Why Draymond was motivated by podcast haters during NBA title run originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green knows a thing or two about podcasting, and the haters of his podcast “The Draymond Green Show” motivated the Warriors star to play better during the 2021-2022 season.

Speaking to Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson on the “Politickin’” podcast, Green explained how much hate he received from the media once he started consistently podcasting.

“Everyone was like ‘You can’t be podcasting. How dare you podcast when you’re playing the game, you should be in the gym,’ ” Green recalled. “And I just look at it like, ‘Well I’ve been in the gym so what should I do with these other 21 hours in the day that I’m not in the gym,’ so is it OK if I podcast a little bit then?”

“And so that was kind of the talk and before you know it, sports media television they’re like ‘Oh he’s podcasting, he’s focusing on this.’ And then the podcast became a focal point of conversation and so it was motivating for me like ‘You know what, I got to play great because they’re going to use this thing [against me],’ and we ended up winning the championship that year.”

After two years of mediocrity, Golden State rebounded to triumph over the Boston Celtics to win the 2022 NBA Finals, netting Green, Klay Thompson, Steph Curry and Andre Iguodala their fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy.

While Golden State has struggled to maintain championship-level play since then, Green’s podcast has become one of the most entertaining and popular shows hosted by an NBA player, inspiring plenty of other players from around the league to pick up the mic.

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