Getty Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors shoots over Paul George #13 and Mason Plumlee #44 of the LA Clippers.
What might have been if the Golden State Warriors missed out on drafting Draymond Green?
The enigmatic Warriors forward revealed on Podcast P with Paul George that he thought the Indiana Pacers were drafting him at No. 26 in the 2012 NBA Draft.
“I worked out for Indiana twice… [They] passed me for Miles Plumlee, but it’s cool,” Green said.
Draymond in Indiana? PG in Golden State? 🧐
It almost happened…
Green recalled Larry Bird stepping down as Pacers president then, which could have played a part in the Pacers passing up on him.
“I had like three or four teams that were really, really interested in me, which had their front office changed within a week and a half to the draft. I’m a firm believer that everything always happens the way it should be, but yeah, man, your guys passed up on me. They should blame themselves that you ain’t in Indiana anymore,” Green added.
It turned out well for Green as he won four championships with the Warriors, while the Pacers got rid of Plumlee after only one season with them, mostly with their developmental team.
The Warriors also passed up on Green twice–picking Harrison Barnes at No. 7 and Festus Ezeli at No. 30.
“One thing I respect about [former Warriors general manager] Bob Myers, as Bob said, ‘Draymond, we can’t be that smart. Because if we were, we would have drafted you seventh, we have seventh or even at 30. We can’t be that smart, but we got it right eventually,'” Green said.
Green was one of the biggest steals in NBA Draft history. The Warriors should have been blaming themselves, instead of the Pacers, had they missed out on Green.
Draymond Green’s Agent Takes a Shot at Stephen Curry
Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul took a subtle jab at Green’s teammate and Warriors franchise star Stephen Curry when he was trying to defend the legitimacy of LeBron James’ NBA Bubble championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“If Steph [Curry] wins in the bubble, do they discredit it? No, they don’t,” Paul said on the latest episode of Gil’s Arena podcast.
James’ critics have put an asterisk on his fourth title as it came at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the NBA season was cut short and finished it in an insulated bubble environment with no fans in attendance in Orlando.
Paul’s comments suggest that James is being unfairly discredited compared to Curry, who also has won four championships with the Warriors.
But contrary to Paul’s suggestive narrative, Curry has also been discredited for his championships when Kevin Durant joined them to form a super team.
Warriors Intend to Keep Chris Paul
Warriors owner Joe Lacob made it clear that they have no intention to flip Chris Paul for a younger All-Star after acquiring him in the Jordan Poole trade.
‘There’s a lot of possibilities,” Lacob told The Athletic’s Kim Kawakami. “… But I don’t think our goal, quite frankly, is to trade Chris Paul away or do something with that contract. We like the idea of having Chris Paul on the team. And we’re excited about it. So let’s see what happens, how it works and how successful we are, and we’ll take it from there.”
Lacob believes Paul’s track record of making people better will be good for the Warriors, especially their young guys.