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Speaker 5: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show.
Speaker 5: We are live here, well live as we record this
Speaker 5: for you here at the Resort World in Las Vegas.
Speaker 5: Appreciate them for having us here. I'm honored to have
Speaker 5: this next guest of mine. Uh, what's a teammate of mine?
Speaker 3: For a year?
Speaker 5: I used to kick his ass like literally the years
Speaker 5: prior to that. But nonetheless, outside of him being my teammate,
Speaker 5: it's my brother and I'm honored to have this next guest.
Speaker 5: Five fifth overall pick in the twenty ten draft, four
Speaker 5: time NBA All Star, two time All NBA Second Team,
Speaker 5: and twenty sixteen Olympic gold medalists. None No, the one
Speaker 5: and only book, DeMarcus Cousins.
Speaker 3: What dog. I appreciate you coming on, man, what it is? Love?
Speaker 5: This is an honor for me, Bro, Like I've been
Speaker 5: one to have this conversation for a while. There's also
Speaker 5: one I never really wanted to do over Zoom. I
Speaker 5: think for me, the connection is too strong, the brotherhood
Speaker 5: is too strong, and I'm happy to do it here
Speaker 5: in person.
Speaker 3: So I appreciate you. Appreciate you, Bro, absolutely.
Speaker 5: But let's uh walk me back to the beginning growing
Speaker 5: up in Alabama. What was it like growing up and
Speaker 5: having to get it out the mud and then making
Speaker 5: it out of Alabama?
Speaker 1: It was tough, man, you know, you know, typical story.
Speaker 1: You grew up in an environment that that isn't promising.
Speaker 1: It's not a lot of opportunity and it's just not
Speaker 1: a lot of resources in general. So you know, you
Speaker 1: kind of grew up in a situation where you you
Speaker 1: become a product of your environment. But you know, as
Speaker 1: every young boy, you kind of get to that point
Speaker 1: in life, usually about middle school where I'm from, we
Speaker 1: call it hopping off the porch. But you know, you
Speaker 1: get to that point you got to figure out, you know,
Speaker 1: which route you're gonna take left for right, and you
Speaker 1: know when you come from that type of place, you
Speaker 1: know what that means.
Speaker 3: So you know, it was, you know, that typical.
Speaker 1: Type situation, and you know, it was a lot of
Speaker 1: growing pains for me, you know, trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to become a young man and figure out my
Speaker 1: niche in life, and you know, just what I even
Speaker 1: wanted to do. There was a lot of negativity in
Speaker 1: front of me that you know, a lot of negative influence,
Speaker 1: which is usually what kind of you know, uh, what
Speaker 1: are the words? Uh, that's the part that you get
Speaker 1: the most of. That's the overload that you get growing
Speaker 1: up in those type of environments. So with that being said,
Speaker 1: it goes back to you know, what do I want
Speaker 1: to do? Who do I want to be? And you know,
Speaker 1: with the influence of my mom watching her work, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: two jobs at some at sometimes and and and raise
Speaker 1: six kids. It's like, you know, she was the perfect
Speaker 1: example for me as far as work ethic. So you know,
Speaker 1: once I got to that part where hey, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day I'm willing to work my tail
Speaker 1: off to you know, accomplish whatever I put my mind to,
Speaker 1: like I know, I had a chance. So you know,
Speaker 1: she helped me discover ball. I grew up playing football originally,
Speaker 1: you know, had dreams of being in the NFL. Uh.
Speaker 3: Genetics just ain't really work out in my favor.
Speaker 1: So you know, I did take some some things from
Speaker 1: that with just the physicality part that killed her mindset,
Speaker 1: you know, part of it. And he kind of translated
Speaker 1: over the ball. But back to what I was saying,
Speaker 1: my mom was the person that kind of introduced me
Speaker 1: to it.
Speaker 3: I was, you know, getting in trouble doing a lot
Speaker 3: of you know.
Speaker 1: Just silly, immature shit, and my mom, you know, she
Speaker 1: was like, I need to, you know, put you in
Speaker 1: something that's you know, constructive for you, you know, keep
Speaker 1: me on the right path.
Speaker 3: Things like that. So she like tried basketball and you.
Speaker 1: Know, quick learner, very fast, very fast learner, and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, the kind of the rest is history. You know,
Speaker 1: my story played out how I played out. But originally
Speaker 1: that's just kind of you know, like I said, typical
Speaker 1: you know story of you know how we kind of
Speaker 1: kind of come up and grew.
Speaker 5: Up born raised in Mobile, then you moved to Birmingham.
Speaker 1: I was born in Mobile and you know, basically raised
Speaker 1: in Birmingham, and then I went back to Mobile my
Speaker 1: junior senior year of high school.
Speaker 3: And why go back then?
Speaker 1: Uh, like I said, I was a young I was
Speaker 1: I was a younger trying to figure things out. And
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, I bumped my head plenty
Speaker 1: of times. I've I've had a lot, a lot of
Speaker 1: life lessons. You know, early in life, I grew up
Speaker 1: faster than a lot of kids. And like I said,
Speaker 1: that's just kind of the environment I grew up in. So,
Speaker 1: you know, me going back to Mobile was a decision
Speaker 1: my mom ended up making when you know, she basically
Speaker 1: got to a boiling point of you know, I can't
Speaker 1: do this alone. I need a little more help, and
Speaker 1: she kind of leaned on her mother in that situation
Speaker 1: that you know, help guide me through uh the rest
Speaker 1: of my years in high school. But I gotten some
Speaker 1: silly ship junior year, which kind of led me back
Speaker 1: to going to Mobile. And you know, at that point
Speaker 1: in my life, that's that's when I really, you know,
Speaker 1: made a decision to commit to you know, being a
Speaker 1: basketball player full time. And you know, and I understood
Speaker 1: I had a lot of potential on my side. I
Speaker 1: had a skill set that wasn't really a normal thing.
Speaker 1: So you know, I told myself, let's take advantage of
Speaker 1: this opportunity and let's see where it can take you.
Speaker 3: So you keep mentioning your mom for me, My mom, man,
Speaker 3: you know, shout out to dudes. Man, shout out the.
Speaker 6: Dude coming out tomorrow on Tuesday.
Speaker 5: Okay, But I know how strong my mom is in
Speaker 5: your mom the same way. Brilliant, incredible job that they
Speaker 5: did in raising us. But when it's funny because I
Speaker 5: had a conversation and the reason I say this, you
Speaker 5: keep saying my mom did this, My mom did that.
Speaker 3: I had a conversation with my.
Speaker 5: Mom one day about from eleven years old on my
Speaker 5: mom was a single mother, and you know, from twelve
Speaker 5: to eighteen them about final years and growing into manhood.
Speaker 5: And I lived in a house with my mom and
Speaker 5: so In turn, I watched everything that I watched the
Speaker 5: way my mom run a house as opposed to the
Speaker 5: way my dad or a father or a man would
Speaker 5: run a house. In turn, I picked up some of
Speaker 5: those tendencies because that's what you see. And I said
Speaker 5: to my mom one day, maybe like three or four
Speaker 5: years ago, I was like, man, you know an incredible
Speaker 5: job raising me. I'm so thankful and appreciative. But something
Speaker 5: I need you to understand is I also watched you,
Speaker 5: as a woman do all that you can to raise us.
Speaker 5: But some of the things that you did I picked.
Speaker 3: Up on absolutely.
Speaker 5: And now I have a wife and a woman and
Speaker 5: sometimes we bump heads, right, And the reason we bump
Speaker 5: heads is probably because I'm doing something that she should
Speaker 5: be doing her that she would be doing, because those
Speaker 5: are things that I picked up just because I was
Speaker 5: raised by my mom. And so I said all of
Speaker 5: that to say, you keep mentioning your mom, where does
Speaker 5: your father come in in your life? And with that relationship,
Speaker 5: then how did it impact your upbringing and who you
Speaker 5: became as a man in the life lessons that you
Speaker 5: had to learn?
Speaker 1: You know with my pops is I know I know
Speaker 1: who he is, but the relationship is non existent at
Speaker 1: this point. You know, I've attempted to you know, kind
Speaker 1: of create a relationship or you know, a bond and
Speaker 1: you know, it just didn't quite work out that way.
Speaker 3: That's just you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: But you know it's you know, some things just aren't
Speaker 1: meant to be, and you know it's it's okay.
Speaker 3: But I do learn from it.
Speaker 1: I do take you know, things from our relationship, and
Speaker 1: I don't take it in a way of trying to
Speaker 1: apply to my life that I actually want to do
Speaker 1: the opposite. It's actually, you know, being a father's it
Speaker 1: means so much to me that it's actually an insecurity
Speaker 1: for me. And the reason I say that is because
Speaker 1: I don't always feel like I do it the correct
Speaker 1: way or sometimes you know, my message that I'm I'm
Speaker 1: giving my boys and my daughter is like is it
Speaker 1: the correct message or is this just the way I feel?
Speaker 1: You know, And you know, you can you know, the
Speaker 1: trauma and the toxicity and the negativity that you kind
Speaker 1: of grow up with can also become a part of
Speaker 1: and sometimes we're making decision it's hard to separate, you know,
Speaker 1: your foundation and an emotional decisions so sometimes it kind
Speaker 1: of gets in, kind of gets in my mind on
Speaker 1: that type of thing, and you know, I beat myself
Speaker 1: up about it. I want to be the best example
Speaker 1: I can be. I want to make sure, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a resource for them and let them know, like
Speaker 1: whatever they're going through, no matter what it is, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure I've been through it or I have you know,
Speaker 1: some pretty sound advice that can help guide you through it,
Speaker 1: you know, the cleanest way possible. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: a struggle for me because I didn't get it firsthand.
Speaker 1: So I'm also you know, no matter you know, no
Speaker 1: matter how long I am, my father is still going
Speaker 1: to always kind of be brand new for me because
Speaker 1: I didn't have an example in front of me. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I pride myself on being the best version
Speaker 1: of myself every day. You know, I never want you know,
Speaker 1: my seeds to go through you know, anything that I
Speaker 1: had to experience, And like I said, I want to
Speaker 1: make this the cleanest path possible for them. And on
Speaker 1: top of all of it, it's more so for me
Speaker 1: just breaking you know, generational curses were.
Speaker 3: You know, it's so much bullshit.
Speaker 1: In our culture that you know, we kind of praise
Speaker 1: and when an actuality it should be kind of frowned upon,
Speaker 1: but it's it's so many years of this cycle of
Speaker 1: doing it the same type of way that we think
Speaker 1: is okay. So for me, it's just you know, breaking
Speaker 1: that cycle. Even when it comes down to you know,
Speaker 1: eating the correct way, putting the right things in your body.
Speaker 1: You know, there's plenty of you know, black families, ethnic
Speaker 1: families out there that deal with diabetes and things of
Speaker 1: that nature. My family is one of them. So me
Speaker 1: knowing that, hey, no sugar, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I know it sucks. I know your peers are.
Speaker 3: Doing it, but this is my way of showing you
Speaker 3: that I love you.
Speaker 1: And it may suck now, it may not make sense now,
Speaker 1: but you know down the line you'll understand and realize
Speaker 1: like he was really doing what was you know, best
Speaker 1: for my long term am I right now? So you know,
Speaker 1: that's just kind of where I'm at when it comes to,
Speaker 1: you know, fatherhood.
Speaker 5: I had an interesting thing happened to me the other day.
Speaker 5: Most people don't know the story of what you know,
Speaker 5: but most people don't know the story of my fatherhood,
Speaker 5: my journey with fatherhood in my life, not me as
Speaker 5: a father. But long story short, I was raised by
Speaker 5: my daddy until I was twelve. I thought he was
Speaker 5: my daddy. When I was thirteen, I found out and
Speaker 5: he wasn't my real father.
Speaker 3: Man, my real father.
Speaker 5: Went through high school embarrassed to really embrace the relationship
Speaker 5: because everybody in my school district knew my daddy. So
Speaker 5: now how do I tell people that that's not my daddy?
Speaker 5: And so then I dealt with that embarrassment and I
Speaker 5: hear from it. Never really allowed the relationship to go
Speaker 5: anywhere because I was so embarrassed. By fast forward sophomore
Speaker 5: year college, I start to become who I became through
Speaker 5: basketball though, and so as you know, like through basketball
Speaker 5: we can gain confidence in who we are as men.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: We gained an identity through that, and so I became
Speaker 5: comfortable enough with who Draymond is that it's like, oh,
Speaker 5: this is my story, it is what it is. Let
Speaker 5: me embrace this. Uh, embraced it. Things went left with
Speaker 5: my daddy, who raised me, got to the NBA. Things
Speaker 5: went left with my father. The birth you know that
Speaker 5: they give birth to me. But my father tried to
Speaker 5: patch things up with my daddy. It was kind of
Speaker 5: shaky and never really the same my father. It's sometimes here,
Speaker 5: sometimes they are not really his fault either, is kind
Speaker 5: and he had some blame in it too, But I
Speaker 5: also have some blame in it, and I know that.
Speaker 5: But it's just my personal journey. But an interesting thing.
Speaker 5: And I said all of that to ask you this question.
Speaker 5: An interesting thing happened to me the other day and
Speaker 5: it made me really rethink, like this journey with my dad,
Speaker 5: my father, and where do I need to take it?
Speaker 5: And I don't know, Like I'm literally just having this
Speaker 5: conversation with you. I haven't had this conversation with anybody,
Speaker 5: because it just happened the other day and it shook
Speaker 5: me up. And my son said, Daddy, who was your
Speaker 5: daddy when you was my a? And I said, WHOA,
Speaker 5: who was your daddy when you was my age? And
Speaker 5: the reality is he's actually met both of them, but
Speaker 5: not consistently enough in his life to where it's like,
Speaker 5: oh yeah, you know. And that shook me because it
Speaker 5: was like, WHOA, I need to change something because I
Speaker 5: need to figure this out for him, because maybe he's
Speaker 5: yearning for a grandfather, you know what I'm saying. Maybe
Speaker 5: he want to know a grandfather. And so it brought
Speaker 5: me to a place and again, I'm this is therapy
Speaker 5: for me, by the way right now, because I'm literally
Speaker 5: just talking through this thing.
Speaker 3: It just happened the other day.
Speaker 5: But it's got me thinking and I don't know where
Speaker 5: to turn except for try to make that right for him,
Speaker 5: so he do know. And I said all of that
Speaker 5: to ask you, have you faced something like that with
Speaker 5: your boys where they ask you something, they wonder something
Speaker 5: about your father, because I feel like they asked me
Speaker 5: because or he asked me, and your boys would ask
Speaker 5: you because we are good fathers to them. And so
Speaker 5: it's like, well, if you're doing this for me, where
Speaker 5: was that for you? But I don't know where to
Speaker 5: turn with And I just wanted to ask you, have
Speaker 5: you faced something like that with your boys?
Speaker 3: I actually have it.
Speaker 1: It's my oldest son, my too young is not no, not,
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's on his way, but you know they
Speaker 1: don't quite understand that right now, but for sure with
Speaker 1: my oldest. And it's more so where a part of
Speaker 1: me being a father, I'm super open, like I admit
Speaker 1: to my flaws, I admit to my struggles coming up
Speaker 1: admitted to my you know, insecurities coming up because I
Speaker 1: want my son to be able to relate. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying, you know, everything I went through he's going
Speaker 1: to go through. But you know, just me andmitting and
Speaker 1: explaining and telling my story, it may be something that
Speaker 1: he is going through that you know, touches him and
Speaker 1: it makes sense, you know, or it triggers something within him,
Speaker 1: or it answers a question that may be you know,
Speaker 1: in his mind that he's afraid to, you know, speak on.
Speaker 3: So I'm very open when it comes to that.
Speaker 1: And like I said, I always want to tell my
Speaker 1: story so he can understand why I father him the
Speaker 1: way I do. You know, sometimes you have to be
Speaker 1: hard on and you know, as a kid, because we
Speaker 1: were once in that place you feel like man, parents
Speaker 1: mean as hell, or you know, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: And then you know, you get to this big age
Speaker 1: and your mind is forever. You know, those messages that
Speaker 1: you get as a kid, they don't go anywhere, They
Speaker 1: kind of sit.
Speaker 3: There and then you know, out of nowhere, it kind.
Speaker 1: Of clicks for you, like that's what you know what
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely, So you know that's what I want
Speaker 1: to happen for mine and hopefully sooner than later.
Speaker 3: So like I said, they don't have to go through
Speaker 3: the same struggles.
Speaker 1: So I have been through that similar type situation, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's very sensitive for me because it's a
Speaker 1: lot of questions I have that still are unanswered and
Speaker 1: they may remain that way. That's just kind of how
Speaker 1: this thing works. So it goes back to me. Like
Speaker 1: I said, I just want to be the best version
Speaker 1: of myself. And you know, I feel like with that
Speaker 1: with me just believing in that part. It to carry
Speaker 1: over the fatherhood and carry over to being a husband
Speaker 1: in so many other places, and hopefully I can be
Speaker 1: the you know, the example that they.
Speaker 5: Need, absolutely and I think you've done a great job
Speaker 5: of that. I've seen you.
Speaker 3: In your you know.
Speaker 5: And daddy moves fathering your kids. The struggles that we
Speaker 5: go through as fathers, especially times when you have a
Speaker 5: child that's not with my wife, those struggles. People don't
Speaker 5: understand that some days you're going to practice coming off
Speaker 5: a legal call before got legal calls all day the
Speaker 5: next day, and people don't understand that struggle. And I've
Speaker 5: seen you in that mode and how you hold it together.
Speaker 5: No matter what the situation is at that time, because
Speaker 5: when you have that situation it gets sticky sometimes, you know.
Speaker 5: And nonetheless, I still got to show up for them,
Speaker 5: show up for him.
Speaker 3: And be the same daddy.
Speaker 5: He knows when everything is going great for me, and
Speaker 5: I've seen you in those situations.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 6: But then moving forward, uh, high.
Speaker 5: School, then we get to college, you're all American, You're
Speaker 5: all the things.
Speaker 3: Commit to U A B. D.
Speaker 5: Commit, commits to Memphis with coach calv Coach calv Lee's.
Speaker 3: Memphis, and you go with him to Kentucky.
Speaker 5: Just talk to me about what was it in Cal
Speaker 5: that you saw where you're like, oh, I'm going to Memphis,
Speaker 5: which is in the same conference as Actually this this
Speaker 5: the school that I grew up in the city.
Speaker 3: U A b.
Speaker 5: Birmingham was in the Conference USA. And then you go
Speaker 5: with cal like, now I'm going with him. What was
Speaker 5: it in Cal that you saw that you were like,
Speaker 5: I'm going with him no matter where he goes.
Speaker 1: Well, it's crazy, like you said, Memphis and U. A. B.
Speaker 1: R in the same conference. What was at some point
Speaker 1: so when I was starting his basketball journey, I ended up,
Speaker 1: you know, have an opportunity to go to a U
Speaker 1: A B game, So happened to be playing Memphis. Cale
Speaker 1: was there and he had a player by the name
Speaker 1: of Sean Williams. So you know, the way Sean Williams
Speaker 1: played the game, I'm just like, bro, that's how I
Speaker 1: want to play like, you know, just being able to
Speaker 1: play all over the floor or score from all over
Speaker 1: the floor, be a playmaker or a ball handler, all
Speaker 1: of those things. And you know, we kind of came
Speaker 1: up in the era where you were more your talents
Speaker 1: were a little more minimized. You know, they put you
Speaker 1: more in a box if you were six or five
Speaker 1: and above you going to the post box, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So we grew up in that air.
Speaker 1: So you know, it was weird to see a guy
Speaker 1: in my size, you know, handling the ball, shooting and
Speaker 1: things of that nature. So that intrigued me about Kyle
Speaker 1: that he enabled that in his players. So that was
Speaker 1: really the first thing. And then you know, I watched
Speaker 1: how he handled the careers of you know, Tyreek Evans
Speaker 1: and Derrick Rose and Rodney Carty and all these guys
Speaker 1: that kind of came up under him, and you know,
Speaker 1: I loved everything about it. I loved the relationship he
Speaker 1: had with his guys even after you know, he left it,
Speaker 1: they left the program, So you know, all of those
Speaker 1: things kind of intriguing me, you know, towards one to
Speaker 1: play for Caliperio. And then at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: he's real about you know, this situation. Yeah, it's a sport,
Speaker 1: but you know, this is a situation where you can
Speaker 1: find long long term success, you can find long term wealth,
Speaker 1: all of these things.
Speaker 3: And he understands that. He understands both sides of it.
Speaker 1: Obviously, he wants to, you know, bring in the best
Speaker 1: talent that's going to help, you know, continue to propel
Speaker 1: his his program, and it kind of goes hand in
Speaker 1: hand and he's he's mastered.
Speaker 3: He's mastered. How to you know, push that.
Speaker 1: Relationship in the most positive way where both sides benefit
Speaker 1: from it. And that's what I love the most about Kyle.
Speaker 1: And when they came to me leaving college, I've been
Speaker 1: on record saying this before, it was just it was
Speaker 1: the most simple and real conversation ever. It's you know,
Speaker 1: you'll stay if you want to take care of my family,
Speaker 1: and you'll leave if you want to take care of
Speaker 1: your family, and you wanted to stay right, Oh, I
Speaker 1: was planning on stands. I mean, I was so emotionally
Speaker 1: attached that that, you bro, you know how college bro,
Speaker 1: like your heart really be in it. I mean, and
Speaker 1: once you get, once you get a little taste of
Speaker 1: success and you get close to that finished line of
Speaker 1: winning the championship, you kind of start craving it. So
Speaker 1: it's like, man, I gotta come back and get that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And just the energy of
Speaker 1: the tournament, the energy of your university behind you, the
Speaker 1: way they support you and lift you up like you
Speaker 1: want to win for them, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So that's just kind of where I was after we
Speaker 1: lost in the Elite eight.
Speaker 3: So obviously my mind was like come back. And I
Speaker 3: had a.
Speaker 1: Very brief conversation with John. I'm thinking were on the
Speaker 1: same page, like, you know, a five, Like, let's run.
Speaker 3: It back, John, Like, hell out of here.
Speaker 1: It makes sense, like the number one pick, why the
Speaker 1: hell would he come back?
Speaker 3: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: You know, like I said, after having that conversation with Kyle,
Speaker 1: it was it was an easy decision from that point
Speaker 1: moving forward this like I got gonna take care of my.
Speaker 5: Family absolutely, and you get drafted to an organization at
Speaker 5: the time that it was a lot like the organization
Speaker 5: I got drafted at the time. It was a laughing
Speaker 5: stock of the NBA was through coaches every two years
Speaker 5: on year. Bro, it's crazy, like the turnover in the organization,
Speaker 5: no stability. Teams walking to your gym, it's a night
Speaker 5: off for them because relax, no, that's that was the
Speaker 5: Warriors too. What I'm saying is like these organizations now,
Speaker 5: no no, no, no, no no, I'm talking about the organization.
Speaker 5: You get drafted to the organization, and the way teams
Speaker 5: looked at these organizations, it's like, oh, we got a
Speaker 5: night off when we walked through you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 5: Like that was the Warriors, that was the Kings, it's
Speaker 5: the Pistons. Now, that's how the organization was looked at.
Speaker 5: You get drafted into that organization and in spite of
Speaker 5: all of that, spite of the coaching changes, the instability,
Speaker 5: because no one I always talk about, no one ever
Speaker 5: says yo, it's the organization, right, It's always the player.
Speaker 5: Fat By the way, nineteen years old, it can't really
Speaker 5: be my fault. Like nineteen you're supposed to be helping
Speaker 5: me out, But it don't really happen that way.
Speaker 3: They blame the player. And in spite all of that,
Speaker 3: you go.
Speaker 5: There and you from the time you get there, all
Speaker 5: rookie teams, all NBAS, all stars didn't want to give
Speaker 5: you your duet first, but they had to.
Speaker 3: You forced them to.
Speaker 5: What was it like getting going to an organization like
Speaker 5: that and then having to navigate all of those things
Speaker 5: with the coaching changes, the front office, then there was
Speaker 5: an ownership change while you was there, all of those
Speaker 5: things happened, And what was it like for you having
Speaker 5: to navigate that as a young nineteen year old.
Speaker 1: It was tough and it was confusing, and you know
Speaker 1: it was it was even you know, worse for me
Speaker 1: because I was coming from a situation at Kentucky where
Speaker 1: you know, Cayle treated us like pros, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. He was preparing us for that next level.
Speaker 1: So I remember, I never forget this, but shout out
Speaker 1: to my vet, you know, San Francis, Francisco Garcia. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: Cisco was you know my vet. He might have at
Speaker 1: the time, my rookie, he might have been five six
Speaker 1: years in So that just kind of showed like that's
Speaker 1: not a real vent, not a time that was my vet.
Speaker 1: But I remember in my rookie season, you know, it
Speaker 1: was something simple. I don't even remember what the task was,
Speaker 1: but I kind of like at Kentucky it was like
Speaker 1: I never did anything like that. Then I came to
Speaker 1: the Kings, It's like this is this is a step yes, higher,
Speaker 1: even more, you know what I mean. So this is
Speaker 1: the elite level of basketball. So my expectations were, you know,
Speaker 1: just they were off, you know, to say the least.
Speaker 1: It was a simple task, and I remember Cisco saying
Speaker 1: something like, uh, like, yo, you really would spoiled at
Speaker 1: Kentucky like and in my head, I'm like, damn, maybe
Speaker 1: I was like but at the same time, I'm like
Speaker 1: this is an even more elite level, So why is
Speaker 1: it being you know, looked at as me being spoiled.
Speaker 1: So long story short, Cisco ended up eventually getting traded
Speaker 1: to the Houston Rockets. Yeah, and I remember when he
Speaker 1: went there. He ended up tapping in with me like
Speaker 1: a little later, and he was like, man, I remember
Speaker 1: that day, I'll called you spoiled Like he was like
Speaker 1: I was wrong, Like we were in a shithole, like
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I knew I wasn't driven, bro, and
Speaker 1: it was and not to I'm not you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not here to like shit on the kings or anything
Speaker 1: like that. That's just you know, in sports, you have
Speaker 1: up and down years. You know, I just so happened
Speaker 1: to come in at a point where it was down here.
Speaker 1: The workings was figuring itself out. You know, it was
Speaker 1: in this transition period. The owners that drafted me, you know,
Speaker 1: they were ready to move on and sell the team.
Speaker 1: So it's a lot of things I got caught up
Speaker 1: in that was just out of my control. But you know,
Speaker 1: the average you know, fan or whatever don't quite understand
Speaker 1: that part of the business or or or or the game.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's easy to to look at my
Speaker 1: situation and you know just kind of point the finger.
Speaker 1: And to be honest, a lot of it was my fault.
Speaker 1: Like I did do a lot of bone here shit,
Speaker 1: stupid shit, But you know that's part of growing up
Speaker 1: and becoming the man. Bump your head a few times.
Speaker 1: But you know it was hard. It was hard figuring
Speaker 1: it out. You know, a new system every single year,
Speaker 1: like that's tough to do. Each coach has a different system.
Speaker 1: Each coach thinks differently, like so, you know, just trying
Speaker 1: to find success with a new system every single year,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's really hard to do. And then on
Speaker 1: top of it, you know, people think players create a vibe,
Speaker 1: wish they do, but organization being good starts at the
Speaker 1: top every single that's with any that's with any type
Speaker 1: of organization, it starts at the top.
Speaker 3: So for sure, it just wasn't right.
Speaker 1: It wasn't things weren't aligned correctly, and it wasn't The
Speaker 1: Kings weren't ready to flourish yet. And you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, I ended up going through a couple ownership
Speaker 1: with two ownership groups. I had three gms and I
Speaker 1: was there six and a half year's had six coaches. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, it was tough to navigate. But you know,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, when it came to competing,
Speaker 1: that was my foundation. I had my own personal goals,
Speaker 1: which was to try to be the best you know
Speaker 1: player I could be, regardless of my situation, you know,
Speaker 1: find a way to shine. And you know that was
Speaker 1: just kind of my mindset with you know, maneuvering through that.
Speaker 3: Nah.
Speaker 5: I mean, like I said, I think, you know, even
Speaker 5: when I look back on it, dope to see because
Speaker 5: and now being in the NBA and understanding a what
Speaker 5: it means to be a bad organization, right, there's way
Speaker 5: more bad organizations than there are good organizations. And with
Speaker 5: that being said, and like I said, it goes back
Speaker 5: to my original point, which is, ay, we've never once
Speaker 5: in a million years.
Speaker 3: Saw a list.
Speaker 5: Come out on bleacher Report, on the Athletic on ESPN
Speaker 5: talking about these are the top five or bottom five
Speaker 5: worse organizations in the league. These are the bottom ten
Speaker 5: worse organizations in the league. And Harri's why these organizations
Speaker 5: are bad. You can go down the list. I've never
Speaker 5: seen an article that way. But the moment the Marcus
Speaker 5: Cousins get ejected from a game or get a technical
Speaker 5: file or him and teammate have words, because that does
Speaker 5: happen amongst teammates, then that's like this big issue, you know,
Speaker 5: and it's like, oh, that's then that's who you become.
Speaker 5: And I myself has experienced some of that, which then
Speaker 5: leads me to my next question for you, which is
Speaker 5: there's passion and there's attitude. They are actually they live
Speaker 5: in the same house. Yes, they sleep in the bedroom
Speaker 5: together pretty much the same thing, but the difference in
Speaker 5: it is how they're characterize and categorize. I remember you
Speaker 5: said something to me in twenty eighteen, maybe even before that,
Speaker 5: probably was before we were even teammates, but I know
Speaker 5: for certain you said it to me at some point
Speaker 5: when we were teammates. I'm actually certain you said it
Speaker 5: multiple times, which is man were the same, We're the same.
Speaker 5: And they say you got passion, and they say I'm
Speaker 5: crazy and got an attitude. And I was like, I
Speaker 5: can appreciate your passion, and I've always told you that, like, no,
Speaker 5: I know your passion.
Speaker 3: I appreciate us. So it matters, like, don't really put
Speaker 3: me with.
Speaker 5: Somebody that it don't matter to because I don't want
Speaker 5: to be around somebody that it don't matter.
Speaker 3: But also when you said that, I was like, cause
Speaker 3: you fucking crazy. We ain't the same.
Speaker 5: And you said something to me that day and I
Speaker 5: was like, I didn't necessarily go back at you, but
Speaker 5: it was a thought provoking thing and I just kept
Speaker 5: it with me. And what you said was nah. But
Speaker 5: y'all been winning, so they say yours is passion. I
Speaker 5: haven't won much, so they say mine is an attitude
Speaker 5: and I can't be coach, and I'm crazy and this
Speaker 5: and that, and I said all of that to say,
Speaker 5: I'm sorry because you was right because all of a
Speaker 5: sudden we win it. And now I'm crazy.
Speaker 7: Right now, I ain't got this sense m now man,
Speaker 7: you America's and I'm just like, oh, this is fucking nuts.
Speaker 5: And when I was going through all of that stuff
Speaker 5: this year, the first person I thought about was actually you,
Speaker 5: because it took me back to that moment when you
Speaker 5: said that, and I said all of that to say
Speaker 5: to you, and coming through this league and being labeled.
Speaker 3: As a head case, as a coach cancer, that's this thing.
Speaker 5: That's that thing ultimately knowing like, no, bro, I care, right,
Speaker 5: how did you ultimately come to terms with that of like, no,
Speaker 5: I care? And I do have passion and all these things.
Speaker 5: But then y'all are trying to use it against me,
Speaker 5: make me out to be something I am not. But
Speaker 5: at the same time, this is how I play, this
Speaker 5: is how I'm great, this is these are the things
Speaker 5: that make me great. But then I gotta trying to
Speaker 5: find this balance because y'all trying to label me and
Speaker 5: say I'm a problem. How did you ultimately come to
Speaker 5: terms with that, grow through that or do you think
Speaker 5: you ever got through it.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: I never really have come to terms with it to
Speaker 1: go because you know, you get to a point where
Speaker 1: you just learn to control that you can control. And
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, in this lifetime, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be motherfuckers that hate you, it's gonna be motherfuckers
Speaker 1: that love you.
Speaker 3: That's just how this goes.
Speaker 1: Like no matter what you do, no matter how many
Speaker 1: things you do right, they gonna find something to hate
Speaker 1: about you doing you're doing it the right way. So
Speaker 1: that's just you know, the nature of life. But it
Speaker 1: was hard because the same you know, the same emotions,
Speaker 1: the same passion, the same you know that that wiel,
Speaker 1: the wind, that that that fire inside of it, the
Speaker 1: same thing that got you to this point and helped
Speaker 1: you be this world class athlete. It's like frowned upon
Speaker 1: and at the end of the day, like I think
Speaker 1: it's it's even deeper than that, Like everybody's not gonna
Speaker 1: like everybody. But at the end of the day, if
Speaker 1: you can come to understand the person, it's easy to accept.
Speaker 1: It's easier to accept and you know, I've thought about it.
Speaker 1: I brainstormed off. You know, I'm like, what is it like?
Speaker 1: And it just comes down to we don't relate, Like
Speaker 1: when you think about these front offices, you think about
Speaker 1: these people that run these organizations and even coaches, we
Speaker 1: don't relate. And the biggest thing we don't relate on
Speaker 1: is you don't know how to be a world class athlete.
Speaker 1: That part, you don't know what it takes. You don't
Speaker 1: know the hunger, you don't know, the drive, you don't
Speaker 1: know to fight, the sacrifice, like, the toughness, the mental toughness,
Speaker 1: the physical toughness.
Speaker 3: You don't know what it takes to be a professional athlete.
Speaker 1: But you have the power to critique and judge, which
Speaker 1: is mind blowing. And it even goes a little further
Speaker 1: than that outside of being a world class athlete. You know,
Speaker 1: you get these guys from all over the world from
Speaker 1: different backgrounds, different you know, environments, places, and you appreciate
Speaker 1: them for the athleticism and you don't really understand their
Speaker 1: process or what they go through to get to that
Speaker 1: point to become the athlete, and you know, the different
Speaker 1: things they went through life to get them to that point.
Speaker 3: You don't understand it, You don't even you probably don't
Speaker 3: even know.
Speaker 1: And I think that just falls back on you know,
Speaker 1: it's strictly about being an athlete, but it's so much
Speaker 1: more deeper to understanding these athletes and these different people
Speaker 1: that get overlooked.
Speaker 3: And honestly just kind of swept under the rug.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why it's gonna always be that
Speaker 1: that rough patch of where it's never going to really
Speaker 1: match up or be understanding. So have I have I
Speaker 1: gotten to the point, you know, where I've accepted it
Speaker 1: or no, but I've definitely let go speaking.
Speaker 3: Of accepting it. Uh, you just spoke about John number
Speaker 3: one pick mm hm.
Speaker 5: Three Washington Wizards of all times.
Speaker 3: If you want to argue with me about it, I'm
Speaker 3: not going to sit here and arguing five top five
Speaker 3: right right right tomorrow.
Speaker 5: He recently, he recently said, uh, like he just wants
Speaker 5: to help an NBA team, Like, I know, I still
Speaker 5: got something left to give to the game, and I
Speaker 5: just want to help an NBA team be back in
Speaker 5: the NBA and help him in any way that I can.
Speaker 5: If that's just mentoring the guy because of what I've
Speaker 5: been through. Whatever, he wants that you've said the opposite
Speaker 5: as of recent maybe like six seven months ago, if
Speaker 5: that long go, you said, I know my time in
Speaker 5: the NBA is done.
Speaker 3: I'm over chasing the dream. I'm moving on. What was
Speaker 3: the process like for you to get there?
Speaker 5: And is that you've continued to play some some basketball
Speaker 5: in places? Is that the still same sentiment that you
Speaker 5: share or that you share today about the game about
Speaker 5: the NBA as you did six seven months ago.
Speaker 1: I've actually gotten to the place where, you know, I
Speaker 1: found that joy again in playing ball, and you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like people can relate it. It's no different
Speaker 1: than you know, you're working your regular job, and initially
Speaker 1: you know you're working your way to getting that job.
Speaker 1: You loved it, you know, you were all about it.
Speaker 1: You were you know, I can't wait to work this job.
Speaker 1: You actually probably enjoyed going to it every day. And
Speaker 1: then you know, you get to a point where you
Speaker 1: know the job is overwhelming. It's kind of affecting your
Speaker 1: personal life's affecting life.
Speaker 3: At home, and you know, that's kind of what.
Speaker 1: The NBA became for me, and not necessarily that it
Speaker 1: was doing anything.
Speaker 3: Detrimental tours me.
Speaker 1: It was just more so the mental space I was
Speaker 1: in with you know, one accepting it to trying to
Speaker 1: understand like why am I at this place and why
Speaker 1: why I'm still trying to prove a point that I
Speaker 1: felt like I've you know, proven plenty of times. So
Speaker 1: for me, it was always about finding that joy again
Speaker 1: because I love the game of basketball, like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: play ball if I'm on the team or not, Like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to.
Speaker 3: The local gym and play I love who I really
Speaker 3: love the whop.
Speaker 1: So for me, it was finding that joy, you know,
Speaker 1: being a part of that team, chemistry, team camaraderie and
Speaker 1: just you know being at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: were artists like and when you're creating your art and
Speaker 1: you in that space where you can just you know, free.
Speaker 3: Flow and be yourself, be the best.
Speaker 1: Version of yourself, it's a great feeling, what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I've finally gotten back to that space and I'm
Speaker 1: just enjoying my art. You know, I'm in a place
Speaker 1: where and for me with moving forward when it comes
Speaker 1: to business, it's gonna always be a place where you know,
Speaker 1: I'm appreciating and not tolerated, and I don't want that
Speaker 1: feeling of being tolerated. So you know, that's kind of
Speaker 1: where I'm at with it. And for the most part,
Speaker 1: like I say, I'm not chasing that dream. And that's
Speaker 1: as far as me reaching out, like hey.
Speaker 3: Man, let me give me a chance. I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: Like now, if you guys find interest and it makes
Speaker 1: sense on both sides, then you know, that's something I'll consider.
Speaker 3: But as far as me reach out and just hearing
Speaker 3: the and that's the other thing.
Speaker 1: Like I'm the type of person like I ask questions
Speaker 1: or when I fuck up, I want to I want
Speaker 1: to know the truth because at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I'm the person that I don't have a problem looking
Speaker 1: in the mirror or you know, saying I was wrong
Speaker 1: or you know, self reflect Like I self reflect a lot,
Speaker 1: like what can I do better? But I feel like
Speaker 1: the only way you kind of know that is when
Speaker 1: they are honest with you, are honest with you, and
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, what was it that bothers you?
Speaker 3: What can I do to you know to change that?
Speaker 1: And you don't really quite get those type of answers
Speaker 1: in the NBA, you know, they throw a lot of
Speaker 1: sugar on shit in the NBA.
Speaker 3: Like that's just how it kind of goes.
Speaker 1: So you know, I can't really get a real answer,
Speaker 1: you know, And you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I want to play ball, I want to ride off
Speaker 1: in the sunset, and you know, I'm a dude. What
Speaker 1: makes me happy at the end of the day. So
Speaker 1: that's just kind of where I'm at. I think that's
Speaker 1: beautiful to find and love.
Speaker 5: I think, you know, that's something that we all go
Speaker 5: through no matter regardless of what the position is that
Speaker 5: you're in. By the way, if you're in it, at
Speaker 5: some point or another, you kind of lose that love
Speaker 5: and that lust for the game and then it's just
Speaker 5: like fuck, right, like I gotta go through this right,
Speaker 5: Like everything is like pulling teeth, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: So just to hear that you have that love again,
Speaker 5: I think I think personally that's amazing. So in speaking
Speaker 5: on just the love for finding all again when you
Speaker 5: look back on it through the whole process, whether it's
Speaker 5: the Kings, wanting to leave the Kings then not wanting
Speaker 5: to leave the Kings, or well, the one thing that
Speaker 5: I do know is that the entire time you always
Speaker 5: said like no, I love it here. I want to
Speaker 5: be here like a drafted here. I want to be here. Ultimately,
Speaker 5: you got traded, uh, which I can imagine it's tough
Speaker 5: for anyone. I've never had to deal with it, but
Speaker 5: I struggle with change as it is. So to get
Speaker 5: traded in the middle of a season, to me is
Speaker 5: terrifying but nonetheless needless to say. Whether it's King to
Speaker 5: the Pelicans, Pelicans going great, tear your achilles, then you
Speaker 5: ultimately signed to Warriors. When you look back through the journey,
Speaker 5: are there any regrets that you have about your career,
Speaker 5: about the way that it went, the way that it ended,
Speaker 5: Although it's not completely over yet, but do you look
Speaker 5: back on it and say, man, like I regret this,
Speaker 5: or I have any type of regrets about something, the
Speaker 5: way you handled something, just going through the journey.
Speaker 1: Bro, I'm not a person that lives with many regrets,
Speaker 1: but man, it's one thing I know for sure, I
Speaker 1: wish I would have did differently in my career. And
Speaker 1: it might not even it might not even be an
Speaker 1: answer you really are expected from me, But Bro, I was.
Speaker 1: It was a year in Sacramento and I was dealing
Speaker 1: with some family things back home.
Speaker 3: And you know, my.
Speaker 1: My brother, you know, kind of had a situation of
Speaker 1: his own, and it was this fucking reporter bro named
Speaker 1: Mandy Frillo, and this guy just he made a mission
Speaker 1: to make sure he gave me hit piece after hit
Speaker 1: piece where it was, you know, just kind of it
Speaker 1: was the campaign that kind of pushed me out of Sacramento.
Speaker 1: They had a little campaign on which was fine, but
Speaker 1: you know I would see the articles and you know,
Speaker 1: you know how we deal with me. It's like, I
Speaker 1: know what your angle lives with me, so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: deal with you according absolutely, So he finally made a
Speaker 1: piece and he started to slander my and he was
Speaker 1: it was to the point where he was kind of
Speaker 1: running out of a tea to say about me.
Speaker 3: So then he just kind of switched lands and now he.
Speaker 1: Was speaking on a family member. And you know, I'm
Speaker 1: super sensitive about my family. It's not a lot of
Speaker 1: things that bothered me more than when you bother my family.
Speaker 1: And for me, you know, with me doing my job
Speaker 1: and me being in this profession, you know, talk your ship,
Speaker 1: say whatever you got to say about me, but don't
Speaker 1: bother my family, you know what I mean. So he
Speaker 1: mentioned my brother and it was something and I didn't
Speaker 1: appreciate it. So at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of pressed the line, like, you know, keep
Speaker 1: my fucking family out of your mouth. And it was never
Speaker 1: to the point where I wanted to take it further
Speaker 1: than it needed to, but I definitely wanted to get
Speaker 1: my point across. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: looking back on it, when I was raised better too,
Speaker 1: you know, I was raised to respect my elders like,
Speaker 1: so I definitely pressed that. Oh man, a little too hard. Bro,
Speaker 1: So for me, Bro, that was probably done. I'm just like, man,
Speaker 1: come on, and I'm not a guy that like I
Speaker 1: hate bullies, like you know, I experienced it growing up,
Speaker 1: Like that's part of the reason I you know, that
Speaker 1: the demeanor came about because I grew up in the
Speaker 1: environment like you're gonna need to eat to be eating,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So that's kind of where
Speaker 1: the demeanor comes from. But I never believed in buget bullies.
Speaker 1: So you know, I look back on that moment and
Speaker 1: I'm like, Bro, you were wrong for that, like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But outside of that, nah, like
Speaker 1: coming from where I'm from, like knowing what I've been through.
Speaker 1: I never in a million years as a young and
Speaker 1: thought my life would play out the way it did.
Speaker 1: I've lived an unbelievable life, and I say that going
Speaker 1: through the good and the bad. Like you know, I
Speaker 1: look at some of my peers and look at you know,
Speaker 1: people I grew up with in my environment, and you
Speaker 1: know it's people that never even believe their neighborhood, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I've been all over the world.
Speaker 1: I've experienced different cultures, I've seen different things. I've met
Speaker 1: you know, plenty of you know, amazing people. So I
Speaker 1: could never sit here and say, you know, I lived
Speaker 1: with regret.
Speaker 3: But you know, like I.
Speaker 1: Said earlier, I definitely self reflect and I have no
Speaker 1: problem admitting, you know, when I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: You came to the Warriors on in one year.
Speaker 5: I think at the time maybe it was like five
Speaker 5: point eight million dollar deal. H The news on the
Speaker 5: street was that you turned down two for forty from
Speaker 5: New Orleans.
Speaker 3: A is the two for forty true.
Speaker 5: When you look back on the decision also to come
Speaker 5: to the Warriors, uh, as a sains today, how do
Speaker 5: you feel about that decision as well?
Speaker 3: So? One, no, that's not true. Uh, Dale Demp's kick rocks.
Speaker 1: But so when I when I blew my achilles, it
Speaker 1: was a little bit right before All Start Breaking that
Speaker 1: year I was voted All Start Started. That was my
Speaker 1: first time like a lot of things going my way.
Speaker 1: So I was going pace to getting a max contract,
Speaker 1: like full max contract, and I think it might have
Speaker 1: been like one seventy five at the time, something like that.
Speaker 3: So you know that was that was understood. Yeah, any
Speaker 3: right there.
Speaker 1: So when the Achilles injury happened, you know, I went
Speaker 1: out to LA, had the surgery, and then at that
Speaker 1: point I just kind of separated from the team. And
Speaker 1: you know, having an injury of that magnitude and can
Speaker 1: Loki kind of be a distraction even be around me
Speaker 1: being a vital part of that team, like you know,
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 3: It was a blow to the team.
Speaker 1: So my my thing was, you know, let me kind
Speaker 1: of remove so those guys to stay locked in for
Speaker 1: the rest of the season.
Speaker 3: So I went out to LA, you know, went through
Speaker 3: my process of healing.
Speaker 1: Then maybe a week into after my surgery, you know,
Speaker 1: Dale Dems reached out and the Pelicans actually were coming
Speaker 1: out that way. They had a road trip between LA
Speaker 1: the to La team Okay, okay.
Speaker 3: Road trip.
Speaker 1: So anyway, you know, he came through, he came to
Speaker 1: visit me, and initially with the visit, you know, it
Speaker 1: was to come check on me, like I said. This
Speaker 1: was a week later, so I'm just thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: he coming to check on me, holler or whatever.
Speaker 3: Whatever.
Speaker 1: So he's probably there maybe ten minutes. In the midst
Speaker 1: of that, you know, he starts talking contracts. I don't
Speaker 1: have an agent around anything like that. It's just me,
Speaker 1: you know, my day to day manager. I had a
Speaker 1: couple of doctors with me, you know, going through my process.
Speaker 1: So he's talking to me, starts mentioning the contract and
Speaker 1: you know how this goes, we don't We don't negotiate.
Speaker 1: That's what our agents are for. That's not my job.
Speaker 1: So once he started, you know, kind of talking about it,
Speaker 1: and he never mentioned numbers or anything. He he just
Speaker 1: kind of started the conversation of you know, so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know your value has dropped.
Speaker 3: Since the injury or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I kind of look at him and I'm kind
Speaker 1: of like in shock, like you even really having this
Speaker 1: conversation while I'm sitting here like this, Like so I
Speaker 1: kind of got a little frustrated, and I'm like, you
Speaker 1: know what, like I don't I'm not really in the
Speaker 1: space like to do this.
Speaker 3: So you know, we finished the evening, we go our
Speaker 3: separate ways.
Speaker 1: So before he left, you you know, I was like,
Speaker 1: I'd rather not I'd rather not speak again until you know,
Speaker 1: to start a free agency, like because I wasn't appreciative
Speaker 1: of that moment, and I let it be known to
Speaker 1: my agent as well, and I was like, if it's
Speaker 1: anything that really needs to be saying, you just you
Speaker 1: know how my agent Like, so I didn't hear from
Speaker 1: dal Demp's until the start off free agency, and.
Speaker 3: You know, we kind of had our com I talked to.
Speaker 1: A few teams you know, that day, and you know
Speaker 1: which don't really they don't matter now. But with Dale Demps,
Speaker 1: you know, he took offense to me not wanting to speak.
Speaker 1: So then it was, you know, the conversation was we
Speaker 1: don't want you back. You were difficult to deal with.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right, you know, I'm like damn,
Speaker 1: Like in my head, I'm like damn, Like you don't
Speaker 1: even want me back, like, you know, so get on
Speaker 1: the phone my age and I'm like this motherfucker just
Speaker 1: told me didn't want me back.
Speaker 3: So now I'm kind of like lost.
Speaker 1: Because going into this whole thing, I'm like, I know
Speaker 1: absolutely just we weren't a playoff team the year before.
Speaker 3: We're now a playoff team. We had a lot of
Speaker 3: success in a short time, so I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, I know they're gonna try to keep this team
Speaker 1: yet brough Rondo in, we had Drew Holliday, so we
Speaker 1: had a night.
Speaker 3: We had a really good.
Speaker 1: Court and so my whole mindset was like, I know
Speaker 1: how to get figured out whatever it is. So you know,
Speaker 1: once I heard the words, you know, we don't want
Speaker 1: you back at all, you know, my mind kind of
Speaker 1: shift and it's just like damn, like.
Speaker 3: You know what am I doing now? So now I
Speaker 3: know like.
Speaker 1: I'm not I know, I'm not getting a max because
Speaker 1: the team that can pay it to me doesn't even
Speaker 1: want me. And I think for the most part throughout
Speaker 1: the league it was kind of figured that I would
Speaker 1: be back with New Orleans m hm. So you know,
Speaker 1: we kind of had that conversation and then I'm not
Speaker 1: really sure at the timeline, but they ended up signing
Speaker 1: Julius Random. So for me, I'm like well, you know,
Speaker 1: there's my money, like, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: they obviously they really moved on. So you know, at
Speaker 1: this point, I'm like, damn this, you know, this is
Speaker 1: a fucking up situation. But you know, I know the
Speaker 1: reality of my situation, which is I have a bone achilles.
Speaker 1: I probably won't be back next year. It's just a
Speaker 1: difficult time. So you know, I get on the phone
Speaker 1: with my agent and we kind of figure out a
Speaker 1: game plan that's to you know, how can I maneuver
Speaker 1: through this and still find a way to be successful.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: You know, he kind of mentioned the Warriors, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: that would make sense. You know, I can rehab, you know,
Speaker 1: I can come in you know, want I'm healthy and
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of help the team move forward
Speaker 1: and I can still remain with some type of value,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and then I could go
Speaker 1: on and you know, continue my career. So that was
Speaker 1: kind of the game plan, and that's how it was
Speaker 1: introduced to me, and you know that's more so how
Speaker 1: it played out. But to answer that question, you know,
Speaker 1: I took a lot of scrutiny for you know, that
Speaker 1: so called deal that was offered to me. But like
Speaker 1: I said, we never had a conversation about a deal
Speaker 1: in general, like no numbers, no years, anything was offered.
Speaker 1: So I don't to this day know where that you
Speaker 1: know rumor came from.
Speaker 3: Man, I think I still remember getting that call.
Speaker 5: I was sitting in sancturated degrees on vacation at dinner
Speaker 5: with my wife is having dinner on the cliff looking over.
Speaker 3: The water and Bob and Bob called me.
Speaker 5: And Bob was like, yo, He's like in a panic,
Speaker 5: almost like hyper vented, like yo, yo, Like it's crazy,
Speaker 5: what's going on back here? I know you on vacation, right,
Speaker 5: but I think we can get to Marcus Cousin.
Speaker 3: What you think?
Speaker 5: And I'm like, Bob, what like talking about He's like,
Speaker 5: I think we can get to Marcus Cousin.
Speaker 3: All right, He's like, what do you think? How you
Speaker 3: feel about that?
Speaker 5: Like when I talked to him, he seems like he
Speaker 5: is but he needed to talk to you and Steph
Speaker 5: and he really needs to talk to you because I
Speaker 5: guess y'all got into it or something.
Speaker 3: And I said, number one, Bob, that's no issue, no
Speaker 3: issue a.
Speaker 5: Number two, Bob, if you can get to Marcus Cousins
Speaker 5: you fucking get the Marcus Cousins. I don't care who
Speaker 5: may feel a warring. You get DeMarcus Cousins. You get
Speaker 5: the Marcus Cousins. And I remember that whole thing playing out,
Speaker 5: and you ended up on the team. Do your rehab.
Speaker 5: You came back first game back, dunk on Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 5: when when so, now you're rehabbing from an achilles injury,
Speaker 5: I'd imagine not really feeling like yourself when you come back.
Speaker 3: Then you dunk on cous right away.
Speaker 5: You had that play, which is like, oh, that's that's like,
Speaker 5: that's prom de Marcus in the moment when that play happens,
Speaker 5: and you like like at that moment, do you feel like, oh,
Speaker 5: I'm back, I'm good Or was that just one hurdle
Speaker 5: that you had to jump over coming back from me?
Speaker 1: I would say it was a hurdle I had to
Speaker 1: jump over, and you know it was it was a
Speaker 1: lot for me, even you know, coming back in the system.
Speaker 1: You know, and it's like in that offense, like it's
Speaker 1: people think it's just so free flowing, but it takes
Speaker 1: a lot of IQ to play that, and in your
Speaker 1: IQ never turns off. It's not just an athletic type system.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of thinking in between, so learning that
Speaker 1: on the fly, learning how to play off you know,
Speaker 1: the tendencies and stuff.
Speaker 3: The tendencies are clay. And then ultimately you know.
Speaker 1: K at the time and then even you because we
Speaker 1: did a lot of similar things.
Speaker 3: But you know, it was it was me trying to
Speaker 3: find my way into a well ORed machine but also
Speaker 3: continue to let it run, you know, properly.
Speaker 1: So it was a lot of difficult you know times
Speaker 1: where I you know, sometimes I felt out of place,
Speaker 1: you know, the rhythm was off, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: figure out my own personal game within the offense. So
Speaker 1: it was it was a lot of things against me.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, you know, just having
Speaker 1: confidence in my movements, like you know, doing things that
Speaker 1: I was used to doing. But you know, my mind,
Speaker 1: my mind is telling me like, yeah, you can still
Speaker 1: do it, but my body not on the same thing.
Speaker 1: So it was very difficult. But I had a you know,
Speaker 1: credit to you guys, and I had a really good
Speaker 1: group around me. You guys you know, really embraced me.
Speaker 1: You guys worked with me. You allowed me to you know,
Speaker 1: you know, find my way within it and you know,
Speaker 1: eventually we had we had it was rolling like bro.
Speaker 1: So you know, we kind of finally found our rhythm.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody you know, figured out their their place
Speaker 1: within the team and you know, and everybody was finding
Speaker 1: success at the same time. And you know, obviously we
Speaker 1: ran into another injury. So but like I said, credit
Speaker 1: to you guys, because y'all really made that you know,
Speaker 1: that situation.
Speaker 3: Work for no doubt, no doubt it was and it
Speaker 3: was amazing.
Speaker 5: Uh, switching gears before I let you go, You've been
Speaker 5: very right a lot more of all in the media space.
Speaker 5: I think you're do an incredible job. Obviously, we all
Speaker 5: know you're never gonna mens your words. You are going
Speaker 5: to say exactly what you think and feel. It's going
Speaker 5: to be authentic, it's going to be real. And that
Speaker 5: I can appreciate because that's how I try to go
Speaker 5: about the business. But then getting into the media space, Uh,
Speaker 5: and you just spoke, you just said something that's very interesting.
Speaker 5: You said, you know how we deal with the media
Speaker 5: like and now to be on that side in a sense,
Speaker 5: it's ultimately like media is something that you want to
Speaker 5: do post career. It's kind of something you're doing right now?
Speaker 5: Where do you see that thing moving for you?
Speaker 3: It's definitely a lane I want to be in.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel I'm a person with a lot
Speaker 1: of knowledge with this game, a lot of experiences. I'm
Speaker 1: a person that, you know, relied on thinking the game,
Speaker 1: so I kind of view the game in a different
Speaker 1: way than you know guys that more so rely on athleticism.
Speaker 1: So I just and then on top of it, I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm a guy that can kind of help
Speaker 1: people relate with understanding both sides, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, for me, it was when
Speaker 1: we came into the league. You know, I came in
Speaker 1: twenty ten, and it was kind of a league where
Speaker 1: you know, you had to just shut up and play
Speaker 1: like regardless of what was said, if it's true or not.
Speaker 1: You know, part of being professional back then was, you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of taking it on the chin. And you
Speaker 1: know a lot of information to be spread about you
Speaker 1: or rumor be said about you, and it could have
Speaker 1: simply been because you didn't take that one on one
Speaker 1: with a medium member. They take it personal, they have
Speaker 1: a bias towards you, or they feel like you're an
Speaker 1: asshole and then not a narrative begin is to shift,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So for me, that's part
Speaker 1: of the reason I kind of got into this lane.
Speaker 3: One.
Speaker 1: I can tell my own story. I can tell you
Speaker 1: exactly who I am, you can hear directly from the
Speaker 1: horse's mouth. And on top of that, you know, I
Speaker 1: want to speak on this game from you know, my perspective,
Speaker 1: my point of view, and I also want to be
Speaker 1: able to critique it in a way.
Speaker 3: Where I'm honest, I'm real in my answers.
Speaker 1: But you know, when it comes to these athletes hearing
Speaker 1: you know my response, it'll never be where I want
Speaker 1: them to feel like.
Speaker 3: I don't think the markets likes me. No, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: just speak my truth.
Speaker 1: Ay, bro, you play like ship or whatever the case
Speaker 1: may be, and I see you in person and this
Speaker 1: you know, I got a lot of respect for you,
Speaker 1: and you know I wish you the best. So that's
Speaker 1: more so how I kind of want to go about
Speaker 1: it when it when it comes to you know, just
Speaker 1: you know, explaining this game and giving the people what
Speaker 1: they want as far as the insight of the game
Speaker 1: on both sides.
Speaker 3: So you know, that's just kind of where I'm at
Speaker 3: with it.
Speaker 5: No, I think, like I said, I enjoy watching you.
Speaker 5: I think you've done an incredible job. And like Ship,
Speaker 5: I keep telling people, there's room for everybody in the
Speaker 5: space because one thing is about it, like what's your niche?
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Like my niche ain't going
Speaker 3: to be your niche not going to be my niche.
Speaker 5: Because of that, then there's space for both of us
Speaker 5: because I can stay in my lane, you can stand
Speaker 5: in yours. And so I really enjoy you doing that.
Speaker 5: You ultimately decided to go over overseason play. You've been
Speaker 5: trying to You've been in Taiwan. Uh what what did
Speaker 5: it take you to reach there? To ultimately get to
Speaker 5: that decision? I know you know a lot of us
Speaker 5: struggle with that. You know a lot of us like
Speaker 5: fight it. Some guys never do it. Leave a ton
Speaker 5: of money on the table doing it. What ultimately, what
Speaker 5: wasn't for you that gave you that final push?
Speaker 3: Like fuck it, I'm going to do it, like and
Speaker 3: that's just what it is. It's pretty simple. I had
Speaker 3: that itch. I'm like, bro, I want to hoot, like
Speaker 3: you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You know, you get so stuck on trying to you know,
Speaker 1: get back to the league or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: I come to find out I'm in the gym seven
Speaker 1: days a week, trying to play five and five basketball,
Speaker 1: and I'm telling myself, like, dude, just go play basketball.
Speaker 1: Like figure out a situation that's you know, convenient for you.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't as simple as you know, I just
Speaker 1: want to go play basketball so I can just up
Speaker 1: and lead because obviously I have a family, you know,
Speaker 1: I have my at home situation, so it's not as easy.
Speaker 1: So I definitely had to find convenience in that factor.
Speaker 1: But you know, ultimately we figured it out, and you know,
Speaker 1: I was able to go, you know, scratch that itch. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, I very much still love the game.
Speaker 1: I'm very much still committed to it. I trained weekly,
Speaker 1: like I trained like I'm still in the NBA, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So that's how committed I am
Speaker 1: to this game. And you know, until that you know
Speaker 1: that it is going on, I'm gonna continue to play
Speaker 1: this game.
Speaker 5: God, I can appreciate it because I've always I mean
Speaker 5: I think now I could because I've just traveled so
Speaker 5: much and I have a different appreciation for Europe and
Speaker 5: age and all these different things. But it takes so
Speaker 5: much to a swallow your pride, b.
Speaker 3: Like make that sacrifice, like going all the way over there.
Speaker 5: You can't really talk to people back at home because
Speaker 5: of the time difference. When you do, they're going to
Speaker 5: better you going to bed, and the list goes on
Speaker 5: and on and on and so for me, I have
Speaker 5: the utmost respect for guys that can go overseas and
Speaker 5: play and actually do that, and even more respect for
Speaker 5: the guys who experience the NBA, especially at a high
Speaker 5: level like you have the highest level and just can't
Speaker 5: quite you know, like I just can't quite get it.
Speaker 5: And so I can appreciate that, appreciate you, bro. So man,
Speaker 5: I've appreciated this conversation, as you know, the love that
Speaker 5: I have for you absolutely here. Will we see you
Speaker 5: try to make another run at the NBA or are
Speaker 5: you just going to continue to scratch ther ish to
Speaker 5: you done and say you know what, I'm done with that.
Speaker 3: I've done that. I don't want to quite chase that
Speaker 3: no more. And the reason I asked that is this.
Speaker 5: I actually think I was so happy when you said, like,
Speaker 5: you know, I'm done chasing that, And the reason I
Speaker 5: was happy is because.
Speaker 3: You great man, like I had to guard you like great.
Speaker 5: I still never forget to play where I was talking
Speaker 5: shit to you, you put your chess and your shoulder into
Speaker 5: my chest. I went into the stand and he was
Speaker 5: about to dunk on me and bo get blocked the shot.
Speaker 5: I was so happy. It was no coming back from
Speaker 5: that play for me. I was so happy.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, there was no coming back. I was
Speaker 3: so happy.
Speaker 5: But one thing I think happens, it's like people then
Speaker 5: try to lessen what you've done and they do it
Speaker 5: to you. I watched them do it to Mellow when
Speaker 5: Mellow was like nah, like I still want to play,
Speaker 5: and like trying to get back in the league, and
Speaker 5: then he even ended up.
Speaker 3: Getting back in the league.
Speaker 5: But it's like, oh, it's almost like people feel like, oh,
Speaker 5: here's my chance to treat you how I want to
Speaker 5: treat you. You know what I'm saying is that it's
Speaker 5: that door still shut for you where you're like, nah,
Speaker 5: I'm good on the NBA. Like if I want to
Speaker 5: play basketball, I'll still play basketball.
Speaker 3: But that thing for me is done.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm I'm definitely at the place where
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm gonna scratch my age. But as
Speaker 1: far as chasing it, I'm done chasing. If it's a
Speaker 1: situation that's you know, that makes sense, it's it's some
Speaker 1: insurance behind any things of our nature, and absolutely I
Speaker 1: would consider. But like I said, as far as chasing
Speaker 1: or begging and kissing ass, that's not happening.
Speaker 3: It's not happen my dog. I appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Bro, that's a rock. This episode of the show, we
Speaker 5: thank you, brother Bertie. Absolutely, Resort World. We appreciate you.
Speaker 5: It's a rock.
Speaker 3: Peace