It's easy

... start playing and you're like, "Ah, okay, I see what he was doing there." Right? Like, they've been so gracious and I've learned so much.

And then having the opportunity to be up there with those guys, you know? Those four guys who've won Emmys, whose, you know, been best sports show on TV for 20 years.

Um, to have the opportunity to do that in the NBA finals, like I'm forever grateful.

Um, Nate, you know, the, the whole Turner team, because that opportunity just don't come around often, you know? A- tho- those opportunities don't come around every day.

I play in the NBA.

I'm an active NBA player.

But like what has made you want to just stay and be lo- like s- lo- I mean you're giving up money to be there.

I was like, oh my God.

It's, it's like h- how did he just got...

Right? It's like if he gets his hand on the ball near the rim, it somehow goes in, right? That is an elite skill that you are the most elite at right now currently in the NBA, and pretty high up there on the list in NBA history.

So if you are that elite at that, you know what you should do most, more of? That.

[laughs] That, right? And s- and I think ultimately he'll have to figure it out, that out.

And I will say, and even watching him from last year to watching him this year, he floats less.

You know? He doesn't float this much, a- as much this year as he did last year.

[laughs]

[laughs]

That, right? And s- and I think ultimately he'll have to figure it out, that out.

And I will say, and even watching him from last year to watching him this year, he floats less.

You know? He doesn't float this much, a- as much this year as he did last year.

So I'll give him credit, right? You've worked on that, you've gotten better.

But in order to take the next step and the next step, he's gonna have to continue to figure that out more and more.

Castle's gonna get better.

[laughs]

Do you feel like people are being too tough on Kevin Hart and what they thought he should have done in response to the George Floyd joke?

Listen, I think Kevin is amazing.

I don't, I don't think Kevin was gonna hop up there and stop the roast, you know? I think Kevin didn't tell the jokes.

You know, so overall I thought it was a good roast.

I enjoyed it.

Um, everyone is gonna have an opinion, and it's not really up to me to sit and judge someone else opinion.

I think that's where people fall short is when they sit and wanna judge what someone else thinks.

Why did Draymond Green, knowing where people would go with all the jokes, right? Like, why did you say yes to that?

And obviously it was in the 9-10 scenario, but you guys have done that time and time again.

Yeah, 1,000%.

I think that's what, I think that's what also made that game feel much bigger than a 9-10 game because, like, when you see us doing it, it's not like, oh, they just doing that because this the 9-10 game, you know? Like, it's us versus Kawhi.

Like, you've seen that match up in the NBA finals.

Like, and so when you're watching it, it's not giving you like, oh man, these two teams that didn't have great years fighting to get in the playoffs.

It's giving you like, yo, you're watching these dudes do this again.

And that was the feeling I think we had in it, is like, man, like, it just felt like such a big game.

So cute.

Like, just keep throwing down what you do and things will work out eventually.

1,000%.

Um, you know, I think any time, as, as a competitor, any time you feel threatened, um, you either fold or you do more, you know? And, and, you know, my decision, my way forward will always be to try to do more, you know? Try to prove that I'm worth more, you know? And so, uh, with all the trade talks and all those things, um, Steph being out, the, you know, losing a bunch this year, you have to find things that motivate you.

You have to find things that pushes you on a daily basis, uh, to go out and compete, you know? And, and whatever those things are, you aren't wrong.

I think, uh, any self- self-motivated person is going to find things to fuel that motivation, you know? And so for me personally, I've had to focus in more on these things under the circumstances to, like, push myself, you know? And to be sure that I'm doing all I can for the situation.

And, you know, with the trade talks, it, it, it, it does motivate you.

You know? It motivates you to show exactly what it is that you bring to the table, uh, that you can still do things at a very high level, and that if they were to make that decision, the mistake that they'd be making, you know? And as a competitor, wherever I go, I'd be also ready to show them that, you know? That's just the competitor in me, you know? But, um, I think this has been a very interesting year.

Yeah

Yeah

... 'cause no one understood what the hell he was talking about.

And he had just left, right? And everyone was sensitive about anything Mark says about us.

Um, Coach Jackson to me, Mark to everyone else.

Um, everyone was sensitive about anything he said, and I remember when he said it, and, and, and, and, and everybody was just like, "How dare him? He's mad he's got fired," this, that, and the other.

And it wasn't long after that, uh, where we were like, "Oh, I know exactly what he meant." It definitely ruined the game of basketball for everyone.

I don't apologize, though, um, for us, because everything must evolve, and we were the next evolution to the game of basketball.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

They- they, like, they- they were a really good team.Um, but, you know, when, when you start to talk about, like, us meeting in the finals, like, yeah, they had no fucking shot at winning in 2016.

Like, people talk all, "Oh, y'all blew a three-one lead," uh, like, they was coming back here game five and they didn't have a fucking clue of how they was gonna win that game.

I got suspended, they win game five, we're going back to Cleveland for game six.

Okay, you go back home for game six, it's fucking loud as hell.

I'm coming back from a suspension, like, everything is kind of thrown off.

They win game six.

Facts.

That's interesting.

And so what I realized was that I was carrying that same chip that allowed me to remember the 34 guys that was drafted before me in the year five and six, and people are starting to look at it like, "Man, that's, that's nasty.

That's distasteful." And I knew that I wanted to change that.

Yes.

... and encouraging it in a way because they know if I yell that to Draymond and he says that back to me, he's getting fined $25,000.

He's getting fined $50,000.

So what I'll say to commissioners, "No problem.

That was fun.