Draymond Green is at it again, saying everything that is on his mind and attracting a lot of attention due to his unique takes on the basketball world. In a recent interview with Shaquille O’Neal, he talked about the difficulties of accumulating wealth in the NBA with all the fines given out to players for misbehaving on and off the courts.
The forward will always be remembered for being a key member of the Golden State dynasty, but also due to his involvement in numerous disputes with players and referees, earning a reputation as an athlete that can’t control his emotions.
Most of these on-court incidents have resulted in fines, as the veteran star has now accumulated around $900,000 as punishment throughout his basketball career. The 34-year-old has also lost millions in salary due to suspensions without pay.
Draymond Green believes the NBA isn’t set up to keep players rich once they retire.
He’s earned more than $177 million during his career. Absolutely delusional.
WATCH: https://t.co/7aDPVLhGq2 pic.twitter.com/ocUMdW0s0x
— OutKick (@Outkick) May 28, 2024
One of his most controversial came at the start of this 2023/24 campaign, when he was suspended indefinitely after hitting rival Jusuf Turkic in the face, which meant he lost around $2 million in wages while he was out.
In the most recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time champions argued that these punishments can hurt the possibility of a basketball professional to accumulate wealth after retirement. “The fines to me don’t make sense,” Green told Shaq.
“When you talk about as hard as we work to accumulate wealth, coming from situations that most people never make it out, and then you get fined the way we get fined, it’s actually not set up for us to be wealthy after we’re done playing,” said Draymond, who inked a four-year contract extension with the Warriors back in June.
The former DPOY further explained his take. “This job is not set up, the way we’re taxed, the way we’re fined. … If I do something wrong, I lose $100,000. It took my mom four years when I was growing up to make $100,000. And I lose that in a night because what? The referee got mad at me, and he didn’t like what I said to him. So, I lose $5,000 like that? Like, on a tech?” he insisted.
The Golden State Forward Admitted He ‘Deserved To Be Kicked Out’ After What He Told The Refs In Last Ejection
After Draymond Green got himself ejected for the fourth time this season against Orlando, he immediately expressed his regret the following day on his own podcast show. The player recognised that he deserved to be kicked out of the game, as he discussed with the officials after they called a foul on Andrew Wiggins early in the game.
“It just can’t happen,” he said on an episode back in March. “I said what I said. I deserved to be kicked out at that point. If I’m all the way honest with y’all, kind of was trying to turn my body and angle it to go to the bench, but I said what I said a little too soon before angling my body. … But, yeah, it just can’t happen.”
This punishment also means his 19th career regular-season ejection, which is the second most in league history only trailing behind Rasheed Wallace, who has 25 to his name.
“I’m not going to overreact, like, ‘Oh man!’” the Warriors forward assured on his podcast. “Stuff is never as good as it seems; it’s never as bad as it seems. I know where I am. I understand what I’m doing moving forward. And my position is just make sure that’s the exception and not the rule.”
