Draymond Green Talks Klay & Loss vs Kings, Postgame Interview

Geron, you're laughing at the score sheet, what did you see on the score sheet for this game and what do you think? Where do you think it went wrong? We lost 118 and 94, that's what I was laughing at. I think they just Also, they were more physical than us throughout the game, Draymond, you guys aren't used to your season ending so early, what are the emotions? Maybe they are exiting the game for the last time. court for the last time watching Clay come back and take in the scene what are the emotions for you in those moments uh just a little upset is the

loss

um it's a fun group to come to work with every day so it sucks that comes to an end end, but yeah, I really don't know.

Are you confident that you know this is a fun group to work with every day? Are you confident that this group will still be the main group here next season? Oh yeah, I have no reason. It's not like, you know, they stuck with us through thick and thin, it's not as good this year, but I can't win every year, so yeah, I'm confident until it's no longer about how vocal you're going to be. about bringing Clay back. I mean, he's that's the biggest question that lingers um yeah, I mean, obviously we want Clay to come back, you know, uh, you know, we've been through a lot, uh, you know, incredible highs, some shitty lows, um, but the common denominator for both of us is that we've been through each and every scenario together, you know, so, you know, it's obvious that we want to continue with what we've been doing, but I understand that he has a decision that take and he's going to make the best decision for him, um team.

I have to make a decision, they will make the best decision for the team, but you know, I have no doubt that even if you know which one, I don't think there is any scenario where Clay Lee and that is the best decision for this team. organization uh but what I don't doubt is that if Joe or Mike or anybody felt it was better for this team to move forward without clay, that wouldn't be the decision they would make because they think you know they haven't proven anything. but respect loyalty, I love it, trust us, so I have no reason to come into this like, oh man, they're not going to do right by Clay, they did right by me, uh, they did right by Stu, I They did good to everyone. of us, you know Klay got Klay tours ACL um, they paid him $160 million, so I have no reason to think that our ownership group won't take care of us the way we've taken care of this organization, like I said ultimately. that decision will be made but I don't look at it like oh man they are only going to do us, there are a lot of organizations that will only do us what is best for the organization, this is not one of them Draymond as soon as As you guys passed Because of this season of ups and downs, you prepared for this game before this game, when you look at Steph and Clay, how much faith do you guys have in what you guys can do coming into this game?

They always had faith, uh, coming to the games. Like this, life or death situations, you know, every time, those guys pass, you know, Klay had a tough shooting night tonight, but he competed, you know, shots don't always fall, we got some, we gave him some great looks . I didn't make the shots that he made any other time, they just didn't fall, so I always get rid of those guys, man, they always rise to the challenge and it's no different tonight, the shots just didn't go in, you guys are proud and you They've had a lot of accomplishments, how hard was it to take a game like this right now, uh,

loss

is a loss, I don't really see it as, oh man, this game and what happened in it and we're done this year, so it's just that Dre, how would you rate this season for you personally? um interesting, very interesting, but it was fun, I always enjoyed playing basketball, um, like I said, going to war with those guys in that locker room, each and every night.

Anything I went through personally was worth it, because I have to get back out there where the guys who have my back every day are, so I never look at it from a personal point of view. You know, I've had incredible years where I've been the Allstar Defensive Player of the Year Champion. All of that is never about what it necessarily is for me personally, you know, so, I always want to, I take the good with the bad, uh, you know, no, no. a favorite I don't just show up when it's good, I show up even more when it's bad, you know, and through the ups and downs of this season, at any moment you know it's time to show up and you know that I and that's what I would do, you know , and I said the bumps in the road along the way suck, they made it a lot easier to walk in the locker room and practice with those guys, so I'm interested, anyway, I think I grew a lot and you.

I know you take that growth, you channel it, you find other ways to grow, get better, keep moving forward, Draymond, um, those first two games of the season that you guys played, uh, Kings, uh, we were, you know, arguing that you had Kings' number at the time and you were saying well, you didn't believe it, but it was just part of the learning process. Now they have one and can move on. You have some separation, you know, at least for this season. You know how they are. I've been playing because they had some really bad losses, but they weathered that and like I said, they got you tonight, yeah, they're a good team, you know?

I don't think any different about them because they won than I thought before, you know? what they are capable of is a team that took us to seven last year and we can take out that series um, but you know there is a team to watch out for, you don't know, not last year, not this year, but you know that this It's the The years move on, they will be there, you know, a great coaching staff, the ownership group has done an incredible job, Fox has taken the next step, sabonis, Keegan Murray continues to grow, hbv, that solid veteran for them, you know, they have something good. go and you said down the stretch it wasn't ideal for them, even being in this situation wasn't ideal, but you have to take the cars that you dealt and play the hand so you know they're doing a good job. from that you came out victorious tonight and it will be interesting to see it grow even when you guys were below 500 Steve always said this was one of his favorite groups to coach and he really loved coaching this group and you alluded to how much you like to play with this group, why do you think that even in a season where you guys didn't get to where you wanted to go, there was that enjoyment and what's the last memory of this group, even you guys right at this point, this team has been through a lot of things, man, you know, and through it all, nobody wavered, you know, you can appreciate a group like that, the chemistry on this team is great, you know, which always helps, and it was a fun group, you know? show up every day uh, when the times were great, the group was great, when the times were bad, the group was great, you know, so, yeah, you know, what you take away from this is, obviously, you don't He ended up like us.

I wanted to finish, but it was fun working every day, Draymond, you guys had 46 wins in normal years, you're close to the middle of the conference this year, you're in the game. Do you look at that and say, man, it's just A strange year or do you say man, that's a lot of teams between us and getting back to the top. Every year there are 20 between n teams and between you and getting to the top, so I don't see this one as different from that one. but I think I see that as the league has gotten better, you know, you're either getting better or you're getting worse, and I think the league is getting better, so I don't necessarily look at it like next year if you got 46 wins, it would be more normal. and you would be in fourth or sixth place.

I don't think that's the case. I think the league has gotten better and will continue to get better, so you've got to figure it out. I think you know when we look at our season we lost, I mean we won 46 games. I can count on you right now. I can tell you six losses off the top of my head, like we gave them away, you know, and that's why I think The learning experience is the games you're supposed to win, you have to win and some of the games you're supposed to You don't have to win, you have to eliminate some of them too and that is becoming more and more true in this league. with the travesty that there is in the NBA and I think that, you know, I try to pride myself on being a guy that understands the business of basketball, understands the rules and I think we're going to see more of that with the new salary restrictions and tax levels and all that stuff.

I think you're going to see more parodies because of that, so I don't think, um, I don't think that's going anywhere, I think it's going to be more and more that way. way instead of going backwards thank you I appreciate that your season with Chris uh what do you think you know how he handled it you know the work he had to do and I guess his unknown future with you guys ah man. Chris was great, I'm grateful and honored, happy as hell that I got the chance to play with him this year, that we all got the chance to be teammates with Chris, it's not something in a million years since I've done him.

I did. He said a million times, um, we would have imagined that and you know, other than winning, it couldn't have been better, I learned a lot from him, I built a relationship that will go beyond whether he's here next year or not, yeah I'm here next year or not, you know, man very grateful for semen, you know, there aren't, there aren't, I haven't come across many guys like that, if any, in this league, you know, so it was an honor to play with him. um as a teammate, I hope you know that we can continue to do what we do here with these uniforms and man, I hope and pray that he comes back, uh, and that I come back because it's an honor to have him as a teammate because of the way he that competes.

You know you love going to war with guys like that. Brilliant.