For nearly a decade, Draymond Green and LeBron James have been defined by collision; Finals matchups, and the friendly kind of rivalry that only exists when both sides are good enough to ruin each other’s seasons, but still share the utmost respect for oneanother. Now Green is openly acknowledging a different curiosity: he wants to know what it feels like to be on the same side.
“I’ve always wanted to [play with him],” Green said in a recent clip circulated online. He was careful to draw a boundary, though: “Saying I wanted to go to his team, that’s not the case. I’m very comfortable in my situation with 30 [Stephen Curry] and what we’ve built and what we have.”
The rest of Green’s explanation is what makes it interesting. This wasn’t recruiting talk. It was basketball-nerd talk. a veteran trying to peek behind the curtain of another all-time mind. Green said he wants the experience “just to see how he thinks,” to understand how he processes possessions, and what he might learn from that perspective.
He also framed it against the most recent reminder that these things can happen, even briefly: the 2024 Summer Olympics, where James and Curry shared the floor for Team USA. Green noted that the two stars had long wanted that opportunity and finally got it on the international stage. For Green, that same curiosity remains a box unchecked, not a dissatisfaction with Golden State, but a professional itch to test his own game next to one of the greatest engines the sport has produced.
In a league where every quote becomes a trade rumor within minutes, Green’s wording reads like preemptive defense: he’s not angling to leave the Golden State Warriors, he’s describing an experience he’d value before his career ends. Still, the timing is impossible to ignore in an NBA economy where superstars move, timelines compress, and “I’d love to” can become “why not?” faster than anyone admits.
