A pair of former All-Stars are set to watch their teams from the bench as their respective organizations test the trade market, and following the news that both Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond will be sitting out until a move is made, Warriors star Draymond Green went off on what he believes is a double standard concerning the rights of players in the NBA.
On Monday night, Green delivered a passionate speech about the situation involving Drummond and several other players, and called for players to be granted the same rights and consideration that teams are when requesting a move to another organization.
“Everyone wants to say, ‘that young man can’t figure it out.’ But no one wants to say the organization can’t figure it out.”
Draymond Green sounds off on a double standard he sees in the NBA. pic.twitter.com/z6R4zq0Bcw
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 16, 2021
“I would like to talk about something that’s really bothering me. And it’s the treatment of players in this league. To watch Andre Drummond, before the game, sit on the sidelines, then go to the back, and to come out in street clothes because a team is going to trade him, it’s [expletive].
Because when James Harden asked for a trade, and essentially dogged it, I don’t think there was no surprise… no one’s going to fight back that James was dogging it his last days in Houston. But he was castrated for wanting to go to a different team. Everybody destroyed that man. And yet a team can come out and say, ‘Oh, we want to trade a guy,’ and then that guy has to go sit, and if he doesn’t stay professional, then he’s a cancer. And he’s not good in someone’s locker room, and he’s the issue.
…. At some point, as players, we need to be treated with the same respect and have the same rights that the team can have. Because as a player, you’re the worst person in the world when you want a different situation. But a team can say they’re trading you, and that man is to stay in shape, he is to stay professional – and if not, his career is on the line.”
The NBA is also facing an issue of consistency of enforcement. At the height of the “load management” debate and the Anthony Davis trade situation in New Orleans, the league drew a hard line against teams resting players, as the Pistons and Cavaliers publicly intend to do.
Just gonna leave this here one more time…. https://t.co/8ZFkuU8T1g pic.twitter.com/g7C2aQAYDJ
— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) February 15, 2021
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