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Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Draymond Green Show. We are actually
Speaker 1: live here at Chase Center. We're not live, but we're
Speaker 1: You're at Chase Center in the Bridge Club, as you
Speaker 1: can see with the three championship trophies in the bat
Speaker 1: and I personally wanted this location for this shoot because
Speaker 1: of today's guests, which I am thrill and excited as
Speaker 1: hell to have. Um. I've been they They've told me
Speaker 1: to stop cursing. I'm excited as fuck about having Steph
Speaker 1: Curry today. UM, but let me introduce him the right way,
Speaker 1: because I can't just come on here and act like
Speaker 1: you know, this is my man's I don't have to
Speaker 1: do the proper introduction, So that goes to laundry list.
Speaker 1: Three time NBA champ. Well, let's rewind a little bit
Speaker 1: because this is actually gonna be a topic. Seventh overall
Speaker 1: pick in the two thousand nine draft, drafted right after
Speaker 1: Minnesota picked Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn. Note that we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that later. Three time NBA Champ, two time MVP,
Speaker 1: eight time All Star, four time first team All n
Speaker 1: b A, two times second team All NBA, one time
Speaker 1: third team All NBA, two time NBA Scoring chap most
Speaker 1: may threes all time three thousand, one hundred and seventeen
Speaker 1: threes in counting most threes in the season four and two,
Speaker 1: it's probably most. And I've had a Micha. Remember, we'll
Speaker 1: talk about that another time. And then the last one
Speaker 1: is irrelevant. We're not only able to talk about that. Steph,
Speaker 1: what's uping, my brother? Welcome to the show. It's so
Speaker 1: we're hearing that from you. I appreciate it absolutely. Um,
Speaker 1: I mean in starters, since since we are discussing that,
Speaker 1: you're drafted by the with the seventh pick by the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors. Rumor has it that you never wanted
Speaker 1: to play for the Golden State Warriors. K, can you
Speaker 1: help me understand that? Yes? Uh, taking me back. So, like,
Speaker 1: the draft is always weird, just because you have a
Speaker 1: plan or you think you know where the best fit is,
Speaker 1: and especially when you know in a lottery kind of situation,
Speaker 1: you kind of know who you're kind of saw it
Speaker 1: against from other there are kind parts of the same position.
Speaker 1: I always want to go to New York. That was it,
Speaker 1: Like I was trying to find my way there. Mike
Speaker 1: D'Antoni was there. Uh, Danil Gallinari are future past but
Speaker 1: future at the time, teammate David Lee. Like it was
Speaker 1: supposed to be like the running gun type Phoenix two
Speaker 1: point oh offense and I was supposed to be a
Speaker 1: point guard there and they kind of sold me on
Speaker 1: that dream. But they had the eighth pick, so I
Speaker 1: wanted to go there. I didn't work out for a
Speaker 1: Golden State. I didn't come out here before the draft.
Speaker 1: I talked to Larry Ry, the then GM in Chicago
Speaker 1: at the pre draft combound for dinner once, talk Don
Speaker 1: Nelson once and that was that was really it. Um
Speaker 1: I think in Minnesota, like they had the five and
Speaker 1: six picks. So I was like, all right, if I
Speaker 1: just get past five and six, cool, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: in New York. It's gonna be dope. And everything that
Speaker 1: I imaged an NBA to be in the fit was
Speaker 1: gonna be there. And then uh, Larry Riley and Don
Speaker 1: Nelson had the plan. Seventh pick came around. Uh oh
Speaker 1: my name. I had like mixed emotions because I know
Speaker 1: his dream country to draft it don't matter where it is.
Speaker 1: But I was like, that was not on my radar.
Speaker 1: Always that careful what you wished for, and you know,
Speaker 1: I got a plan. So uh, thirteen years later, I'm
Speaker 1: still out here here, you know. You know what's what's
Speaker 1: what's crazy about that is um when I when I
Speaker 1: was going through the draft process, I'm as you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a very deep thing. I'd be. I spent my
Speaker 1: pre draft in the East last so driving to the
Speaker 1: airport when I'm headed off for a workout, which I
Speaker 1: know y'all cast a little lot of reflecting there. I
Speaker 1: don't don't act like no, I don't say when I
Speaker 1: got the envelope to go to the green room. Don't
Speaker 1: not for one second. Thing that wasn't a low key shot.
Speaker 1: That was definitely a shot. But I'll take that on
Speaker 1: the chain. Um. But I'm driving back and forth to
Speaker 1: the to the airport from east Lands and to the
Speaker 1: Y and I had twenty work ups, so it wasn't
Speaker 1: like I made this drive twice. I made it drive
Speaker 1: probably thirteen times. And I'm riding and I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: the whole process. And as I'm riding, I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker 1: like where all the places I would go? And like
Speaker 1: I've told the story before, I had a promise from Indiana.
Speaker 1: I had a promise like if I was still there,
Speaker 1: Memphis would take me, Miami would take me. All these
Speaker 1: teams that told me if I was still there, they
Speaker 1: would take me. None of them did. But I'm driving
Speaker 1: and them thinking to myself, like where am I going
Speaker 1: to end up? And I kid you not. I thought
Speaker 1: to myself one day like I don't know where I'm
Speaker 1: gonna end up, but I do know. And I literally
Speaker 1: had this thought, but I do know. I just won't
Speaker 1: end up in the state of California. And I'm not
Speaker 1: sure why I had that thought. It wasn't even about
Speaker 1: the pick number. It wasn't the pick number. It wasn't
Speaker 1: the Lakers, the Kings, the Warriors, the clip, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It was just I don't think I'm going to end
Speaker 1: up in the state of California. For me, that was
Speaker 1: a big deal. I had never lived outside of the
Speaker 1: state of Michigan, so that was a big deal for me.
Speaker 1: But I just never thought I would end up here.
Speaker 1: So to hear that you didn't want to come here,
Speaker 1: I just can't say that I didn't necessarily want to
Speaker 1: come here. I didn't have that choice or wherever I
Speaker 1: was gonna go, I needed to go straight up, But
Speaker 1: I had no idea that I went end up out here.
Speaker 1: And like you said, thirteen years later, ten years later,
Speaker 1: I'm still sitting there for real. And like you grew
Speaker 1: up in Michigan, North Carolina, like I came to l
Speaker 1: A once or twice and never been to the Bay
Speaker 1: up until my junior or college. I played my last
Speaker 1: game here at St. Mary's against Patty Mills and um
Speaker 1: the St. Mary Gaels. That was the first time I
Speaker 1: ever been here. We stayed at the Walnut Creek Marriott.
Speaker 1: I used to like live like eight minutes from there.
Speaker 1: It's so weird just thinking about how where somebody someplace
Speaker 1: becomes your home just out of out of nowhere, I
Speaker 1: kind of unexpected and start to, uh to build an
Speaker 1: identity out here. So it's pretty dope. What what did
Speaker 1: you make of Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynning getting drafted
Speaker 1: right before you? Did you think there was any chance, um,
Speaker 1: that Minnesota would draft him before you? Uh? No, No,
Speaker 1: was there any chance that Minnesota would draft you? Didn't.
Speaker 1: That's what I was thinking. More so, like, because I've
Speaker 1: done my pre draft workouts with pretty much all the
Speaker 1: point guards. At some point Rubio he didn't come over,
Speaker 1: so I didn't work out with him, but like Johnny Flynn, Tyreek, Uh,
Speaker 1: Terry Evans, um, ty Lawson through Holiday Uh, Eric Bayner, Uh,
Speaker 1: I'm missing one. It's gonna kill me, um, Brandon Jennings.
Speaker 1: So like I've worked out with all of them, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I I know, you know, from shooting perspective,
Speaker 1: obviously I got it, but I have a lot to offer,
Speaker 1: and you know I should be at the top of
Speaker 1: that PG list. Um. Obviously James went three, Tyrek went four,
Speaker 1: and at that point, like, okay, Washington had just traded
Speaker 1: their pick to d C and Starry Washington trade there
Speaker 1: picked to Minnesota, so they have five and six. I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's a good chance, like they're gonna pick me. But
Speaker 1: but if I get past that, New York had already
Speaker 1: made that promise Gold State what ain't on the radar,
Speaker 1: but definitely when they took two point guards, just sitting
Speaker 1: in the ground, like all right, that's weird, like what's
Speaker 1: the plan there? And why am I still sitting here?
Speaker 1: But obviously only have about eight minutes to think about
Speaker 1: that and then I was next, So it's just different. Uh.
Speaker 1: I always laughed too, because there was like this kind
Speaker 1: this article that came out, but David Conny was the
Speaker 1: GM at the time, and like, obviously it's revisionist history.
Speaker 1: Is like my fourth, the fifth year in the league,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, why didn't Minnesota pick me over? You
Speaker 1: know those two guys when they took two point guards?
Speaker 1: And the line was like, oh, he knew how much
Speaker 1: I like golf and Minnesota's two cold, so I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been happy there as a basketball player, knowing I
Speaker 1: couldn't play golf throughout the year. I said, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a that's a certified reach. We should play the
Speaker 1: game that Chuck plays on T n T. Where is
Speaker 1: he not? Because wherever he is now, that's where he belongs.
Speaker 1: It's not an n b A. Wherever he is now,
Speaker 1: that's exactly where he belongs. But so the whole draft
Speaker 1: process happens, and so far all the listeners out there,
Speaker 1: what you have to understand is every guy two things here.
Speaker 1: Every guy in the league has a guy that destroys
Speaker 1: you every time you play him, and he's not like
Speaker 1: one of those guys. And then I think everyone also
Speaker 1: has like a guy who at some point in your
Speaker 1: career or another, that guy was in front to you
Speaker 1: and you look then you we all look at it
Speaker 1: as like even during that moment, you're looking at it
Speaker 1: like this dude isn't better than like, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: why this guy is playing with me. The world then
Speaker 1: gets to see that as time plays out, like and
Speaker 1: there's one guy that was in front of you, how
Speaker 1: did an incredible college career, not so much NBA career,
Speaker 1: But there was one guy that was in front of
Speaker 1: you that you did not play for in front of
Speaker 1: your rookie year, and you talk to us about who
Speaker 1: that guy is and how that drove you too want
Speaker 1: to destroy him and ultimately probably moved to my the NBA.
Speaker 1: What that's a whole another story. You know exactly who
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, who you're talking about. He see Law
Speaker 1: I'm about to say law so, but he's like, there's
Speaker 1: a thing between college basketball and the league, like we
Speaker 1: all know, like you said, it's it's just fit. Timing
Speaker 1: is just opportunity, is matchups, that's all that type of stuff.
Speaker 1: My second in the league, like a C. Law was, uh,
Speaker 1: the point guard was in practice? Is going against him?
Speaker 1: Like he was nice and he had his like such
Speaker 1: a unique game. I can never really figure out. Um.
Speaker 1: But I was trying to come into my own as
Speaker 1: a player, and you know, he was getting autaments, he
Speaker 1: was closing out fourth quarters. And I always say, like
Speaker 1: the league is funny just because confidence is everything, opportunities everything,
Speaker 1: and what you do when you get that opportunity can
Speaker 1: dictate you know, your future. And um, and it's also
Speaker 1: about patients, that's the fact. And that's sometimes hard to
Speaker 1: really go through that process and you don't ever want
Speaker 1: to hear when you're right in the middle of it.
Speaker 1: But I went through my second year like I was
Speaker 1: getting benched in the fourth quarter, A C Law was
Speaker 1: playing key smart with our coach, and like, honestly, I
Speaker 1: learned a lot, but it was tough build to swallow. Um,
Speaker 1: but it also motivated me and drove me. And then
Speaker 1: when I did get that opportunity be like, I am
Speaker 1: that guy that can compete at the highest level in
Speaker 1: this league and close out games, can be a dude
Speaker 1: you can trust in those moments and all that type
Speaker 1: of stuff. Uh yeah, A C is definitely the name
Speaker 1: that kind of embodies that moment for good at for worse,
Speaker 1: And that's part of the process. Like you said, it's
Speaker 1: not disrespecting him. It's just like that dude that was
Speaker 1: in front of you in terms of your opportunity and um.
Speaker 1: And to his credit, he was a great vet in
Speaker 1: terms that he was helping me throughout that process, but
Speaker 1: he knew like I was kind of in my place.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like a little bit of sweet
Speaker 1: only a matter of time. And by the way he
Speaker 1: answered that probably as nice as he can go for
Speaker 1: y'all stuff. So us you know, it's fine, but so
Speaker 1: you go through it also smartly with I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you live and I'm not going to hit you with
Speaker 1: the David conline for not playing stuff. I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you live because we gotta love up for you. Smart.
Speaker 1: We're gonna let you live and we won't hit you
Speaker 1: with that. So you didn't go through that, and that's
Speaker 1: your first couple of years. You also dealt with quite
Speaker 1: a few ankle injuries. Walk me through that process and
Speaker 1: and how what I mean. I remember when I first
Speaker 1: got here, the narrative was the ankles. Does the Warriors
Speaker 1: offer you an extension? Do they not? I remember my
Speaker 1: first time ever meeting you was you're on the court,
Speaker 1: and the entire front office staff, the entire ownership group,
Speaker 1: everybody's sitting there watching you do individual workout as if
Speaker 1: he was about to get drafted in a couple of days.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it, but they're literally debating on this
Speaker 1: workout whether they're going to give you an extension. Not
Speaker 1: walk me through that process of going through the ankle injuries,
Speaker 1: having to bounce back from that, not knowing what's next,
Speaker 1: if they're going to resign you if not. Just walk
Speaker 1: me through that process. I never play with injuries my
Speaker 1: entire basketball career from middle school, high school, college, Like uh,
Speaker 1: I had a pretty clean track record on that front.
Speaker 1: So even my rookie year. I played seven or eighty
Speaker 1: games in my rookie year and played like a lot
Speaker 1: of men especial last three or four months, and never
Speaker 1: had real nagging injuries, especially my ankles. So when it
Speaker 1: started to happen my second year, like, it's frustrating because
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously in pain, you rehab in and out
Speaker 1: the line up, and then it just kept happening, and
Speaker 1: then it just kept happening, and then it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't even have to step on nobody's foot or
Speaker 1: being I could just be changing direction on the court
Speaker 1: and running transition to join the flip. So it was
Speaker 1: scary because I didn't have any control of the situation.
Speaker 1: It's it was like I no matter how much I
Speaker 1: prepared my body for like how I knew how to
Speaker 1: prepare my body at the time, nothing was working. But
Speaker 1: I also knew like I was getting better on the
Speaker 1: court when I had an opportunity to play, and all
Speaker 1: I wanted to do was give myself a chance to
Speaker 1: prove myself. And you have to be available and healthy
Speaker 1: to be able to do that. So that last I said.
Speaker 1: For two years, like off and on, I had two surgeries, um,
Speaker 1: extensive rehabs, missed like thirty games during my third year,
Speaker 1: the lockout year. And to your point, like your future
Speaker 1: is kind of hanging in the balance of your health because, uh,
Speaker 1: you've got surgeries on your resume. Nobody like that. Uh,
Speaker 1: you've got chronic like injuries that aren't really freak accidents.
Speaker 1: Is like I could be just doing normal basketball moves
Speaker 1: and my ankle will flip. Then you got the mental
Speaker 1: exhaustion of like just going through that process over and
Speaker 1: over and over again. So um, Thankfully, I think I
Speaker 1: was so just focused on getting healthy. I didn't really
Speaker 1: put too much pressure on myself on like what the
Speaker 1: implications of, uh, the injuries really could mean in the
Speaker 1: long term, which I think helped me to stay motivated
Speaker 1: and the real because you know, like anytime you go
Speaker 1: through rehab, the mind, you know, the body sponsor to mind.
Speaker 1: If you can't stay positive and you can't stay motivated
Speaker 1: and you start to get in your feelings and all that,
Speaker 1: like it's a miss a lonely, miserable feeling. And thankfully,
Speaker 1: like I was either young, naive or whatever, I just
Speaker 1: couldn't stay out of I didn't have anything else to
Speaker 1: worry about but just get healthy and let everything kind
Speaker 1: of take care of herself. UM. And you know, thankfully,
Speaker 1: after the second surgery, started to get a little bit
Speaker 1: more progress, started learning about my body a lot more.
Speaker 1: I started learning what it took to you know, play
Speaker 1: at this level of preparation that you needed to to
Speaker 1: to do that. And then UM signed the most favorable
Speaker 1: contract in possibly NBA history in terms of everything that
Speaker 1: it allowed us to do. UM, you know those next
Speaker 1: four years. So, uh, it was a blessing and and
Speaker 1: uh in disguise if you will, um that uh um forever,
Speaker 1: I guess grateful and thankful for well, before we talk
Speaker 1: about the car, because that's definitely something that I would
Speaker 1: love to talk about. Rumor has it, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if if you've ever confirmed this, or if anyone ever
Speaker 1: is confirmed it, but rumor has it that we trade
Speaker 1: the Warriors. That can't say weak because I was not
Speaker 1: here yet, but the Warriors trade for Andrew Bogan, and
Speaker 1: they trade Monte Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks. Andrew Bogan
Speaker 1: comes back. Rumor has it that the trade initially was
Speaker 1: for you to go to Milwaukee, Um, and Monte Ellis
Speaker 1: to still be here, Bogan coming in the Milwaukee doctors
Speaker 1: who probably should be fired. I'm on this whole notion
Speaker 1: of accountability. Everybody want to hold us accountable. I'm holding
Speaker 1: everybody accountable. You you did it, Milwaukee doctor. I hope
Speaker 1: he's still not the same doctor there. Um, but Milwaukee
Speaker 1: doctors they didn't approve your ankles, said your ankles would
Speaker 1: be no good, and so they stopped the trade. And
Speaker 1: then ultimately mind take is traded. Do you know that
Speaker 1: to be one true? And at that time were you
Speaker 1: expecting to be traded or was when that news finally
Speaker 1: came out? Was that news to you? The doctor part like,
Speaker 1: I can't put a name to it, but I know
Speaker 1: that was a part of the conversation because it all
Speaker 1: happened at once. For me, I know exactly where we were.
Speaker 1: We were in Sacramento. Um, there's a lockout. Years is
Speaker 1: right at to trade theirline. We get to the arena
Speaker 1: and walk in the locker room. First. I was on
Speaker 1: the first bus. Monte usually comes on the second bus. Um.
Speaker 1: We were kind of we're outside the playoffs seating, but
Speaker 1: we were trying to make a little push like we
Speaker 1: were like tenth, like maybe four or five six games
Speaker 1: out of it, but we thought we had enough time
Speaker 1: to you know, make a run and get in the
Speaker 1: locker room. It's kind of a different energy, you know,
Speaker 1: around trade their lines always like that, but this was different.
Speaker 1: It was like, it's a little quite in here, like
Speaker 1: what's going on. Mark Jackson's a coach of the tom
Speaker 1: uh this first year. Get in the locker room and
Speaker 1: I'm getting tape, getting ready to play in the game.
Speaker 1: And you see across the ticker on in the on
Speaker 1: the TV in the locker room like breaking news, NBA
Speaker 1: trade Warriors trade Monte Ellis, f a u Tho and
Speaker 1: somebody else for Andrew Bogan. And that's how we found out.
Speaker 1: We were on the locker like you what, what, what
Speaker 1: what's going on? Somante shows up. He just got off
Speaker 1: the phone with his agents. Agent just called him, and
Speaker 1: this is maybe an hour and a half for the game,
Speaker 1: two hours for the game, So then you know he's
Speaker 1: kind of like emotional, but you know, kind of resolutely
Speaker 1: like this is happening, like forget y'all, like not not
Speaker 1: not the team, but forget the organization. In terms of
Speaker 1: like he he was the true ultimate warrior, like he
Speaker 1: was a fan favorite deservedly, so we believe the last
Speaker 1: one from the lead. We believe Team I had grown
Speaker 1: into a veteran you know, presidents and leader um in
Speaker 1: that respect. So it's a tough, tough blow for like
Speaker 1: all of the nation and wasn't really see well. So, uh,
Speaker 1: that's how it went down. Everybody kind of said that
Speaker 1: goodbyes and left, and then Coach Jackson pulled me out
Speaker 1: at the locker room. He's like, yo, I said, I
Speaker 1: let you know, like they wanted you in the trade,
Speaker 1: but for whatever reason, like that's part of the doctor
Speaker 1: that didn't go down like that because I kind of
Speaker 1: stepped into and said, I'm gonna give you the keys.
Speaker 1: I felt like, I really believe in you. We just
Speaker 1: gotta get you healthy and that's what the rest of
Speaker 1: the season is gonna be about. So you know his line,
Speaker 1: don't make me a liar, don't make me a liar um.
Speaker 1: And so that that was when it was like the
Speaker 1: trade happened and like, oh, by the way, that could
Speaker 1: have been you type vibe all at the same time. Um,
Speaker 1: crazy crazy day. I'll never forget that that moment um
Speaker 1: because it definitely set the tone for what you know
Speaker 1: the next chapter is about to be about. Actually, before
Speaker 1: we go into the forty four million dollar deal, UM
Speaker 1: speak on Mark Jackson a little bit. One thing I
Speaker 1: always say two people, and I would love to get
Speaker 1: your perspective. I don't think people like it's just not
Speaker 1: something that we talk about UM, but I felt like
Speaker 1: Mark Jackson um coach Jackson to be UM. But I
Speaker 1: feel like one thing that he was great at is
Speaker 1: he gave like he breathed confidence in guys, Like he's
Speaker 1: just spewing confidence in the guys, And I think that
Speaker 1: was huge in our growth and and who we eventually became.
Speaker 1: It's the confidence that he gave guys, I know, people
Speaker 1: like I was actually watching earlier today the clip when
Speaker 1: when he said I got the best shooting backcourt history.
Speaker 1: He sounds crazy. I thought he was crazy and out
Speaker 1: of his mind. Everybody in the world thought he was
Speaker 1: crazy and out of his mind. But he said, I
Speaker 1: got the best shooting backcourt and basket ball history. What
Speaker 1: did what did coach Jackson do for you in your
Speaker 1: career and helping you understand like, no, you are one
Speaker 1: of them, dude, what what was that for you? Because
Speaker 1: I know for me, like he breathed confidence in to
Speaker 1: me and made me felt like I belonged in this lead.
Speaker 1: It's it's the balance of like as a player, like
Speaker 1: people who say they don't hear read anything, they lying
Speaker 1: like you hear everything that happen that people like media analysts, coaches,
Speaker 1: other players like it's a small fraternity and group and
Speaker 1: the family and this NBA and then also within these organizations,
Speaker 1: so you hear everything about you and it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of like that awareness mixed with like you said,
Speaker 1: your confidence and who you are, your identity, um and
Speaker 1: then obviously what you go and do out on the floor.
Speaker 1: To have somebody that's a decision maker that's you know
Speaker 1: in that head coaching position that goes out of his
Speaker 1: way to either defend, hype up uh like brethe life
Speaker 1: into like you say to your players, like that meant
Speaker 1: so much, especially as the first time head coach, because
Speaker 1: he was going on these you know, on these limbs
Speaker 1: that like I said, some people thought he was like
Speaker 1: out of his mind, you know, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of just a ride or die with no kind of thought.
Speaker 1: Like he he was very strategic and intentional about everything
Speaker 1: that he said, and that meant so much to as
Speaker 1: young as a young team trying to just find an
Speaker 1: edge and find an identity. And it was contagious man,
Speaker 1: like you know, he would come into every pregame, locker, pregame,
Speaker 1: uh you know, speech and give us a like like
Speaker 1: a sermon almost and it would be it would just
Speaker 1: be like something like you want to run through the
Speaker 1: wall or laugh or feel some type of emotion and
Speaker 1: we go out and hoop um. And he was so
Speaker 1: consistent in that front. So at that time in our
Speaker 1: in my career and our career as a team and
Speaker 1: in the journey that we were trying to you know,
Speaker 1: come into, he was perfect for that because he was
Speaker 1: an extreme motivator, uh you know, an ultimate defender. He
Speaker 1: would hype you up and he's pretty confidence in you.
Speaker 1: And that's how we went out and played um. And
Speaker 1: I think to his his credit sometimes you can think
Speaker 1: about how everything ended after that third year. He almost
Speaker 1: would use different motivations that weren't even real, like you
Speaker 1: kind of have to manifest something that almost like the
Speaker 1: Kobe mentality or like MJ back in the day, like
Speaker 1: I might make something up in terms of there's you know,
Speaker 1: some enemy that doesn't even exist, but I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: sure everybody's on the same page against whatever that is. Um,
Speaker 1: this is how he rolled, and it was it was.
Speaker 1: It was great for us in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: giving us that edge. Has it been shocking for you
Speaker 1: that he hasn't been able to I understand the drama
Speaker 1: around when he left because it was the front office
Speaker 1: coach disagreement. And he would probably admit that there are
Speaker 1: a couple of interviews he did right after he left
Speaker 1: that he probably didn't need to do. He spoke his
Speaker 1: mind and he spoke his truth, but he probably you know,
Speaker 1: I don't say regret, but you think about like, you know,
Speaker 1: doing a different way on the back end. But when
Speaker 1: you talk about like somebody that knows the game, somebody
Speaker 1: knows how to relate to players, somebody that as an
Speaker 1: ultimate competitor and play at the highest level. UH, play
Speaker 1: with amazing great play for some great coaches and with
Speaker 1: other amazing you know players throughout his career. Like all
Speaker 1: that wrapped into one person and just his vantage points
Speaker 1: an analysts and all that. Like, I'm extremely surprised. I
Speaker 1: know his name floats up a lot. He definitely he
Speaker 1: deserves another opportunity. Whoever want to take our opinion, Uh,
Speaker 1: definitely surprised, and hopefully it won't I won't remain too long,
Speaker 1: I think when when I'm when I'm looking around the NBA,
Speaker 1: I hope he gets an opportunity that he does not
Speaker 1: have to build a team the way he had to
Speaker 1: build up. But but the reality is there's ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen team is a year in that same position that
Speaker 1: I that he's proven right here that he can handle
Speaker 1: that job for sure. Now, if you want to say, oh, well,
Speaker 1: he hadn't coached superstars, because when he coached es, you
Speaker 1: weren't a superstar yet, Clay wasn't a superstar, you know,
Speaker 1: like we none of us had grown into who who
Speaker 1: we became. So if you want to say, all right,
Speaker 1: well he hasn't proven any coach superstars, well, what he
Speaker 1: has proven is at least that he can do that.
Speaker 1: And so that that part has been a bit shocking
Speaker 1: to me, I must say, um, and I hope to
Speaker 1: see you know, his obviously his name in the name
Speaker 1: just came up in the Lakers job. And I hope
Speaker 1: to see him get an opportunity because I think he
Speaker 1: did an incredible job. Everyone has their differences. I don't
Speaker 1: think any head coach or general manager or ownership group
Speaker 1: is on the on the same page at all times.
Speaker 1: I don't believe that. And after being in this league
Speaker 1: for ten years, I can almost say that's for certain.
Speaker 1: I mean, and if you have one that's always on
Speaker 1: page at the same time I'm always on the same page,
Speaker 1: then they're an outline their unicorn, because it just doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: This is a very um like it's a dynamic situation.
Speaker 1: I mean, the things changed so fascinous leg and the
Speaker 1: fact that we can you're always are gonna have to
Speaker 1: recalibrate and reassess and and like you said, find some
Speaker 1: middle ground even almost because there are something you know,
Speaker 1: especially when you have a lot of cooks in the kitchen,
Speaker 1: like I mean, what the leggers are going through and
Speaker 1: what's coming out now. I it's crazy, just evolutions and
Speaker 1: all this stuff, and it's is what we do and
Speaker 1: what everybody is. Not easy, no, for for sure. And
Speaker 1: I think, like you said some interviews that the baby
Speaker 1: want to take back now. But I also think he
Speaker 1: caught uh some things that came his way. That we're
Speaker 1: a little unfair and Hare's one up steph Curry ruined
Speaker 1: the game about football when he said that everybody was
Speaker 1: on there. It's like, Wow, did he really come out
Speaker 1: and go as stuff like better he better? He got fired?
Speaker 1: Now he coming out. Absolutely, you look at the game
Speaker 1: of basketball today, I understand exactly what he was talking about.
Speaker 1: You watching the elementary school play, you watch the NBA,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what he was talking about. But at
Speaker 1: that time I think that also fueled the narrative of
Speaker 1: him being better. Right if few of the narrative, Oh man,
Speaker 1: it wasn't all working there and look now he's shooting
Speaker 1: that step And it was actually more of a compliment
Speaker 1: than anything he said. To let the dust set on
Speaker 1: and figure out exactly what the context that he had
Speaker 1: been in gyms with with his sons. They were hoop
Speaker 1: and he was watching middle school games every week and
Speaker 1: he's like, yo, what is literally watching this dude and
Speaker 1: thinking they can skip a bunch of steps and be
Speaker 1: like him. So it's hard to get that in on
Speaker 1: the broadcast especially. That was one of the worst things
Speaker 1: that next year when he got after he got let
Speaker 1: go and coach curves and we're on a run. They
Speaker 1: put like every game, sure, every game he was on.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's another story that no, it's not. Y'all
Speaker 1: are really making him look like like he can't he
Speaker 1: can't even speak the way you want to speak. Four instance,
Speaker 1: and Steph Curry ruined the game in basketball, and everybody's
Speaker 1: just polling on everything he said the moment he criticized
Speaker 1: anything the Warriors is doing. Like any analysts, that's they're
Speaker 1: they're gonna go at both teams. That's what you do
Speaker 1: as an analyst. You're going to pick the game apart.
Speaker 1: And he'd say something about us, and it's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's the it's the headline of the game. And
Speaker 1: so I think that was that was rough. But you know,
Speaker 1: and getting back to the to the forty four million
Speaker 1: dollar deal. You signed the four forty four and I
Speaker 1: think what most people don't understand is it's at that
Speaker 1: time that was the going rate you signed that deal to.
Speaker 1: Lawson signed that deal, and give or take two three
Speaker 1: four million dollars each way the market. Rosen signed the
Speaker 1: same deal, Drew Holiday signed the same deal. I think
Speaker 1: I should, I think, I said Ty Lawson already Brandon
Speaker 1: Jenny signed the same like everyone was kind of signing
Speaker 1: that same deal. Now a year later, it was the
Speaker 1: worst deal in pro sports history. One year later it
Speaker 1: was the absolute worst deal and professional sports on your
Speaker 1: behalf on the Warrior's behalf the best deal. But how
Speaker 1: did you go through that knowing you're making eleven million
Speaker 1: dollars a year you probably should be, you should be
Speaker 1: making twenty five million dollars a year. But in the
Speaker 1: same token, if you don't sign a forty four million
Speaker 1: dollar deal, Um, the Warriors have to decide on whether
Speaker 1: they're going to keep me your clay. Um, the Warriors
Speaker 1: are never able to sign andre Um and then, in
Speaker 1: hindsight fast forward a couple more years later, also not
Speaker 1: able to sign Katie as well. So how were you
Speaker 1: a well to go through that and see the bigger picture?
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna ultimately make my money, But right now,
Speaker 1: I mean there was a time where I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: there was a time where I was making more money
Speaker 1: than you on it like you were the fil for
Speaker 1: six highest paid player on our team. It's it's all intentional.
Speaker 1: There's it sounds so freaking cheesy and cliche because I'm
Speaker 1: talking about it right now, but like this is exactly
Speaker 1: how I thought, and it's like I talked to my
Speaker 1: wife about it. Right before I signed. I was flying
Speaker 1: in the Phoenix the day before opening opening night, which
Speaker 1: by the way, is probably one of the worst games.
Speaker 1: Signed after Signory too, We're on the road to open
Speaker 1: up in Phoenix and uh at Tom Larry Riley h
Speaker 1: Bob was there, um my agent, and they're like, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to figure out come into a deal, and like
Speaker 1: it was that one thing I had to just tell myself,
Speaker 1: like one, let's let's look, let's keep perspective here, like
Speaker 1: forty four million dollars or four years more money in
Speaker 1: my pops ever made in the league, because I've been
Speaker 1: around and leave for sixteen years watching my dad play,
Speaker 1: Like I know how league, that how far the league
Speaker 1: has grown grown from when he played, and like that's
Speaker 1: good money, support my family and got a lot of security.
Speaker 1: I just want to be healthy. Like let's just focus
Speaker 1: on that, not what you're leaving on the table, what
Speaker 1: you could have made, and then don't count anybody else's money.
Speaker 1: Like at the end of the day when you sign,
Speaker 1: like that's your decision. You're gonna rock with it you
Speaker 1: hopefully have a lot more years to play this game. Um,
Speaker 1: And I tried to set that foundation from my mindset
Speaker 1: right then and there and never like negotiate with myself afterwards,
Speaker 1: never like second guests, never come back to that moment
Speaker 1: like oh I should have could have would it? Because
Speaker 1: that's not how life works. So I had to be
Speaker 1: really intentional about it. I hate like that's it sounds
Speaker 1: so simple and and fairy tale because it did work out.
Speaker 1: But I do give myself credit that that was the
Speaker 1: perspective that I made sure I had and didn't want
Speaker 1: to let anything distract me from what you know could
Speaker 1: have been or what I left the table with other
Speaker 1: situation that could have been out there. And thankfully, you know,
Speaker 1: like you said, you listed a five things that were
Speaker 1: kind of consequences of that, and I was still taking
Speaker 1: care of I was still good, So that meant a
Speaker 1: lot in that moment. Did signing the forty four million
Speaker 1: dollar deal. What's like you said, it's a lot of money,
Speaker 1: But then ultimately you realize, like, I'm not even making
Speaker 1: half of what I should. Did that play any role
Speaker 1: until you ultimately leaving Nike and saying I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: sign with armor. That is a great question, and yes,
Speaker 1: that's actually fantastic. Nobody has ever really put that two
Speaker 1: and two together. It was an opportunity two. I guess
Speaker 1: there's always that that that theme in the league when
Speaker 1: somebody's coming up with a contract extension or free agency
Speaker 1: or whatever, like you'll do you bet on yourself? Like
Speaker 1: what does that you had on yourself? What does that mean? Right?
Speaker 1: Everybody's you know, like a Newlands and the Well type situation.
Speaker 1: You know, you have somebody like DeAndre Eton right now,
Speaker 1: you've got guys that had good money on the table.
Speaker 1: How it works out, We'll see, right with that piece,
Speaker 1: like knowing I had, you know, four years on the
Speaker 1: court and got to survey the free shoe free agency
Speaker 1: situation and just see where I was at on that
Speaker 1: side of the UH and that part of my career
Speaker 1: like building something from scratch, taking a chance to UM
Speaker 1: put my fingerprint on a brand UM from from the
Speaker 1: ground up, and and and and have a company that
Speaker 1: was going to kind of invest behind me. That was
Speaker 1: a huge opportunity and it was kind of going against
Speaker 1: the grain a little bit in terms of at that
Speaker 1: time the stable that the Nike had Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody can talk about all they do with the best
Speaker 1: and that's now that's you know, you know, a matter
Speaker 1: of opinion. But the fact that I got to go
Speaker 1: and you know, getting the signature shoe, game, build a brand,
Speaker 1: build inspiring storytell around things that are important to me,
Speaker 1: Like we're now eight what nine years you know from that,
Speaker 1: and I got this freaking logo on my hat and
Speaker 1: we have hopefully is something that will continue to be
Speaker 1: part of the legacy for years and years and years
Speaker 1: and years to come. That was me better than myself, um,
Speaker 1: and it was it was a fun It's been a
Speaker 1: fun process from day one. And uh, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'd have made that decision had you know, things
Speaker 1: gone differitely um with the contracts though, And speaking of
Speaker 1: decisions that you've made, Um, you you win unanimous m VP,
Speaker 1: which hadn't been done in the history. You didn't take
Speaker 1: that unanimous and you spent off and you start an
Speaker 1: entire couple of different sectors of business that you go
Speaker 1: into under the under the name unanimous. One is your
Speaker 1: production company. Another started to fund Um talk to talk
Speaker 1: to me about building that production company because it's actually
Speaker 1: it's actually a phase that I'm in right now, UM,
Speaker 1: in my life and you know, just not necessarily building
Speaker 1: a production company, but you know the podcast, um t
Speaker 1: NT deal, um pone phone sessions and so and moving
Speaker 1: into that direction. How has that been for you? Because
Speaker 1: the time that it takes doing all of this stuff.
Speaker 1: Rous you ain't warm me about this all the time
Speaker 1: that it takes in building this, But how has that gone?
Speaker 1: Um y'all signed the first Look deal with Sony UM,
Speaker 1: how has that gone on that side for you? The
Speaker 1: things that you've learned and how that transition into that
Speaker 1: side of the business, It's been. It's been a whirlwind.
Speaker 1: And you just said, like it's it's about making sure
Speaker 1: you can prioritize, like what keeps lights on what makes
Speaker 1: all this as possible obviously as basketball and I don't
Speaker 1: know what kind of feedback you've gotten, but that that
Speaker 1: has never ever changed, like whatever you see as doing
Speaker 1: outside of court, Like we know how to make sure
Speaker 1: we keep balance. And it's not not saying it's easy,
Speaker 1: but you always uh prioritize and make sure one you
Speaker 1: know who you're doing with and your people in your team,
Speaker 1: because that's the most important piece. Sometimes you get that right.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you get that wrong. The quicker you can realize
Speaker 1: when you get it wrong and and uh and make
Speaker 1: the necessary changes. That's important. And that's a hard thing
Speaker 1: to do in our position too, because you do um,
Speaker 1: you know, I gotta a delegate and make sure people
Speaker 1: are positioned for success. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it all comes back to you. And some people like
Speaker 1: that responsibility. Some people don't. But I found that it's
Speaker 1: been amazing to try stuff Like it's been amazing to
Speaker 1: just experiment, you know, you know, try your skill set
Speaker 1: at different things, get into uh, you know, projects that
Speaker 1: move you, uh, like you talk about with my media
Speaker 1: company with Unanimous like we found pillars within faith, family,
Speaker 1: and sports that we want to continue to tell amazing
Speaker 1: stories to a bunch of different mediums. Um. But making
Speaker 1: sure that it is authentic to to who I am,
Speaker 1: my personality, things that are important to me, um, and
Speaker 1: then allowing my team to push me a little bit
Speaker 1: into different areas that I didn't even know where possibilities
Speaker 1: and so um that's gonna be a long journey that
Speaker 1: will continue to uh, you know, to assess our goals
Speaker 1: and and measure of how we're doing and keep building
Speaker 1: and scaling up. But um, I think it obviously it
Speaker 1: comes down to the team. That's something that is a
Speaker 1: comparison to basketball and off the court that are so important.
Speaker 1: Who you who you rock with, and who you do
Speaker 1: that business with and who you trust too to be
Speaker 1: a part of that fold is the key to everything. Um.
Speaker 1: And this has allowed me to you know, create some
Speaker 1: amazing relationships. It's amazing opportunities, set some amazing you know,
Speaker 1: amazingly talented people up for success and uh uh and
Speaker 1: do it with things that are you know, authentic to
Speaker 1: me speaking of authentic to you and setting people up
Speaker 1: for success. Um. You have Holy Moli, which is very
Speaker 1: authentic to you for those that don't know it, to
Speaker 1: golf and golf and checked all the stuff um that
Speaker 1: I know. I've had the honor of going on once,
Speaker 1: which was great. But I think one thing that that
Speaker 1: that you've done that I really enjoy to keep tapped on,
Speaker 1: um because I feel like I would have been there
Speaker 1: I hadn't been around when I was coming up. Is
Speaker 1: that your underrated tour, um, and how you essentially channeled
Speaker 1: who you were or I mean you're not yeah who
Speaker 1: you were because you're not underrated anymore, but who you
Speaker 1: were coming up and said, Okay, just like me, there's
Speaker 1: a million other kids outside that doesn't get those looks,
Speaker 1: that doesn't get to go to the good camps. And
Speaker 1: if they go to a camp, they get a reversible
Speaker 1: UM jersey that says a number on it, and then
Speaker 1: they go home. It's not it's not a good thing.
Speaker 1: They don't look good. They don't they're not treated well.
Speaker 1: It's just like, oh, we're giving you an opportunity to
Speaker 1: go play basketball. You've changed that narrative and you've put
Speaker 1: together essentially an All American camp for underrated kids. Can
Speaker 1: you talk to me um more about the Underrated Camp?
Speaker 1: And also like, is there anything else that's going to
Speaker 1: come with the Underrated Camp? Like are y'all gonna continue
Speaker 1: to grow that? What's the plans with like us? It
Speaker 1: was an amazing set up because that's exactly what the
Speaker 1: goal of the Underrated Tour was. At a jump, I
Speaker 1: started my under arm All American Camp. So he's inviting
Speaker 1: the top thirty high school guys to the first two
Speaker 1: and then we got they spand uh to the most
Speaker 1: talented girls in high school sports and like the fourth
Speaker 1: year I was sitting on one of our little sessions
Speaker 1: and I was looking around, mind you like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what these high school dudes are eating these days,
Speaker 1: that they all like six m to twenty m. Like, first,
Speaker 1: I'm probably the smallest one in here. Two damn sure.
Speaker 1: You know I wouldn't have been invited to this camp.
Speaker 1: What everybody to my own camp? So I thought, like,
Speaker 1: this is an amazing experience to give them a piece
Speaker 1: of uh, my skill set and my understanding of basketball
Speaker 1: and hopefully pass something back down to them. But what
Speaker 1: about the three star recruit that was to star recruit
Speaker 1: for a while, like three star recruit that I was
Speaker 1: in high school, that, like you said, looking for an opportunity,
Speaker 1: looking to get on a platform to um, you know,
Speaker 1: showcase who they are and their abilities. Um and obviously
Speaker 1: in the pursuit of a college scholarship. So we started
Speaker 1: Underrated Tour. Rackington has been and he was part of it.
Speaker 1: They propped it up year one and we've gone to
Speaker 1: four different reasons around the country. Um, it's it's free.
Speaker 1: It's an open invite to three star uh, you know,
Speaker 1: recruits who a lot of game of basketball. I want
Speaker 1: to come out and work hard and compete. And but
Speaker 1: we're giving them the opportunity and and like you said,
Speaker 1: the first class experience, like it's not just you know,
Speaker 1: let's just bring it to a gym and roll the
Speaker 1: balls out like trying to put them in the right gear,
Speaker 1: make them look look fresh. UM, give them more of
Speaker 1: an understanding of what it takes to be a college
Speaker 1: athlete in terms of you know, you know, being eligible
Speaker 1: academically different uh classes and understands for their parents to
Speaker 1: know what recruiting is like how to go through that process.
Speaker 1: And then obviously the on court uh your skills and
Speaker 1: uh and it ectertise that I can provide through the
Speaker 1: programming that we do. So take four reasons. We take
Speaker 1: the top you know, uh talent from each region. We
Speaker 1: bring them out to the national Championship stop out here
Speaker 1: in the base. They get to come out here. We
Speaker 1: just had a couple of weeks ago. UM, we had
Speaker 1: a tournament, so each region plays against each other and
Speaker 1: then we have a champion and and we have the
Speaker 1: most underrated girl and boy in the country, and we
Speaker 1: celebrate that. We help them tell their stories, um, in
Speaker 1: terms of where they are, where they're trying to go
Speaker 1: and how they're gonna get there, um. And so it's
Speaker 1: been an amazing successful far. We're in year three, going
Speaker 1: to continue to expand that out um and continue to
Speaker 1: reach as many kids as possible, and hopefully we've created
Speaker 1: over thirty scholarships through this through this, uh this tour
Speaker 1: in basketball on the boys and girls side. So it's
Speaker 1: pretty it's amazing to like point, this is something that
Speaker 1: exists in a bunch of different youth sports um And
Speaker 1: obviously for me, basketball and golf for the first two
Speaker 1: that I wanted to touch and so uh soon this
Speaker 1: summer will be the first underrated golf tour UM. And
Speaker 1: the cool part about it is, like golf is such
Speaker 1: a we called an elitist kind of history and sport,
Speaker 1: but there's an understanding of opportunity that the game can provide,
Speaker 1: not just as in pursuit of playing professionally and making money,
Speaker 1: but the world of golf and the business of golf
Speaker 1: and even just the different connections and indoors that golf opens.
Speaker 1: We need more representation, we need more equity, access and
Speaker 1: opportunity to the game, and so golf is the vehicle
Speaker 1: to reach these kids and hopefully we have some p
Speaker 1: J professionals and that's the that's the goal to get
Speaker 1: more representation on all these different you know, professional tours.
Speaker 1: But golf will also be the vehicle to give these
Speaker 1: kids an understanding of skill development, business acumen, UM, an
Speaker 1: understanding of whatever passion that you have in this world,
Speaker 1: like it's possible for you to get into these uh,
Speaker 1: into these right industries and and and do it where
Speaker 1: you're you're prepared and equipped to become you know, our
Speaker 1: future leader. And that's the goal. So uh coming soon.
Speaker 1: It's can be a lot more ware we talked about
Speaker 1: with that tour. But to be able to have that
Speaker 1: uh impact on these kids who basketball and golf UM
Speaker 1: and special to me because there that's what I love.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. UM excuse my ignorance, but how in the
Speaker 1: hell do you find a three star golf? So pretty
Speaker 1: much anybody who's the a minority and golf, you're already
Speaker 1: three stars in general, because there's so many different barriers
Speaker 1: to UM pursuing golf at the highest level. But the
Speaker 1: three star in golf is more the equity in terms
Speaker 1: of reaching the same amount of boys as girls that
Speaker 1: we do UM and each of the different tour stops
Speaker 1: that we have the the access in terms of breaking
Speaker 1: down those barriers, whether it's costs related, whether it's transportation related,
Speaker 1: whether it's equipment related, uh, coaching like all of those
Speaker 1: things that are in part of you know, skill development
Speaker 1: within golf. And then the opportunity is like again using
Speaker 1: golf as the vehicle to introduce these kids too future
Speaker 1: you know success um in a lot of different areas.
Speaker 1: So that's where the three stars are in golf. UM.
Speaker 1: But like I said, getting representation within the game across
Speaker 1: the board, that's that's first and foremost. And moving back
Speaker 1: to basketball, I know everyone's going to be watching this.
Speaker 1: How are you feeling? How's your health? Um? I'll probably
Speaker 1: get food and access question how is your health? Like? UM,
Speaker 1: are you expecting to be ready for Game one? Are
Speaker 1: you not expecting to be ready for game I also
Speaker 1: need to know this for my personal sanity as well.
Speaker 1: So how are you feeling as far as you know
Speaker 1: being ready to play this weekend? The goal has always
Speaker 1: been game one? UM. And this is a weird injury
Speaker 1: because it's such a slow healing. Like you know, I've
Speaker 1: had a bunch of different injuries over time, But like
Speaker 1: sometimes like every day you feel like dramatically better and
Speaker 1: you you you like, oh, I got a little pepper
Speaker 1: my step. I can keep I can do this. I
Speaker 1: can do this. This one. I feel like I felt
Speaker 1: like the same for two weeks, but I could do
Speaker 1: a little bit more and a little bit more. But
Speaker 1: it's all like just dealing with the pain that comes
Speaker 1: with you know, the injury that I had in my
Speaker 1: foot so and you know the uh, the wear and
Speaker 1: tear that comes with with an injury like that. But
Speaker 1: the goal has always been game one. The goal still
Speaker 1: remains game one. Very optimistic that it will be a
Speaker 1: game one and uh whatever that means. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I just want to be available. And we know what
Speaker 1: time of year it is. We we ain't been in
Speaker 1: the playoffs for two years. It is kind of weird
Speaker 1: to think about that. I'm so freaking juice because I
Speaker 1: know how much I love that environment. The first time
Speaker 1: in this building, which would be interesting, So I don't
Speaker 1: want to miss none of it. So that's the goal, um,
Speaker 1: and I would it would be hard pressed, you know,
Speaker 1: for anything to kind of keep me out of that.
Speaker 1: But we'll see. It's definitely exciting. I mean, you haven't
Speaker 1: if you weren't with the team on this last trip.
Speaker 1: But I've probably cussed off seven people just leading up
Speaker 1: to this. Man, I'm just aunty and excited. I think.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously for me, what was his first seven
Speaker 1: years of my career? Yeah, the first seven years and
Speaker 1: not making a playoffs and then spent two years outside
Speaker 1: of the playoffs, Like what the hell? Like? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: welcome to my world. For the first three years was
Speaker 1: the reason for you made the playoffs? Because y'all you
Speaker 1: and clay Man. Yeah, it's first two years. I already
Speaker 1: had the car on on the back of the truck
Speaker 1: headed back to North Carolina. I had a tea time,
Speaker 1: I had my sevent teams this vacation. I had my
Speaker 1: car on the truck two years ago in two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty, ready to go everywhere. And then I mean,
Speaker 1: the one off season I do all right, we missed
Speaker 1: the playoffs, which I was not happy about. Then the
Speaker 1: one off season I do get. And then the next
Speaker 1: off season I get. The NBA season even though we
Speaker 1: don't make it, it runs into July. We made the playoffs,
Speaker 1: playing to June twenties. They made the playoffs. Man stuck
Speaker 1: at home or had a month to go do his
Speaker 1: thing and get it, get your mind right back and
Speaker 1: then turn right back around like and I mean, for me,
Speaker 1: we finished in twenty if I had to be in
Speaker 1: Vegas July fourth, US which then spanned from July four
Speaker 1: to August eight, training camp start miss September. You just
Speaker 1: can't get away from the games, at least some of
Speaker 1: the playoffs. This time I take out. But speaking of playoffs,
Speaker 1: Lakers had a rough year. Um, as we all go,
Speaker 1: I was surprised there. But Lebron says the other day,
Speaker 1: last week or something whenever, it was, that he has
Speaker 1: one guy in the NBA right now that a current
Speaker 1: NBA player that he wants to play with. That player
Speaker 1: happens to be you. Um, and I know I saw
Speaker 1: the other day where you said you laughed about it
Speaker 1: and he was like, I'm good, but like take me
Speaker 1: deeper into that number one when you're you're on that level.
Speaker 1: But like Lebron is up there in the goat conversation,
Speaker 1: so for him to like for him to come out
Speaker 1: and say it like no, I want to play with
Speaker 1: Steph Kurt regardless of how the world may feel about
Speaker 1: that or how anyone may feel in my appear that
Speaker 1: is like, that's that's one. Number one, that's one of
Speaker 1: the ultimate signs of respect. That has to feel good.
Speaker 1: But then number two like, don't give me the laugh,
Speaker 1: I'm good, Like take me deeper into what you were
Speaker 1: really thinking when you first heard that. But so what
Speaker 1: you just said is definitely uh. And like we talked
Speaker 1: about all the time with with Brian, especially knowing our
Speaker 1: history and the finals runs and all that and playing
Speaker 1: against him, there is no denying like his greatness in
Speaker 1: terms of what he can do on the court, and
Speaker 1: like sometimes you're even when you're playing against him, you're
Speaker 1: in awe because it's like the way he can control
Speaker 1: the tempo of the game, the way he can dominate scoring, passing,
Speaker 1: you know, just just overall just presence is i Q Like,
Speaker 1: oh that stuff that we all talked about it. And
Speaker 1: then you have to appreciate your competition if you want
Speaker 1: to beat him, because there's got to be that you know,
Speaker 1: let's coach, we call it the appropriate fears. But like
Speaker 1: you said, in terms of like him picking out one
Speaker 1: player that he was one beside the son that he
Speaker 1: wanted to play with, and my name comes up. It
Speaker 1: is definitely it's surreal because I I would never be
Speaker 1: so far removed from this time. Like I was in
Speaker 1: Detroit playing in the sweet sixth team game and this
Speaker 1: dude was maybe his fourth or fifth year in the league,
Speaker 1: and he's coming to my game, like supporting and cheering
Speaker 1: and doing all stuff, even at the place he was
Speaker 1: at in his career as uh, you know, the future
Speaker 1: superstar and like he said, hall of Famer, potentially greatest
Speaker 1: of all time. Like the fact that we're thirteen years
Speaker 1: removed and he's saying that, it's still crazy. I had
Speaker 1: only how people knew this. He gave me a jersey
Speaker 1: when I was in high school. I was in college Davidson,
Speaker 1: and I still have it on the wall and my parents.
Speaker 1: I was back in Charlotte and he wrote it like
Speaker 1: to the King of Basketball and uh in North Carolina
Speaker 1: uh and signed and all that. So like I would
Speaker 1: never be too far removed from like where I came
Speaker 1: from in terms of this this journey. Uh. So that's dope,
Speaker 1: And that's that's that's the surreal part. The other quick
Speaker 1: part is like, Okay, if you take a fantasy draft
Speaker 1: and you're like building a team out and you got
Speaker 1: what bron can do and the way I can shoot
Speaker 1: the ball, Like obviously there's like a curiosity like what
Speaker 1: would that look like? But also there's a realist realism
Speaker 1: of like that's why I said I'm good right now.
Speaker 1: It's just you can never let your mind go from
Speaker 1: what you know. Is is your situation with is uh
Speaker 1: your moment, your time? And who I've been rocking with
Speaker 1: from from day one. So that's my best that's my
Speaker 1: best answer it because it's it's fantasy is wild, but
Speaker 1: there's a respect and appreciation. There's a surrealness because of
Speaker 1: where I came from and how we first interacted back
Speaker 1: when I was in college. Um, but if this is
Speaker 1: two K, that'd be pretty lethal. I appreciate that answer though,
Speaker 1: because the reality is one thing that pitches y'all um
Speaker 1: in this entire realm of NBA players, of which is,
Speaker 1: let's face it dominated by African America. It's how they
Speaker 1: tried to pick us against each other. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like everything him against him compared like how is he
Speaker 1: compared to this guy? They just did that to Uh.
Speaker 1: That's I was walking up here and somebody I was
Speaker 1: on TV and one of the talking head shows, and
Speaker 1: it was just like who has more pressure, Kyrie or Katie? What?
Speaker 1: Right now they walk into last minutes on TV, Like
Speaker 1: we talked about that before the playing game even started.
Speaker 1: I think it's ridiculous how they try to like and
Speaker 1: so when Lebron comes out and say like I want
Speaker 1: to play with Steph Curry, and the reality is all
Speaker 1: the talking heads and all of these people they they
Speaker 1: want to try to find a way to make that controversy.
Speaker 1: And that's that's not a contra versual statement at all.
Speaker 1: That is saying I admire someone with my knowledge of
Speaker 1: the game, because Lebron has some of the highest knowledge
Speaker 1: when it comes to basketball. With my knowledge of the
Speaker 1: game and me understand what wins in this league, I
Speaker 1: want to play with him because if I can take
Speaker 1: my skills set and partner my skills set with this
Speaker 1: guy's skill set, I think it will be unstoppable. But
Speaker 1: it goes way further than that when when it comes
Speaker 1: to us. You know, it doesn't go way further than
Speaker 1: that when when when you're dealing in all other realms
Speaker 1: of business, but when it comes to us, it goes
Speaker 1: way further than No. Actually, from a basketball standpoint, that
Speaker 1: makes all the sense in the world. He would almost
Speaker 1: be dumb not to say it in your mind if
Speaker 1: you gave him a clear, clean slates like like number
Speaker 1: one pick in the NBA draft fantasy whatever, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you said what you bring to the table. Who would
Speaker 1: compliment that? Mmm? Hello, Right makes a great point though,
Speaker 1: So I mean, and I've kind of been going on
Speaker 1: this thing lately, like just the disrespect amongst us and
Speaker 1: how like I actually spoke about it. Uh. Actually I
Speaker 1: need to get your thoughts on this too before you
Speaker 1: have out. People always compare errors to right and they
Speaker 1: always say we're more buddy, buddy, then there is a
Speaker 1: past because they ain't no fights on the court, like
Speaker 1: we all work out with each other. You got business
Speaker 1: crossover friendships like all that stuff off the court, and
Speaker 1: they always something like that, that's ruining the game. No
Speaker 1: pun intendis sorry, Mark, Uh, that's ruining the competition on
Speaker 1: the court in terms like we all have you know
Speaker 1: these backgrounds outside of that, do you do you abscribe
Speaker 1: to that? Like this like our era is less competitive
Speaker 1: because we're friend more friendly. I think we're just way
Speaker 1: smarter than the errors before us. Um, if you look
Speaker 1: at that from month the way the game is like,
Speaker 1: if you look at the past Arab basketball, they was
Speaker 1: beating each other like there all right, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: guys were skilled and all due respect to the guys
Speaker 1: that came before, but they were out there literally outside
Speaker 1: of fighting, like playing the game of basketball. They were
Speaker 1: beating each other. There wasn't like much skill to that.
Speaker 1: There were guys that were skilled. But if you look
Speaker 1: around the NBA now, there's no one in the NBA
Speaker 1: that can't the three point shot. Now, whether they shoot
Speaker 1: a bunch of them, but there's no one in the
Speaker 1: NBA today that can't hit the three point shot. When
Speaker 1: you look at the level of the skill that we
Speaker 1: have today, it's totally different from from the league when
Speaker 1: it was, or from what the league used to be.
Speaker 1: But I also say, you know, we're smarter than them.
Speaker 1: We like you look at all the things we're doing
Speaker 1: from a business perspective off the court, saying none of
Speaker 1: them didn't do business, but way more now actually taking
Speaker 1: advantags been doing these things. My question to you, um,
Speaker 1: I made a statement about three weeks ago that if
Speaker 1: Lebron is breaking the scoring record next year to the game,
Speaker 1: I'm going to see Lebron break scoring. Now I want
Speaker 1: to ask you as a teammate, and I have not
Speaker 1: asked left this at all. We again, we have not
Speaker 1: discussed it at all, so y'all can get the same
Speaker 1: answer I get. I actually didn't think anything of it.
Speaker 1: I didn't think anything of it until We're in Memphis
Speaker 1: last week on the day of that game, and Bob
Speaker 1: called me earlier in the day and we're just talking
Speaker 1: and he's like, hey, so help me understand when you
Speaker 1: say something like that, or when you say that in particular, right,
Speaker 1: do you just not care what people think? Do you
Speaker 1: not care what your teammates think? Like um? And he
Speaker 1: like laid out all these other things that it possibly
Speaker 1: could be. And I said, Bob, I'm sorry, but if
Speaker 1: people in the world are dumb enough to believe that
Speaker 1: I'm going to miss my job to go watch someone
Speaker 1: else do there and feed their family, and this is
Speaker 1: how I feed my family, which means if I missed
Speaker 1: my job to go watch them, fetus found, I could
Speaker 1: possibly lose how I feed mine. If someone's that dumb
Speaker 1: vibe to think, wow, he's actually gonna miss his game.
Speaker 1: If someone's that dumb, that's not my fault, Like that's
Speaker 1: not my problem. I want to know what you think
Speaker 1: when you when you see me make that stake of one.
Speaker 1: I knew if that situation happened next year, there's no
Speaker 1: way in hell you would walk to me, Clay and
Speaker 1: Andre coach Kerr and be like, yo, I'm doing this
Speaker 1: so as that's why I ain't. I didn't hit you
Speaker 1: about it. I knew there was. It was a way
Speaker 1: of expressing how amazing that accomplishment and feed was in
Speaker 1: your respect for Brian. Two. I understand one piece of
Speaker 1: what Bob is saying in terms of if it's somebody
Speaker 1: within your family that might be in your family is
Speaker 1: all different contexts, and the family of our teams, somebody
Speaker 1: is gonna be They're gonna have to directly answer to
Speaker 1: that for whatever reason, Like there's a certain level of
Speaker 1: respect of hey, you know what I meant by that
Speaker 1: or whatever, like no we can that could be a
Speaker 1: quick conversation. Cool, but it's also an unfortunate piece of
Speaker 1: lumping it into every other sound bite that comes on
Speaker 1: it right now, like which be the polarized and we
Speaker 1: all know who you are, and like that piece I
Speaker 1: know that will never change because that's who you are.
Speaker 1: But it's also like, if if there was ever it's
Speaker 1: it highlights if there's ever any little insecurity or a
Speaker 1: question of where your loyalty lies, which okay, if if
Speaker 1: you're going at that point, then you got to hold
Speaker 1: another conversation to have. UM, and if like, cool, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have that conversation. But that's the one thing I get,
Speaker 1: is like, if it's somebody within your family that you know,
Speaker 1: and whatever you say, even if you still mean what
Speaker 1: you say, and you're not gonna step off of it,
Speaker 1: and you kind of I don't regret how it came out.
Speaker 1: If they're I have to answer to it, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have to take another step to you know, say you're
Speaker 1: a part. But I didn't hit you because I knew
Speaker 1: there's no way. In Hill game sixty seven. Next year,
Speaker 1: Brian is twenty seven points away. It might be two
Speaker 1: games because he might shoot the pull a Dennis robbing
Speaker 1: right quick. I'm gonna see y'all. That's that's good to know. Man.
Speaker 1: A couple more questions up before I let you go.
Speaker 1: A couple more basketball questions, um, and then I also
Speaker 1: want to ask you a couple questions. Well, that's that's
Speaker 1: important to me, expect as a father, as a husband.
Speaker 1: I wanted them guys that I've looked at since I
Speaker 1: came into this league and how you handle yourself. So
Speaker 1: we'll get to that, But a couple more basketball questions. Um,
Speaker 1: So coming into this season, you know, we come in
Speaker 1: and it's kind of like this mix of old guys,
Speaker 1: if you will, and young guys. And and I made
Speaker 1: a I made a comment earlier in the year, and
Speaker 1: I said, we've never seen this work. Um where you're
Speaker 1: trying to mix the past. We're not the past, because
Speaker 1: we're still do all in our prompt but past success,
Speaker 1: the group that you've had success with, and future of
Speaker 1: who you think you can have successful and trying to
Speaker 1: combine those two. We historically we had never seen that work.
Speaker 1: And I said that in the press conference. Now what
Speaker 1: takes the cake is me saying historically we've never seen
Speaker 1: that work. But no one doesn't acknowledge is the part
Speaker 1: of me saying that's the challenge for us as leaders
Speaker 1: of this team. That's the challenge for us. That's the
Speaker 1: challenge that you embrace, and you want to be the
Speaker 1: group that can make that work. No One talks about
Speaker 1: that work. They only talked about the first part. But um,
Speaker 1: and now we've played eight two games and you've seen
Speaker 1: how it all come together. Um, what are your thoughts on, uh,
Speaker 1: this current team and what needs to happen for this team?
Speaker 1: Obviously we know health, Um, you know we gotta stay healthy.
Speaker 1: I've been out played, missed the first half the season.
Speaker 1: I missed essentially half of the season right in the middle,
Speaker 1: and then you've missed the last few weeks. So obviously help.
Speaker 1: But what has to happen as far as like our
Speaker 1: young guys coming along, who do you think is going
Speaker 1: to be that X factor? What has to happen for
Speaker 1: us to ultimately do what we set out to do?
Speaker 1: And that's when the championship. I mean, this year has
Speaker 1: been it's been interesting, is we we laughed about a
Speaker 1: little bit like nobody expected us to start off the
Speaker 1: season the way we do because of the questions coming
Speaker 1: into the year about the two different timelines, UM, not
Speaker 1: knowing what you know? Otto and Belly is vetminimum guys
Speaker 1: and Andre is you know, you know where he was
Speaker 1: in his career, Like what how they with mesh with
Speaker 1: us and all that? You know, essentially the team that
Speaker 1: started off hot, and the way we started off this
Speaker 1: season was off the the way we ended last year,
Speaker 1: you know, mixed with a little bit more veteran presence
Speaker 1: and two young guys that um have so much potential
Speaker 1: but don't have a defined role or a consistent opportunity.
Speaker 1: So we've gone through all of that, and like you said,
Speaker 1: injuries and Clay coming back and you know, JP is
Speaker 1: ascension and all that. So what it needs to happen
Speaker 1: is health, like you said, but we keep doing. We're
Speaker 1: doing in terms of understanding how we play and then defensively,
Speaker 1: obviously that is gonna take the cake. And it's amazing
Speaker 1: to have you back, you know, feeling good and healthy
Speaker 1: to help lead that charge. But we know how to playoffs.
Speaker 1: The rotation is tight. But you with that tight rotation,
Speaker 1: you have those three to four guys, and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be j K mood, you know, d Ly one even
Speaker 1: Gp a little bit. It was guys depending on matchups,
Speaker 1: depending on how the series go, you have to be
Speaker 1: prepared and ready and locked into what you're gonna be
Speaker 1: asked to do. And that could be five minutes, that
Speaker 1: could be a thirty minute run. That can be starting
Speaker 1: one game, come off the bench one game. Like the
Speaker 1: flexibility and that because we have so many pieces to
Speaker 1: go to. Like some teams they have eight guys, They're
Speaker 1: gonna play eight guys the whole the whole run and
Speaker 1: that's it. We're not that team. UM. So if we
Speaker 1: we play like you know, our our rotation, we play
Speaker 1: at the highest level of do what we need to do,
Speaker 1: and we have you know, our guys ready to step
Speaker 1: into those roles. Um. You know on a moment's notice,
Speaker 1: that's gonna give us our best chance because we know
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough. We know how hard it is
Speaker 1: to win the championship and how many things have to
Speaker 1: go your way. But we can take on that challenge
Speaker 1: of what you said starting the season, like doing something
Speaker 1: that hasn't been done historically, and then we'll do it
Speaker 1: what comes next, you know, when it comes, because that's
Speaker 1: the nature of the NBA. But I like the fact
Speaker 1: that we have the ability to throw a bunch of
Speaker 1: different guys out there um, and us that you know
Speaker 1: they can provide and provide value and do do what
Speaker 1: they need to do out there, um. And no brighter
Speaker 1: stage of the playoffs to show that because this is
Speaker 1: just a different energy. And when you look back, like
Speaker 1: certain guys that have helped us win a series or
Speaker 1: a championship, some of the names will be you know,
Speaker 1: will hop off the page in terms of uh, some
Speaker 1: unexpected guys that came into a role and did what
Speaker 1: they needed to do. Um. And speaking of a championship,
Speaker 1: if you if you could trade the two thousand and
Speaker 1: seventeen and eighteen championship to complete the seventy three win championship,
Speaker 1: would you trade those two championships to complete the seventy
Speaker 1: three mm? Hm, so I get the resume rights I have,
Speaker 1: we'd have two chips and damn their perfect season. You see.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to stand you see, I'm blam blacked
Speaker 1: out as soon as I had to even acknowledge it.
Speaker 1: Sixty Uh oh man, I don't I don't even not
Speaker 1: answer that question. I would say no, But I think
Speaker 1: for the rest of our life, I'll still be able
Speaker 1: to just laugh at sixteen. Which is fine, It's fine.
Speaker 1: It's always gonna be that just awkward, like acknowledgement of
Speaker 1: an amazing regular season and then in the finals run.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I say no, but glad I'm glad. I
Speaker 1: don't take myself too seriously because that was hard. You
Speaker 1: don't have your Steph Curry in your life. Get your
Speaker 1: Steph Curry because if you said yes, this interview was over,
Speaker 1: my heart was broken. Get your Steph Curry because he
Speaker 1: mean yes, get your step No. I think honestly that essentially,
Speaker 1: that essentially puts you in the place. Uh, undoubtedly the
Speaker 1: best team ever. Um if if we were to complete
Speaker 1: it now cool to be in a conversation. To be
Speaker 1: quite frank with you, I still think we had best
Speaker 1: team ever. Although we didn't finish it and win the championship,
Speaker 1: I still think that was the best team ever until
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen. I was about to say where are we?
Speaker 1: Where we going there? Because until two of the team
Speaker 1: and then I think that team took over the readiest
Speaker 1: team ever. So I think we still accomplished it. The
Speaker 1: best team ever, but not quite. You know, people take
Speaker 1: numbers and they want to put the numbers there and say, oh,
Speaker 1: where the bulls had seventy? Like exactly we were the
Speaker 1: best team ever. I don't I don't care what no
Speaker 1: one said. I can't see anyone beating that two thousand
Speaker 1: seventeen team, not even our first fifteen sixteen. I can't
Speaker 1: see anyone beating that two thousand seventeen team. They say
Speaker 1: in the medical feel that I concur hands down the
Speaker 1: best team ever. But before we get out of here, um,
Speaker 1: I've always asked you questions just about marriage, UM, about kids,
Speaker 1: how your parents, how you are in your marriage, um.
Speaker 1: Because You've always been a great example for me to watch,
Speaker 1: and I'm appreciative of that. Like I think you know,
Speaker 1: people don't realize you we spend I spend more time
Speaker 1: with you than you spend with your wife, Like you
Speaker 1: spend more time with me than I spend with my
Speaker 1: wife and my kids. Like that's just the nature and
Speaker 1: what we do. Like we spend a ton of time
Speaker 1: together for half for half the year we're on the road,
Speaker 1: we're all together. And then even when we're not on
Speaker 1: the road, we've been here since nine am less like
Speaker 1: you still spend and spend a ton of time together.
Speaker 1: But I've been able to watch you for ten years now, um,
Speaker 1: and your growth and parenting, your growth as a husband,
Speaker 1: and just how you continue to grow. And I have
Speaker 1: such a strong appreciation for that now and saying that
Speaker 1: the rest of America has also been able to watch
Speaker 1: your marriage and your growth and you and Aisha are
Speaker 1: almost like y'all, y'all are the golden stand there than
Speaker 1: like the couple of goals and like that everyone really
Speaker 1: look at and say, man, like we want that. Do
Speaker 1: you do y'all feel that pressure in your marriage or
Speaker 1: are y'all just so grounded in your marriage that like
Speaker 1: what anyone says from the outside really don't matter, or
Speaker 1: do you feel that pressure in your marriage to kind
Speaker 1: of uphold what the world see y'all as? Like the
Speaker 1: world see y'all as the ideal couple that made it
Speaker 1: work since a young age and still making it work.
Speaker 1: That like on your trajectory to greatness comes her trajectory
Speaker 1: to greatness, and like she's doing great things and like
Speaker 1: sweet July Um was the cover was the face of
Speaker 1: cover girl, like all the things that she's doing. Um,
Speaker 1: she has her I should cook, wearing and stores and
Speaker 1: just to see both of y'all like sin, it's been incredible.
Speaker 1: Do y'all feel that pressure from the outside world to
Speaker 1: be that gold that they all want to be? And
Speaker 1: then it's it's both for sure, um, but I say
Speaker 1: of that because we never like acknowledge any type of
Speaker 1: title like that or like pressure or um put any
Speaker 1: merit on like that as a goal, right, but we
Speaker 1: also understand the influence inspiration that it can provide and
Speaker 1: that's what people need. You can't sell yourself for that,
Speaker 1: like in terms of how you live your day to
Speaker 1: day life. And uh, there's got to be a balance
Speaker 1: to it. But the best part about it, and I
Speaker 1: can honestly say that is because it's built on such
Speaker 1: a solid foundation that we are just living our lives
Speaker 1: and doing it together and sharing every up and every down.
Speaker 1: You know, the growth that has come individually and stuff
Speaker 1: that we never in a millionaires could imagine, like uh,
Speaker 1: that we be doing and you know together and in
Speaker 1: our in our individual careers on top of you know,
Speaker 1: raising three amazing kids. Like the foundation was so strong,
Speaker 1: um because none of this was around. And I'm truly
Speaker 1: appreciative of that, Um that I do have somebody that
Speaker 1: I can share all of this with. And who knows
Speaker 1: how I'm thinking before before I'm even thinking that I
Speaker 1: can you know, understand some of the pressures that she's
Speaker 1: going through as a quote unquote basketball wife, which we
Speaker 1: know it's not just the thing, it's it's something that
Speaker 1: is thrown at you know them unnecessarily every single day
Speaker 1: of either comparisons or standards that they have to uphold
Speaker 1: every day, or just the constant noise around like what's
Speaker 1: happening in our world is always having to impact them
Speaker 1: or they have to answer to it or whatever the
Speaker 1: class you even think about, like stuff that's going on
Speaker 1: this year, and like terms of fan interaction, like it's
Speaker 1: hard for them to come to game sometimes, like keeping
Speaker 1: it real, like we're going to playoff games on the
Speaker 1: road and there's always you know, people yelling at them
Speaker 1: because they think that's gonna affect us and all this
Speaker 1: other stuff. And like, I have such an appreciation for
Speaker 1: her growing into that role too, because it's loud at times,
Speaker 1: and it's there's a lot of you know, opportunity for
Speaker 1: distraction and stress and um and whatnot. But our foundation
Speaker 1: is key, the fact that we can share that with
Speaker 1: the world the proper ways. Um, trying to be as
Speaker 1: authentic and real about the things that we're experiencing and
Speaker 1: hopefully you know, give a good light on what marriages
Speaker 1: because there's so much fear around what that is, and
Speaker 1: and and obviously you you want to uh to honor
Speaker 1: you know, that establishment as much as possible in the
Speaker 1: e comipment that we made. So it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. But the fact that I get
Speaker 1: to be her big supporter and biggest supporter and see
Speaker 1: what she's been able to create on her own and um,
Speaker 1: and know what work she's put into it and the
Speaker 1: stuff behind the scenes that nobody gets to see. Like
Speaker 1: that stuff is so dope to me and so rewarding
Speaker 1: because um, you know, she deserves everything she's got. And uh,
Speaker 1: I'm proud of her for that. I was a little
Speaker 1: more like me in a sense of shells throw it
Speaker 1: up before you know it's out there, like it just
Speaker 1: it just blew out. One thing I admire is and
Speaker 1: and I guess it's just who you are because you know,
Speaker 1: as a brother in my life, you've been the same way.
Speaker 1: Like I said, she's like me in the sense that
Speaker 1: it will just come out. And as a brother in
Speaker 1: my life, no matter where I've went wrong, um, no
Speaker 1: matter you know, if I've said some wrong things before,
Speaker 1: You've always supported me. And one thing I admire about
Speaker 1: you in your relationship, but you in particular is even
Speaker 1: at times where she may have said the wrong thing, Um,
Speaker 1: your support for her and saying that and and and
Speaker 1: standing in front of it. It's like, uh, you stood
Speaker 1: in front of her as if she was right and
Speaker 1: it don't matter. I am my heard that. But that's
Speaker 1: that's for you. That can get a little dicey too,
Speaker 1: because you have a brand and you have all the
Speaker 1: things that you've built, but you stood in front of
Speaker 1: her no matter what that situation, like what the situation
Speaker 1: has been. Is that just like that's just what it is.
Speaker 1: That's the way it's gonna be. Like is there a
Speaker 1: conversation to be had? Like how does that? How do
Speaker 1: you go about that? I think that's powerful because a
Speaker 1: lot of it is, uh the fact that, like you
Speaker 1: just said, I know you're gonna mess up at times,
Speaker 1: and obviously I've done the exact same thing, and I
Speaker 1: can defend myself. But when it comes to like the
Speaker 1: unnecessary just focus and heat on somebody, that is like
Speaker 1: take a take a second and walk in her shoes,
Speaker 1: for you know, I'm not saying. And she were all
Speaker 1: blessed and we all you know, have amazing things going
Speaker 1: on in our life. But like my sister always said,
Speaker 1: everybody's mountain is their mountain, and there are certain things
Speaker 1: that you will never know she's going through in terms of,
Speaker 1: you know, all the different hats she has to wear,
Speaker 1: and you know the responsibilities and the expectations of a
Speaker 1: woman and all of those arenas and what they go
Speaker 1: through on a daily basis. Like I have an appreciation
Speaker 1: for all of that, so I know she would hold
Speaker 1: me down in those situations in the same way it goes,
Speaker 1: you know, the other way, and that is my job
Speaker 1: as her husband, and so I take that, take that seriously.
Speaker 1: And the biggest pieces, like it's such a long journeyman,
Speaker 1: Like there's gonna be so much stuff that you know
Speaker 1: that happens, and if you, like I said, if you
Speaker 1: have a strong foundation of how you're gonna get through
Speaker 1: that stuff like um, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: Like there's so much confidence in that because I know,
Speaker 1: I know who she is, I know what she's about,
Speaker 1: and never second guess that. So it makes it a
Speaker 1: little bit easier in times where there is conflict and
Speaker 1: there is uh what you ever want to call a drama,
Speaker 1: necessary drama, because that's that's what it is. For sure.
Speaker 1: I think I have an appreciation for that because for
Speaker 1: the longest time I would see you operate that way
Speaker 1: and I didn't understand it, in part due to because
Speaker 1: I didn't have that for myself, like you know, um
Speaker 1: once once being in a relationship with Hayzell, I learned
Speaker 1: so much about being in the relationship and and support
Speaker 1: for a woman and the hats that they actually were
Speaker 1: before that I can't say I understood that, like I
Speaker 1: didn't understand all the hats. I didn't understand, um, the
Speaker 1: things that you know, she's doing for our kids and
Speaker 1: like holding our house together, and like all the different
Speaker 1: hats that a woman where I can't say that I
Speaker 1: understood that. If you want me to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I thought, like, like I gotta go out here and
Speaker 1: play every day. Your life is very simple until you
Speaker 1: really connect with someone and like you sharing that pain,
Speaker 1: you feel that hurt, you see the struggles. It gave
Speaker 1: me a totally different appreciation for it. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember this, but I asked you a question
Speaker 1: on the plane before and I said, if there's one
Speaker 1: luxury in the world, And this is long before my understanding,
Speaker 1: it's probably six seven years ago. I asked you this.
Speaker 1: I said, if there's one luxury in the world that
Speaker 1: you can have and you can have it for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life, or that you could just have
Speaker 1: one luxury, what would that luxury be? And I asked you,
Speaker 1: I asked, Clay, maybe delete I know mine was a
Speaker 1: private plane. Like a private plane, that's one that's the
Speaker 1: ultimate luxury to me. And I'll never forget your answer.
Speaker 1: I was so disappointed and your answer. I look back
Speaker 1: on that answer now and I want a hundred percent
Speaker 1: understand because what your answer was, it isn't like it
Speaker 1: it has a bearing on your life. It has a
Speaker 1: bearing on you being you know. One of the things
Speaker 1: that you told me, it's like me I used to
Speaker 1: date and like like we have a relationship totally several
Speaker 1: of the kids that we really involved, like that we
Speaker 1: really commit to because we know if we're committed to
Speaker 1: that relationship, the kids they'll be fine and they'll automatically
Speaker 1: benefit from that. And I understand that now. But when
Speaker 1: I asked you that question, it was so disappointing. You
Speaker 1: said that, Nanny, I'm like, all the luxuries in the world.
Speaker 1: Stress that all the luxuries in the world, you can
Speaker 1: have nanny. I didn't understand it. I do understand it
Speaker 1: now though, but I didn't understand it then. And that
Speaker 1: was like, I mean, I thought she was so imagine
Speaker 1: like the refact you talked about the stuff that they
Speaker 1: then my wife does to be a presence in a
Speaker 1: you know, care give her and take of our kids,
Speaker 1: and just the amount of that. They might not even
Speaker 1: feel like it's worked, but I feel like you leave
Speaker 1: me at home with the kids, God, something's gonna break.
Speaker 1: I might lose one of them at the house. They
Speaker 1: might be hungry. Uh, I don't know what. Like, it's
Speaker 1: just a whole lot of stuff. But like that definitely
Speaker 1: is a reflection of just appreciation for what it takes
Speaker 1: to be you know, amazing wife and a mother and
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur and all that type of stuff. And the
Speaker 1: other piece to that appreciation is, I know how hard
Speaker 1: you know, we work to do what we do and
Speaker 1: what it takes to be successful. It's something you pour
Speaker 1: everything you have into it. Yeah, I feel like there's
Speaker 1: a kind of common theme of like women in general,
Speaker 1: you know, I have to work twice as hard the
Speaker 1: same opportunity and that's like just common and you know,
Speaker 1: we can talk about pay equity and all that all
Speaker 1: that stuff, but we can also like even think about
Speaker 1: a lot of accomplishments when wifes have been marginalized because
Speaker 1: of my success. So think about it, I worked twice
Speaker 1: as hard to get, you know, acknowledgement of success and
Speaker 1: I'm into my business. But all of that is and
Speaker 1: then I would get half the praise for it because
Speaker 1: it's the cold because you have money, it's because you
Speaker 1: can afford multipleities. It's because you know your your husband
Speaker 1: is the superstar in the NBA that it's easy. You've
Speaker 1: got all the opportunity in the world. Like I never
Speaker 1: appreciated that vibe because I don't get all from praise
Speaker 1: like that. But you also haven't appreciated like what you
Speaker 1: put in is not gonna necessarily come back, you know,
Speaker 1: with the same energy. And once that clicked, like all
Speaker 1: the other stuff made much so much more sense in
Speaker 1: terms of the day to day on just finding peace
Speaker 1: and happiness at the end of the day, and so
Speaker 1: um every other wife in the world I got so
Speaker 1: much respect for. But what you do, uh, and we
Speaker 1: wouldn't be who we are without them, I agree. Trying
Speaker 1: to get some brownie points on the Draymond Green showed today.
Speaker 1: I got a date in two hours, and it better
Speaker 1: be good. As I'm playing this, I get the advanced
Speaker 1: guy can get the raw. We're sending this right away.
Speaker 1: But speaking, I mean two more questions. I didn't know
Speaker 1: you had a date, but last one about Aisha, and
Speaker 1: then just one for you. As as guys, especially in
Speaker 1: our position, UM, like Hazel's an actress, She's constantly doing auditions.
Speaker 1: I'm constantly reading I know you remember this because I
Speaker 1: used you used to be in the same field. I'm
Speaker 1: reading these like these scripts. I'm reading the script slides
Speaker 1: they call them. I'm reading the slides and trying to
Speaker 1: record her because as you, COVID sent everything home. So
Speaker 1: I'm the cameraman, I'm the reader, I'm all of these things.
Speaker 1: I'm not likeing Man doing all of these things. And
Speaker 1: I have a huge appreciation for her and her grind
Speaker 1: and what she puts into it. Um, but that's not
Speaker 1: always the case, And especially in our profession. A lot
Speaker 1: of guys have egos, and a lot of guys are
Speaker 1: super super and secure and what we do and I
Speaker 1: iss just leveled up on a totally different level over
Speaker 1: the last two three years or so and everything that
Speaker 1: she's doing. How was that for you? Accepting that growth?
Speaker 1: Because it changes the dynamic, Like it changes you could
Speaker 1: come home from a ten day road trip and she
Speaker 1: going for ten days, and then now she come back
Speaker 1: from her ten day tripping all her business that she's handling,
Speaker 1: and then you're leaving for four days. How has that
Speaker 1: been for you? And adjusting to what she's been able
Speaker 1: to do, all the things that she has her hands
Speaker 1: and and the businesses that she's started and are running.
Speaker 1: And I you know, like cover Girl isn't a business
Speaker 1: that she started then be in the face of that
Speaker 1: that comes with a requirement? How how is that for you?
Speaker 1: And to accept that this is who she's becoming. And
Speaker 1: I support that one because it totally changes the dynamic
Speaker 1: that you were used to for years. You gotta that's
Speaker 1: where we came. I mean it's not a genius term,
Speaker 1: but like we literally have to thrive in chaos a
Speaker 1: little bit because it is. Uh, you got all these
Speaker 1: plans for what the year gonna look like and how
Speaker 1: we're gonna balance it out. Okay, we're gonna match up
Speaker 1: road trips and work, Uh crazy work schedules and that,
Speaker 1: you know, when I have a homestand we're all at
Speaker 1: home and we have some normalcy and family dinners and
Speaker 1: all that, and then you get like three or four
Speaker 1: weeks into the season, you're like, uh, we ain't getting
Speaker 1: this right. But to your point, like it's a celebration
Speaker 1: of what she's doing, is understanding that we're trying to
Speaker 1: do everything at the same time, like we're trying to
Speaker 1: raise her family. I'm in the height of my career.
Speaker 1: She's you know, a serial entrepreneur and has a a
Speaker 1: lot of uh you know success like scaling these businesses
Speaker 1: up and what it requires to do that. Um, you
Speaker 1: kind of have to continue to reprioritize like again, like
Speaker 1: you said, like dating each other and having as much
Speaker 1: quality time as you can. You know, the kids are
Speaker 1: definitely you know, a priority. Um and work, like all
Speaker 1: those things kind of shuffle at the same time, and UM,
Speaker 1: it's it's difficult. I want to sit here and try
Speaker 1: to sugarcoat and say like we got everything perfect. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, the one thing I'll
Speaker 1: make a joke, the one thing that has done is
Speaker 1: like I kind of looking forward to like what is
Speaker 1: the tirement look like? What is that? What does that
Speaker 1: actually look like? We're getting out months of my year
Speaker 1: back and uh, you know you're gonna work trip cool,
Speaker 1: I'll be here and I ain't got kids. I mean
Speaker 1: it might look different when you get back, but I
Speaker 1: don't worry. I hold it that. But we have an
Speaker 1: amazing village around this that helps UM, and you know
Speaker 1: that it's extremely crucial to supporting us and what we do.
Speaker 1: But there is an understanding that you know, these could
Speaker 1: be the busiest and most chaotic times of our lives,
Speaker 1: but the most rewarding in terms of UM, you know,
Speaker 1: life experiences and when even what we get to share
Speaker 1: with our kids, UM along the way, So UM, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, were always tired. Though your
Speaker 1: last answer honestly leads me to my last question, which
Speaker 1: was what does retirement and life after basketball look like
Speaker 1: for Steph Curry? And it's two part questions, Um, does
Speaker 1: will we get the opportunity to see stuff on the
Speaker 1: p g A tour or at least pursue because I
Speaker 1: like the word pursue, pursue because like we're professional basketball players,
Speaker 1: so no disrespect to all the PGA golfers, Like I
Speaker 1: know what it takes to to be what what you
Speaker 1: all have become and what you're doing. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it takes to be a golfer, but to be
Speaker 1: a professional and so no disrespect, but I know your
Speaker 1: love for golf. I know your relationship with the tour,
Speaker 1: with the guys on the tour. Um, will we one
Speaker 1: days have the opportunity to see Steph Curry pursue playing
Speaker 1: on the tour. There are a couple of templates that
Speaker 1: are certain other professional athletes from other sports have taken
Speaker 1: and to dabble into professional golf. Uh like John Smoltz,
Speaker 1: Tony Romo, um, Marty Fish who was uh amazing tennis player. Uh.
Speaker 1: All of those guys have found ways to find competitive golf,
Speaker 1: test their skills. Um getting grain too, some of the
Speaker 1: kind of tempole events. So I encountered a year that
Speaker 1: kind of scratch that itch, if you will. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna learn from that when when it's all said done,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the scary part is like
Speaker 1: if you told me that I know what it takes
Speaker 1: to be a basketball player at this level and the grind, right,
Speaker 1: I'm not afraid of that grind. But I'm also afraid
Speaker 1: of that grind because with the grind starts and I
Speaker 1: commit to it, I'm not gonna stop. So I have
Speaker 1: to I gotta find some clarity on that question because
Speaker 1: it would be interesting to see how far I could go.
Speaker 1: But I'm also afraid of what it what that means,
Speaker 1: because my work ethic is something I hang my hat on,
Speaker 1: and you can take that and apply to something else.
Speaker 1: My one. I just hyped up my relationship with my
Speaker 1: wife and success in peace and happiness, and I might
Speaker 1: ruin I might ruin all of that by saying, hey, baby,
Speaker 1: I'm yeah, you know whatever, seventeen eighteen years in the league,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go try golf. Now, let's
Speaker 1: just watch Frinds and peat this whole last eighteen years.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that's gonna look like, but those
Speaker 1: guys are figured out a way to have some fun,
Speaker 1: keep it competitive, but not go all the way into
Speaker 1: the deep end. To see my brother. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think like people always ask me. Obviously
Speaker 1: you know I can't go off, but people always ask me,
Speaker 1: um am I going to coach? But I am not
Speaker 1: gonna be a GM when I'm down playing, and I
Speaker 1: tell everybody, no, hell no, Like, the last thing I
Speaker 1: want to be on when I'm done playing it's a
Speaker 1: basketball schedule. I've been on a basketball schedule my entire life.
Speaker 1: The last thing I want to do is retire and
Speaker 1: then be back on the basketball schedule. So I totally
Speaker 1: understand my brother, I totally understand, and from myself Producer Jackson, Uh,
Speaker 1: Jackson has been sucking blowing my phone up all week
Speaker 1: about this episode. How are you thinking work? We had
Speaker 1: two calls about this episode and making and trying to
Speaker 1: make it as perfect as possible, and honestly, um, it's
Speaker 1: really a uh, you know, just a non to to
Speaker 1: you and everything that you've done. Um, who you are
Speaker 1: these trophies, your m v P trophies that sit right
Speaker 1: next to those trophies, that's just in your own personal case. Um,
Speaker 1: who you are as a person, a steward of the
Speaker 1: game of basketball, um, and an example for black men.
Speaker 1: And how like, no, we can be successful in marriage
Speaker 1: and like yeah there is a divorce rating, Like we
Speaker 1: can be successful and as as the head of a family,
Speaker 1: because that is skewed, and like we don't get to
Speaker 1: see that all the time, and so I think, you know,
Speaker 1: when when speaking of a couple goals, it's incredible to
Speaker 1: see to African Americans do what y'all are doing. And
Speaker 1: so I appreciate that, man, I appreciate it, and I
Speaker 1: want to say things, UM, for everything that you've done
Speaker 1: and been to in my life. Um, for the success
Speaker 1: that we've had. You know, there's always this notion of
Speaker 1: like Draymond can't do can't do it without Steph, or
Speaker 1: he can't do it without Clay. And I'll be one
Speaker 1: hard person, honest, I can't on the flip side Clay
Speaker 1: and Steph. Clay can't do it without Stephan, Draymond and
Speaker 1: Steph can't do it without Clay and Draymond. And I think,
Speaker 1: for for me, what we've built, it's not that I
Speaker 1: can't go on and do something else. It's not that
Speaker 1: you wouldn't be successful in playing with someone Else's not
Speaker 1: that Clay couldn't go to the Lakers tomorrow and be
Speaker 1: Clay time. It's not that it's just not as beautiful
Speaker 1: as what we've been able to do together. And so
Speaker 1: fuck everybody everybody who say I can't or he can't
Speaker 1: or Clay can't. You're right, you win. We can't. We
Speaker 1: can't do it all each other, but we're damn good
Speaker 1: doing it together. That's it from this episode of drem
Speaker 1: Green Show. Thank you, my brother. It's a rat. We
Speaker 1: are