During Draymond Green’s freshmen year at Michigan State, he played against future NBA player Taj Gibson at USC. Facing Gibson during that time could have had Draymond prepared to face him after he was drafted, but it turns out, that wasn’t the case.
The Warriors forward said when they faced one another during his rookie year with the Warriors, he couldn’t keep up with Gibson in what would turn out to be his “welcome to NBA moment.”
“That was ice ages ago,” Green said in an AMA with Bleacher Report. “My rookie year, we were playing the Chicago Bulls. My freshman year of college, we played USC with [Taj] Gibson and [DeMar] DeRozan. I had to guard Taj and I gave him fits.”
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“I came into the league my rookie year and thought I would be able to handle him in the pros, and he completely destroyed me,” Green said. “I had to ask for a switch. I was like ‘Yo let’s switch, I can’t get a stop.’”
Welcome to the NBA, indeed.
Interestingly enough, Draymond also revealed to Bleacher Report that he thought he might end up paying for the Bulls himself before he was drafted by the Warriors. That was due to some rumors he was paying attention to throughout the draft process.
You know what they say about rumors, but Draymond, a self-proclaimed "deep thinker," believed he wouldn’t end up in the state of California. He also didn’t know anything outside of Michigan having been born and raised there.
Golden State Warriors
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But that’s what happened. He ended up being drafted 35th overall by Golden State. The Miami Heat, another team Draymond thought might select him, picked 27th overall with the Bulls picking at No. 29.
Safe to say it worked out, and he finds himself very comfortable in California.