Draymond Green recently wrapped up his 11th season in the NBA, all of which he has spent with the Golden State Warriors.
Since the Warriors selected Green in the second round of the 2012 draft, Green has gone of to win four NBA championships. He was also named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and is a four-time All-Star.
Depsite how his careers has turned out, Green admitted that it still crosses his mind that 34 players were drafted ahead of him. During a recent appearance on the “Podcast P with Paul George,” named the player who he felt had no business being drafted ahead of him.
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Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors reacts to a call during the third quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center on March 28, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Loren Elliott/Getty Images)
“This is not to throw salt at anybody,” Green began. “But Andrew Nicholson was drafted over me at like [No.] 19. … At the time y’all are comparing us as big men who can play back to the basket, but I’m looking at this dude and number one, he doesn’t even look like a basketball player.
“I always tell people, when it comes to winning, half the battle is looking like a basketball player. When you’re on a team and you look at the other side of the floor and if you see guys that don’t look like basketball players, you automatically lose respect. And when you lose respect for those guys, you do things to them in the game that you otherwise wouldn’t have done if you respected that guy.”
Green added that he was confident that Nicholson “going to be better” than him “at basketball.”
“So that’s half the battle. … He’s weird body shaped, he walks like this and talks like this, there’s no way that this guy is going to be better than me at basketball. I just don’t see it. So that was one that really, really, really pissed me off. There are several others that went before me, but that was one where I’m like we’re getting compared, I worked out against him a couple of times and I didn’t get drafted [before him].”
Nicholson was the No. 19 overall draft pick in 2012. He averaged 6.5 points on 47.3 percent shooting, 3.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 15.1 minutes during his five-year stint with the Orlando Magic.
Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors brings the ball up court during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum on March 18, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Justin Ford/Getty Images)
He went on to play for the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets. He currently plays for a professional basketball team in China.
Nicholson was not the only player in the 2012 draft class that he was unhappy with, albeit for different reasons.
“Another one that really pissed me off, and this one didn’t piss me off because I’m a better basketball player than him, because he was f—ing nice, Royce White,” Green noted. “Royce White was super nice, and we did a lot of the same things. He was more athletic than me and Royce had big hands. super talented. But also another comparison.
“So the reason Royce White pissed me off is not because he wasn’t a good basketball player — I actually believe if he didn’t go through the stuff that he did, I think he’d still be dominating the NBA today — but it pissed me off because it’s like, alright we’re very similar and all our workouts, we worked out against each other. And there was somewhere I destroyed him, but also remember a couple where he destroyed me. So I’m just like alright, well we’re very similar, so if he’s the 16th pick and I’m 35? And I know there’s teams throughout the rest of these 19 or 18 picks in between see us similar so maybe they’ll draft me. We’re very similar. If he’s 16, I can’t be 35.”
Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors looks on during the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on March 20, 2023 in Houston, Texas. (Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)
The Houston Rockets selected White with the No. 16 overall draft pick, but his career was short-lived. He went on to appear in three NBA games. He revealed that he struggled with anxiety and developed a fear of flying.
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He eventually left the Rockets and signed a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings. In his three appearances with the Kings he failed to score a single point.
