Draymond Green Defends Kevin Durant and the Trade Request

FYF Sportsman, it's Lamar. We back. Another reaction video, man. Appreciate you guys being here, man. FYF Sportsman. Reactions are back. We got some IRL footage coming as well, man. I mean, look, Flight Reaction just had one of the worst Junes of his whole career. We got to react to some of these games, man. We got to show you guys what he been up to, man. That's how we started out. That's how we originated this platform, giving you those. We got to get back to that, man. You guys got to stay tuned, man. If you haven't done so already, man, hit the like, hit the subscribe, hit the notification bell here on FYF Sportsman. We bringing you the content like no other, and we bringing you takes and perspectives that are not copycats of what other people are saying. Whether you guys agree or disagree, we going to give you a perspective and a take that's at least going to make you think at most, and that's the goal, man. We got to start making people think, look, research purposes only. That's what we do here at FYF Sports. Now you guys know, man, I've been a big fan of Draymond Green. I've been a big fan of Draymond Green on the court. I agree with a lot of his takes, and he comes to the defense of players, especially players of this era. When he talks about Steph Curry, when he talks about the new media and the new style of analyzing and breaking down the game, I appreciate that, man. Watch this video, man. If you guys haven't done so already, man, make sure y'all go check out Draymond Green's channel, man, The Draymond Green Show on the volume YouTube channel. You guys need to check it out, man. He has a really good show, but I think this might be one of the first times where he's had a take where I have completely disagreed with everything that he said. We going to react to it. I'm going to break down why. I got to break down why because, again, man, when we kind of sense the cap, we got to call it out. All right, so, hey, we going to go ahead. Let's hear what Draymond Green got to say. This is a show where he's talking about Kevin Durant and some of the narratives around Kevin Durant requesting a trade out of Brooklyn. We know he's going to automatically go to the defense of his NBA brethren. He's always going to do that. You know what? That is expected here with Draymond Green. I expect him to come to the defense of his NBA brethren to a certain degree because he's still an active NBA player. We know that there's a code amongst players to kind of get behind each other, not tear each other down. Even when there's something negative out there, they're not going to be the ones to out it and put these players on front street, especially in the media about it. Again, I understand, but here at FYA Sports, man, we just got to call the cap where we see it. We're going to go ahead and play this. I want you guys, as I play this, I want to see if you guys kind of pick up on some of the same sentiments that I felt as I listened to it. Let's go ahead and get to the Draymond Green show. We're going to listen to his take on Kevin Durant and the recent trade request that he's given to the Brooklyn Nets he wants out of Brooklyn. The first thing you saw when it was announced that Kevin Durant requested a trade was the whole narrative starting. KD's running from this. He's doing this. You know, it gets hard. He doesn't stay. Blah, blah, blah. And I sat there and I asked myself, if KD did indeed request a trade, is that KD saying partially I made a mistake? And I answered the question for myself, because obviously I'm not going to ask Kevin that or why would I ask Kevin that? But I answered it for myself and I said, possibly yes, possibly no. But regardless if it's yes or no, why does it matter? Like, if Kevin Durant says, I actually don't want to be here anymore. I want to go to somewhere else. Why does it matter? Why does that make you weak? Why does that make you, why does that make him, you know, it means he's running from something. I don't understand that. And the reason I don't understand it is because players are in control of their situation. Players are in control of their destiny. And so why is it that it's just not, that's the next step in his career? Because again, I always go back to if a guy leaves Google or if someone leaves Google to go to Apple after three or four years. And then they leave Apple after two years to go to Tesla. And then they leave Tesla after four years to go to DocuSign. No one's going to say that person ran, that person did this or that person did that. Everyone's going to say that person did what was best for their career and best for their livelihoods. But us as athletes, it's never viewed that way. And it's baffling to me that it's never viewed that way because our lifespan with this career is actually way shorter than someone that's working at Google or working at Apple or anyone else in the world for that matter that's not an athlete for the most part. Why can't you do everything you can to get it right? Even if that means making a wrong move and continuing on. Why is it that athletes are viewed that way? And I'm glad I stopped right there because I stopped it right there when he asked the very question. He says, why is it that athletes are viewed that way? And then he made the comparison between people that switch jobs from Apple to Google to Tesla and all of this. The one thing that he's not taking into consideration is that there is a level of scrutiny when you switch companies like that. When you jump ship and you go, if you if you went from Google to another competitive company or competing company, there is a level of scrutiny that you receive. Is the level of scrutiny that you receive going to be as massive as the scrutiny that an NBA player receives? No. But when you do that, people within the company are bitter. Right. Again, the people who you know, when you look at somebody who works at Google, they have a very small fan base. When you look at fans, the people who are relying on you, the people that rely on your work, your productivity or relying on whatever performance you're giving to that company. There's a small base of people that are supporting you in that company. And when you jump ship that a lot of times that base of people, those managers hold grudges, especially when you jump ship. And sometimes people move, switch jobs, no two weeks notice all of this. There is a level of angst given to just a common everyday person when they do this. The difference is with the NBA. The difference with NBA players is, again, that fan base, the people that watch you, the people that want to see you thrive with that one organization. Your fan base is much bigger. There's more eyes watching you. You play a sport. You have a job that requires you performing in front of all of these people. And these people who support you pay lots of money for merchandise. They pay tons of money in ticket sales and things like that. They watch the ads, they bring the NBA a ton of money, the fans do. And so when you upset the balance, when you upset those fans, there is a level of scrutiny that's going to come with that. The unfortunate reality, and we've talked about this as well, is that these narratives that Draymond Green likes to call out, these narratives are the very narratives that make the NBA what it is. These narratives, these talking points that pit fans against each other, that pit media networks against each other, that pit media analysts against each other. These narratives drive the talking points. This Kevin Durant trade request is completely blown up on social media. The NBA season is over and we're still talking about NBA players. NFL season's been over with. The NFL season's been over with. We're rarely talking about NFL players until training camp starts back up. Baseball, I don't know a podcast that's just, I don't know just the average daily podcast, at least in the spectrum that I watch, that's talking about baseball players in the off season. Or even hockey, and especially in the WNBA. We talked about this with the WNBA. They have nothing to talk about. They have nothing to pit fan against fan, network against network, media analysts against media analysts. They try to pit it around and say, we're just great basketball players. We're just as good too. You guys just come watch us, you'll see some great basketball. No talking points, no debates, no nothing. These are the things that drive what fans wanna see. These are the things that make fans feel like they're a part of the game. Similar with, and you know what, and the media is partially responsible for this as well, because they wanna be involved to a certain degree. They wanna be the first ones to break the news. They wanna give the hottest takes. They wanna give the most controversial takes for the clickbait. But you know what? Every time somebody, every time a fan, every time a fan goes online and listens, every time a media network makes a video with a racy clickbait title. You know what that's doing for all the NBA players? It's just lining their pockets with more and more money. This is why the league is thriving. And I don't understand why players complain about it so much. Now, we've thrived on giving a bit of a balance to that. We know that there's content creators out there that come with extreme takes, right? Extreme fandom for one player over here. Extreme fandom for another player over here, right? The exaggeration of certain statistical categories over here. The ignorance and just a complete ignoring statistical categories over here, just so you could push narratives about players. We see that all over the place. Obviously, we try here to bring some balance to that, right? We try to bring the comedic value. We try to bring the analytical side. We try to bring fair comparisons, which we try to do this. But the ultimate, the unfortunate reality of this Kevin Durant situation is, are fans wrong for labeling his desire to leave Brooklyn? No, they're not wrong. I expect, and I think Kevin Durant even expected to a certain degree, that Brooklyn fans are gonna be fans. Fans get disgruntled when you leave. Since when are fans happy when you leave? When are fans happy? When you up and leave, when you're under contract. They were not happy in Philadelphia with Ben Simmons, even though nobody in Philly even wanted him. But when he asked out, they hated him still, even though they didn't even want him. Anthony Davis wanted out of New Orleans, he wasn't a big fan. When LeBron James left Cleveland, they started burning LeBron jerseys. These are fans, this is what fans do. Fans are gonna be extremists to a certain degree, and they're gonna be emotionally tied to some of these tastes. And the media sees this, and so the media is gonna eat off of that. But this is why these media conglomerates, like ESPN and a lot of these, CBL, this is why they pay literally billions of dollars to the NBA. They pay billions of dollars to the NBA. They line these players' pocket with salaries that we'll probably never see in five lifetimes, so that they can have these talking points, so they can have these crazy clickbait titles. So in some circumstances, when you have platforms like YouTube, you can give crazy fanatical fans, not a big voice, but somewhat of a voice, where they feel like their opinions on these players can be heard, just like we're doing here on FYF Sports. So is the scrutiny around Kevin Durant wanting to trade, is it right? Probably not, right? But I think it would be stupid of me to tell fans not to be fans. If you're a Brooklyn Nets fan, and Kevin Durant, who just signed a long-term contract with your team, just requested to trade out, of course you're gonna be disgruntled to a certain degree. You are a fan of that team. Nobody's going into the barber shop in Brooklyn saying, man, we really appreciate, man. We really appreciate what Kevin Durant did for this team. Good luck, Kevin, I wish him the best when he gets traded to the Phoenix Suns or whatever team he can go to. I really wish him the best. It's not all goody two shoes. It's not all nice. It's basketball banter talk. It's barber shop talk in a lot of circles. It's clickbait titles in a lot of circles. At the end of the day, I don't understand why NBA players complain about it to this degree. Why are you surprised that people are coming up with certain narratives that he's running from a challenge? It does look like the man is running from a challenge. I don't know what y'all looking at. You're being dishonest and disingenuous with yourself if you're not even considering the notion, especially when you yourself are saying, you haven't spoken to him about this. No NBA player has spoken to him about it. Remember, everybody's saying he went radio silent on all the players. So everyone now is only left to speculate. And if nobody's speculating, if nobody's talking about it, then that's a problem. If Kevin Durant requests a trade and nobody's talking about it, no one's coming up with narratives, then the NBA is doing something wrong. So again, you have to appreciate what fans bring to the game. Because even though they have some of these exaggerated fanatical takes, they still bring a value to this game that makes it what it is. I have the fanatics on my channel. They bring a level of conversation and comedic value to the channel that I can't just do myself. I've seen it on other platforms with other content creators. As irrational as some other content creators takes are, as they go out and slander some of these players, sometimes make up complete lies. I mean, I hope you see this, cuz I really wanna know. And like I said, the Mayor Carcino keeps saying he knows you. He's related to you by marriage. Do you know this, man? Because you have a content creator out there saying that he knows you, and that you are the one giving him all the insider tips on the Warriors. I don't know, I would love for you to answer that on your next podcast. I know that's just a side note, but I would love for you to answer that on your next podcast. Because again, that's just a narrative that another channel's pushing. True or false, I don't know how true it is. But again, and this is why I always say I appreciate all content creators, and even all fans of the game. You have to appreciate them to a certain degree. Because combined, they're making this an exciting league. I was just talking about it on my show the other day. The NBA Finals just ended. The Warriors just won the championship. And we're engaged in Summer League. We're talking about this free agency, right? The trade news is keeping everyone on the edge about what teams are gonna look like. Everyone's looking at the betting lines for the NBA next year. Vegas is shifting them up and down as the speculation changes. The NBA is bigger and better than ever. And it's because of the extremist fans, the crazy narrative media takes. Those are the things that drive that. When you look at some of these players, man, Brunson just signed a $100 million deal with the Knicks. Where's this money coming from? This money's just coming out of thin air? Or is it coming from these major media conglomerates who pay billions to the NBA to do this? And I think as a player, I think players should understand that to a certain degree and not take everything to heart. I mean, I think people, sometimes when you look at Stephen A. Smith, when you look at the Skip Baylesses, I mean, even when you look at the Jason Whitlocks, even though Jason Whitlocks has the worst takes of them all, I think a lot of times we take the things that they say too literal. And we don't understand that. There is a business side to the game for them as well. And with Stephen A., it's the entertainment. With Skip Bayless, it's the LeBron James takes. With Shannon Sharp, it's the pro LeBron James takes. Same with Nick Wright. Even the media talking heads have to be extreme to a certain degree to one side or the other to keep people actively engaged. There's a ton of people that tune in to watch Stephen A. Smith because they hate him. There's another side of people that tune in to watch ESPN to look at Miley. There's another side that when you look at all these shows, love them or hate them, we're going to stop by and watch. We're going to give it a listen. And then we're going to take what we disseminated from those shows. And then we're going to bring it to some of the smaller platforms. Then we might go over to our Wheezy Bangs channel. Or some people might go to Ticket TV. Or some people might go to Carcino Show. Some people might come to my platform and say something. This is what's driving the NBA. This is why when we had an NBA final where all the superstars were sitting at home, no LeBron, no KD, no Kyrie, no Paul George, no Kawhi Leonard, no Giannis, MVP, Joe Kick, last year's MVP, home. Booker, rising star, home. A lot of people said this would be one of the worst rated NBA finals of all time. And it wasn't. Numbers were going back up, even without the star power. Why? Because of the media, because of the fans. As crazy as they takes might be. I mean, I know JJ Reddick did a good job of calling out the media outlets that are a bit exaggerated. He called it aggregate media, bleacher report, fadeaway world, clutch points. You know what you're getting with them. Is it entertaining to read? Are they entertaining reads? Do they have the greatest thumbnails you can use for your videos? Yes. And I tell people all the time. Remember, research purposes only. I tell people on this channel. I mean, only take away about 10% of what you're reading over there. I mean, it's fun and entertaining. It gives you a funny narrative. Let's not act like it. And I think for the most part, most fans are doing a good job of not taking everything from the media and from some of these wild narratives too literally. But I cannot knock a fan, especially if you're a Brooklyn fan, for running with the narrative that Kevin Durant is avoiding a challenge. Because a challenge it would be if he stayed in Brooklyn with Kyrie wanting out. Kyrie wants to go to the Lakers. It's a challenge it would be. You can say it's a mistake all you want. It can't be a mistake if you sign a four-year deal. A four-year deal is a commitment. And unlike people that work at Google and Apple, you can't get traded to Apple. If you locked into a contract with Tesla for five years, you locked into that contract. You can't go tell Tesla or Apple or some of these other companies to trade you to another company. It don't work like that. So again, comparing NBA players, because Kevin Durant is not a free agent. He's under contract. So the scrutiny, although it's not always fair, it's justified to a certain degree because he is locked under a certain contract. So it's not comparable to the everyday person. Financially, it's not comparable. The freedom to move is not comparable. The reality of relocating from one state to another just like that because your bank account is loaded with dollars, that's not the everyday reality for the everyday nine-to-five worker. So again, with this take right here, you guys listen to the video, man. Like I said before, check the channel out. I generally agree with a lot of what Draymond Green says. I had to give some pushback on this because again, it just didn't, to me, I think the fans and the media to get too much flack. When there is an element, a component to this NBA, the NBA talk, the interest in the NBA, the element of that comes from them, right? Seeing the crazy fans is engaging, right? People going to the games, face paint, being funny. Even the fans up in the nosebleed section going crazy, still cheering for the team. They bring an element to the game that you have to appreciate, right? When fans are upset and say crazy things about players, that's just another element to the game that makes the NBA what it is. And I think to that degree, when players start complaining about that too much, and I think if I'm being honest, I think Draymond Green is complaining about the media and the narratives that the media, I think he started to complain about it too much. It's starting to look like you just trying to cover up and protect any player whether they're right or wrong. And you're not calling it down the middle. And then that's where Kendrick Perkins comes in, right? Because a lot of people talk about, Draymond Green is the one that talked about how Kendrick Perkins, a lot of his talking points come from ESPN. But Draymond Green is starting to look like a lot of your talking points come from you wanting to protect NBA players only, and you not calling it fair, even on your own podcast, which is fine because you're an active NBA player. I expect you to do that. So we know what to expect coming from you. But on the flip side of that, you have to know what to expect to come from some of these fans or fan pages, social media sites. You gotta expect the same flames from their vantage point as well. And you cannot try to nullify what they're saying by simply running around saying, they didn't play in the league, they can't talk about us. I think that's just one of the worst and that's one of the laziest takes that a lot of NBA players like to run to. I mean, we've heard that Kwame Brown's run to that a whole bunch, just to deflect and get you to stop talking about just the game itself. Can't scare us from breaking down the game. I mean, we're gonna break down the game regardless. But I think you gotta open the mind up and understand things from a fan's vantage points. Fans, as much as they make up and run with these narratives, they would trade places with an NBA player any day of the week. With the media slander, with the hate, all of that. All the problems that the NBA players have, a regular fan would trade places with you just like that. So let's not like, and that's another aspect of it. It's just like, let's not act like, let's not complain so much where it starts to look, to me, like we're playing victim mode. That's what it's starting to look like from Draymond Green as he's complaining about the media in some of their takes. And he's just kind of doing it too much. It's almost like you're playing victim. And that's the worst, that's the worst part of this take right here as he's trying to protect KD, as usual, he protects the player. So he didn't protect Kendrick Perkins, he went at Kendrick Perkins. But again, that's the element right there. That's what it's starting to look like. But you guys, let me know your thoughts on this video. Let me know what you thought about Draymond Green. Do you like the show? Do you like his takes? How about, how do you feel about him as a player? Just let me know whatever, man, I really wanna hear it. And then, look, if you disagree with my take, I'm fine with that. Let me know in the comments of the video. And when we go live, we can chop it up and we can have our debates about it. However you wanna do it. But either way, man, that's just my assessment of it. And again, this is not meant to go at Draymond. You guys know how I feel about Draymond as a player, even as a person, man. I've always been in this corner supporting him. But again, I wouldn't be FYF Sports if I didn't call it how I see it, man. That's what we do here, here at FYF Sports. But anyways, FYF Sports, man, it's been another great podcast episode. Hope you guys enjoyed the show, man. Make sure you guys like, comment, and subscribe. If you haven't done so already, share the video. Make sure you check us out on some of our other platforms. Newsbreak, Spotify, Deezer, radio, all of those things. Man, the platform is growing, right? We've been averaging over 2K subscribers over the last couple of months. So the growth is ridiculous. We're putting out more and more content. And you can expect more reactions to come, especially throughout the summer. We got some big three action as well coming. So we gonna be doing some big three reviews as well. It's looking like this season's gonna be one of them ones. It's looking like it's some hoopers out there now. And these guys is going at it, even a team with some foreigners over there. So again, there's a lot to watch for down in the big three. But it's FYF Sports, man. It's another great podcast episode. We will be back with more sports news, but until then, it's FYF Sports.