic man. Like, he just come back. Hey, boy, you just came off of ACL surgery. This is just like,

you know, like he never left. That's this, man. I don't understand it. Every time he come back from injury, it looked like Kauai Lennard in San Antonio, Kauai Lennon in Toronto Routers, and I just don't understand it.

So that's the biggest addition of all of them, like obviously getting him back. It's huge. Zubach is playing even better than he was playing at the beginning of the year, and he was playing at a very high level. the beginning of the year. So teams playing great, but also I think, you know, we know who we are now. Yeah.

You know, we have our identity and we're ready to go. So it'll be a great matchup. This could be the Western Conference Finals matchup. This could determine the Western Conference Finals in a major way. Yes, it can be. As we start to wrap up the season and talk about the end of the season, we got, of course, who you got into the season awards. First up, we talked about this.

MVP, SGA, Joker, or Co-NvPs. What do you think? I would love to see co-NvPs. I would love to see these voters, all 100 of them call each other, tally up y'all vote so these guys can tie because I think it's incredible. And saying that I have to pick one or the other,

I have to guard Joker. I know how tough that is. It's extremely tough. I've seen people get fatigued off of greatness over and over again. LeBron James only has four MVP trophies. That's scary. That's crazy. That's crazy.

That's the MVP way more than four times in the NBA. So because people has done that, keep that same energy. What's been a big deal is being the best player on the best team. And not only is Shea the best player on the best team, but he's playing at such an elite level. It ain't like he the best player on a even team and like he'll look better. Right. Like he is one of the best players in the NBA and has taken that team higher.

So in saying that just with what MVP has meant with what the MVP has done, I think it's going to look crazy in 10 years you put those numbers next to each other and be like Jokic didn't win. But in saying that, I got to go with SG. Gotcha. SGA. To your point, defensive presence underrated this year. Still. Absolutely. Joker, the first center to average a triple double. And for an entire season, I mean, I'd like to see co-NvPs just so when we go back to history,

people can go back and see the type of year that both of these players were having and how they were going back and forth in this climb for the MVP race. But if I have to side a vote, I would side by SGA, because I watch this man play defense. I watch him lead his team. And to your point, he is just on a high, high level of frequency, and he's pulled a lot of these talented guys on this team up to his level, right? Yeah, he did.

Playing at a level above. I think one of the most underrated things about the year SGA had is they spent an extended period of time this year with no center. They had Hardinstein was out, Chet was out, and Jalen, the bigger Jalen Williams was out. They were out there running five guards and still winning game. That's crazy. That is extremely impressive. And I just think another thing that kind of gives SGA to boost. So even when things weren't, I can.

ideal, he still found a way to lead his teams to wins. And I think, you know, that says a lot. I agree. I totally agree. Most improved player, who you got for most improved? Dyson Daniels, Austin Reeves. I would say Austin Reeves. A lot of people saying Kay Cunningham. Well, Kay Cunningham is too good and he was so good last year that he's too good to be most

improve. We expect that, right, out of Cade. And Cade expect that out of himself. And he's just living into his magic. He got the all-star accolades. And so what's next for him is, you know, consistent all-stars. When you look at somebody like a Dyson Daniel coming out to Ju-League and coming out of nowhere to make a name from himself, then you look at the Austin Reeves, who was he a second-round pick or undrafted? I think he was, I think he was undrafted, right, making a name for himself to stay on the Lakers to then being a fan favorite off the bench, now being a bona fide NBA star. He has, he's real. And he became a real household name and somebody you got to recognize this year and went from 15 to 20 points

a game with LeBron, with Luca, still in the mix. So I would give it to all. Austin Reeves. And when it wasn't Luca, AD, it was another. AD and he was cracking with AD, yeah. Absolutely. I got to go to Austin Reeves as well. I think Dyson Daniels is right there. Kay Cunningham, no chance.

Like you said, Kay's way too good. He's been way too good for this award. And shout out to Dyson Daniels for making a name for himself, the work he put in. Like, he making Atlanta have somebody else to talk about, besides what Chang Young is doing. Absolutely. I think, but when I look at Austin Reeves,

he's been arguably the best third option in basketball. And when called up on and presented the opportunity, he's been an incredible two when caught up on. And so I think to go from undrafted to that, 15 points to 20 points, there's a big difference in the NBA of averaging 15 points to 20 points. Like, you may look at that and be like, oh, that's only five points.

A 15 point a night guy, off night is six. Yes. A 20 point in a night guy off night is 16. Yep, 15. 16. To put into perspective for you, the jump that Austin Reeves has made, to jump your average from 15 points to 20 points, that's also the difference in like someone making $15 million a year

and someone making $35 million a year. Like that is a drastic jump. And obviously we know he can pass the ball, too he rebounds the ball. I think I got to go with Austin Reeves. Like you said, shout out the Dice and Days. I think what he's done is incredible to see him playing at the level he playing.

That is great. But I got to go with Austin Reeves. And I did not know JJ Reddick was campaigning for Austin Reeves when he said the awards is the high pick award that was on lottery pick. What do you say? Lottery pick that's now on a high contract that finally had a good year.

It was a campaign. It was a campaign. I didn't realize that. JJ, you slid that one in, but you got a point, my brother. He definitely made people think about the vote. Rookie of the year. Easy.

Stefan Castle, no question. No question. Let that kiddy next up. No question. Stefan Castle, easy. We're going to look back at this. If he's going to be a star, and of course he should have won rookie of the year. He's going to be next to Wimby in San Antonio dynamic duo, back-to-back rookie of the years,

and it's all going to make sense. But, Stefan Castle, no question. Legit. Is Rookie of the Year? And I'm going to tell you this. Stefan Castle, when he improved that jump shot and I say win because I know he will, because he's a willing to do. Next year. One of the biggest keys about being learning to shoot the ball. ball with consistency.

It's being a willing shooter. And he is willing. No matter how many he missed in a row, he raising up, taking that next one. And I love that attitude. That kid is going to be a star. I'm looking forward to a rookie of the year. Congrats, young fellow.

It should be yours in the bat. We got coach of the year. Some say Kenny Akison. The calves were 48 and 34 and 2324. They increased that to 63 wins, possibly 64. Number one seed in the east. You got E.M.U.D.O.K. 41 and 41 last season, number 11 in the Western Conference

standards. Fast forward is 2025. They have 52 wins. Could be 53. Could have been 55. They've kind of bombed the last couple games. Like, nonetheless, E.M.A. Udoca has to be in the running. And then J.B. Bickerstadt, 14 wins to 44 wins. Damn. First season of coaching this team. he was the coach of the team that the Cavs, who Kenny Ackinson has now bumped up 15 wins to 63.

Who you got? Those three guys, the coach of the year. Is this Kenny Ackison first year with the Cavs? This is Kenny Ackison's first year. He was with the dubs last year. That's crazy. And is J.V. Bickerstaff first year with Detroit? This is his first year?

Oh, this is a hell of a storyline. And what I would do is I would honor them both. This would be a co-coach of the year. You got to do co-coach of the year. Like, I would give two awards out because it's just, if it has to be one person, cool, but I don't think it should just be one guy. Amen, you doker went from 11 to 2.

That's crazy, too. Give them all an award. You know what? You can't do that. Give them all in the war. I agree. They're all deserving. They're all deserving, but you cannot do that.

I mean, damn. That's too hard. If I'm voting, I don't know. That's too tough, dude. That's tough. They all matter. Like, what J.B. did taking Detroit from nothing to something to a playoff team, what E.M.A. did from last year,

taking them to the two-seat, showing a lot of promise. you know, people thought that Houston would have a team that's going to be in the playoff. So, you know, he over-exceeded expectations. And then Kenny Ackison came in and took over a job from a team. And, you know, damn there got them 20 more wins than what they had the year before and the number one seat in the east. So if I have to give the award, it probably should go to Kenny Ackison. with Jay B at a very, very close second, almost a tie in IME at a very, very close second.

I respect that. I think when you look at the system that Kenny has brought to that team, like they had talent already, and he took that same talent and has turned that talent into what it should be. I think it's hard not to go with Kenny. I also think he turned Evan Mobley into a star. And when I say turned Evan Mobley into a star, I understand that I'm not saying Kenny Ackerson turned. Evan Mobley has worked his ass off to become who he's become.

He unleashed the star. He put him in position to reach who he's supposed to become, which is a star in the NBA. And Evan Mobley's had an incredible year on both sides of the ball. He will be an all-N-B-A performer. Evan Mobley, I think when you look at getting Darius Garland back to all-star form, like Darius Garland was the lost man last year. Like, Darius Garland was on his way out of Cleveland.

It was all going wrong. It looked like he had popped for a year or two, and it was going the wrong way. Kenny comes in, push that confidence back into him, put him in a system where he can thrive in. And so I think when you're looking at that, on top of winning 64 games, I got to go with Kenny I think that's, J.B.'s incredible to go from 14 to 44 wins. I think it's incredible. I'm a big fan of Eme. Just the attitude that E. May give his teams is crazy. Played against him in the NBA finals. He's going to Houston and taking a joke of a team after James Harden to the second seat in the West, brought an attitude, stepped up and said the guys that he

wanted bringing in Fred Van Vlid as a free agent was huge. You know what I'm saying? Like bringing in veteran presence like Jeff Green was huge, you know, and these are all things that Ema Eudokas point out and say, no, I need this. And so bringing it, Dylan Brooks, free agency, you know, people was off Dylan Brooks. Grisley's off Dylan Brooks. He's like, yo, bring him over here. Huge, you know what I'm saying. So what Eme's done has been incredible.

And I think he's right up there and deserving, but I think I got to go with Kenny Ackison on this one as well. Awesome. Sixth man of the year. Payton Pritcher, that's easy. We got six men of the year. You got Payton Pritcher or Malickie Dizley? I got Payton Pritches.

That's easy, man. The way he has improved, I ought to put Payton Pritchard up there also for most improved just to put him in that category. But talking about energy, you know, fire, and a difference maker for Boston off the bench and another leader. They found another leader. They found another go-to guy, which is crazy.

And then not to discount what the season that Malik Beasley has had because he's been another part of that Piston team, that 44, that 14 to 44 win turnaround. And he's been a great compliment and reliable source 4K cutting hand. And so 312 3 is this season. A Piston record, shout out to Malik Beasley. But when we're talking about six men and a difference maker and a game, changing somebody's coming in and change the game. I got to go with Peyton Pritchard. I think Payton Pritcher's been incredible.

He increased his points from 9 to 14, which is a big jump. You know, I think he's had a great year, 251 made threes. Great year on a great team, 160 game. But I got to go to Malik Beasley on this one. Malik Beasley has found a new home, 312 threes this season. I think both of these guys, shoot threes. Malik Beasley's averaging 16 points off the bench. So he's winning in both

for those categories and their team is winning. I think when you, you can look at record, but obviously Boston is going to have a much better record than Detroit. They have a much better team than Detroit. But I got to go with Malie Beasley on this one, hit your three, hit your shimmy player, your hip dance or whatever it is. But I think Malie Beasley is deserving. I think he should get it. I think he's earned it. That's who I'm rolling with. There it is. All right, last but not least, defensive player of the year.

I will give you the floor because you know where my vote is going. What do you want to say about defensive player of the year? It's your last one. Oh, man. I think putting it in the back.

That's what I think. Put it in the back. Yours truly. That's who I'm rocking with. You know, I think, listen, I think Evan Mobley has had a great year. Dyson Danes has had a great year.

great year. I think, you know, Zubotches had a great year. I think, you know, all those guys have had a great year, I ain't taking nothing away from them. And I see them on first team all defense, but I think DPO watch should go to yours truly. I'll take that. Yeah,

I got to rock with you, bro. You've been, you know, we talk about the season. It's solid, consistent. And you just been a tear. You've had amazing moments when you look at team defense and team awareness and having that anchor. I mean, you're the guy and look at the warrior number.

So shout out to you. You my pick. You're in my pick all year, man. Let's lock in. Let's go, Dubnation. Yeah, this is it. This is the last season of the game, baby. Last game of the season.

So let's get that defensive. Yeah, one more defensive showcase. And let's put that trophy in the bag. Come on. I appreciate you, my dog. I hope so, but none of less, let's get this win tomorrow. We need it. You know what I'm saying?

Getting these playoffs, that is a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green show and the last show of the regular season of 2025 for all you guys out there in this NBA for all you trainers out there, coaches out there, front office workers, community relations, public relations, NBA league office, NBAPA, referees, everybody. Job well done. It's a well-oed machine that continues to get better. Adam Silver, everybody who had a hand in making this season what it is.

Job well done. Let's make these playoffs great. Keep it pushing. Until next time, that's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show with the legend Barron Davis BD, my dog. We out. And don't forget to follow us on our. all social media at the Jemar show and we're out.