Draymond Green wants more control over his narrative, and wants the same respect given to serial entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey.
The Warriors' forward launched a podcast, The Draymond Green Show, at the end of 2021, and earlier this year signed a deal with TNT to appear on the network's Inside the NBA show as well as produce additional content.
However, Green lost control of the narrative earlier this month when celebrity gossip site TMZ published a leaked video of Green punching teammate Jordan Poole. Before the video was leaked, the Warriors told the media that it would handle the incident internally.
Questions about "the punch" still swirl a couple of weeks later, and on Thursday, Green addressed how he has approached the subject during a conversation with TechCrunch editor Brian Heater at the publication's annual Disrupt conference in San Francisco.
A couple of days earlier, Green fueled the media intrigue around it by releasing a documentary-style segment on TNT's The Countdown in which he frames his desire to move forward. Notably absent from his podcast and the show, however, is Poole's voice.
Would he ever bring Poole onto his podcast to talk about it? Yes, if Poole wants to. Green did record an episode about the incident but decided to not release it.
Green's main objective at the conference was to talk about disrupting sports media, looking beyond a career in basketball and giving athletes the same level of respect as other entrepreneurs.
Here are the highlights from Green's conversation with Heater:
Athletes deserve more respect as entrepreneurs
“I want to build something incredible in the media space outside of basketball, and I am currently working on that. … Jack Dorsey built Twitter and … Square at the same time. Elon Musk built SpaceX, Tesla at the same time. We're talking four of the greatest companies in modern history. They did that at the same time. And I'm not competent enough to do a podcast after a game? And so it shows you the level of respect, or lack thereof, for athletes.”
Would he ever have Poole on his podcast to talk about "the punch"?
“If Jordan ever wants to come on the podcast and have that conversation, I will 100% be open to it. I'm not one to hide from things, you know, or run away from situations. And so, if he ever wanted to come on and do that, I'd be more than open to it. It's not something that I would try to force on him because I think it is actually the reason why I have not recorded a podcast about it at all. … I take that back. I did record a podcast. I didn't release it for a couple of reasons.
“One, I was still reeling and feeling my way through and I just once I heard it, I didn't like it. And secondly, as I never want to you know, I'm in a team sport. I don't want something to come off as I'm doing something for personal gain. … The Countdown was a totally different thing because that was something that was actively going on.
“For me to release a podcast and speaking on the Jordan Poole incident that we had in practice, ultimately, the numbers will probably shoot through the roof, right? Because everybody wants to hear and, you know, people love controversy. And so, I never want to do that and look like I'm chasing something for my personal gain, and so that was why I didn't release a podcast on the situation at all. I've spoken about it several times.
Can he juggle a podcast and other projects while playing during the Warrior's season?
“Anytime you do something different, people is going to have a problem with it. We're here at TechCrunch. You see the word right there. Disrupt. To me, doing a podcast is very disruptive to the sports media industry. Why? Because you're getting exactly from the source what happened that night or early in the morning. By the time you wake up, you're listening to me speak about this game in a totally different context than you will hear anyone in the media speak about it. Why? Because I actually just played in the game. And so my perspective is totally different.
“In (me) doing a podcast, they're not able to create the narrative that they want to create. And so there was a lot of pushback on it. There was a lot of, you can't do this, you can't do that. Quite frankly, not that you just can't play well, but there has to be some reason you're not playing well. It can't be that the Boston Celtics have incredible length and you're working to figure that out, right?
“For those pundits that have a problem with me doing a podcast, I wonder what they'll say this year because I actually won an NBA finals while doing it.
Does Green still get nervous going out in front of a large crowd?
“Absolutely. … I'm nervous every game, number one, at the beginning of the game. And coming on a stage like this, it's a totally different stage than I'm accustomed to being on. … A public speaking engagement… doesn't produce the same nerves as a game does, because in a game, I'm just more accustomed to that, right? I run up and down the court one time and the nerves are gone. Here, a lot of smart people are here. I don't know if those nerves are leaving.
Is there still a stigma around mental health and athletes?
“I think there's a bunch of guys that's been open and honest about their journeys. For me, personally, I can't take the credit for that. … You see guys like DeMar DeRozan who's leading that charge a guy like Kevin Love, who's leading that charge. … Those are all-star level players with them coming out and sharing their journey. I think it's made it a lot easier. … Not easy in the sense of, you know, it's just an easy thing to do, because everyone's journey is different. And it's hard for everyone, but I think they've made the path a lot easier since the days of Royce White.
On the lose-lose proposition of social media
“I think for us personally, you're kind of in a position on Twitter or Instagram where everyone feels like they can say whatever it is that they want to say. And then you get a bunch of backlash for it, if you say something bad. If you don't say anything bad, then … you're not necessarily someone who engages the fans.
“For a guy like myself, who doesn't do much with it at all, then you're condemned and you don't care. You have Kevin Durant on the total opposite end of the spectrum. He's a total opposite. He gets crushed for being someone who responds all the time. And so it's kind of, you're caught in a lose-lose situation.”
